Page 53 - Studio International - August 1966

gains. Therefore it is better to buy the things one chimney-piece or against a boiserie formerly occu- work of reference by a recognized authority,
can live with. Selection needs much thought. pied by Boucher or Watteau. The two oversize especially if it has been prominently illustrated.
Current crazes and fashions are unlikely to survive, Renoirs now in the National Gallery were bought In cases where forged works are common a certifi-
and established reputations which have stood the in at the Gagnat sale of 1926 because no one cate from a well-known expert, such as Paul
test of at least a few decades are the safest for major wanted paintings of this size by Renoir, especially Petrides in the case of Utrillo, is worth having.
purchases, although this need not preclude the when they were of a subject which Drucker de- Reference to the painting in letters or memoirs by
acquisition of promising contemporary work, even scribes as the 'studied grace of the slightly con- the artist or his circle will usually affect price in
if the lunatic fringe has no future. ventional attitudes and the plebeian coarseness of an upward direction.
The artist's record in the international sale-rooms, the model'. The enormous Matisse, 25 feet by In such cases as that of the German Expressionists
to be judged by price-levels in London, New York, 11 feet, which brought £32,000 in Sotheby, occu- the history of destruction of a large number of
and Paris, ought to be carefully examined. A work pying most of one wall in the process, needed works by the Nazis, by reducing the number sur-
by someone unknown in the New York sale-room, something of the size of a public building to dis- viving, will increase the value of the remainder.
or whose work brings only low prices there, is play it. A signature is a desirable addition, but its ab-
obviously a dangerous purchase if one has to count Quality regarded in relation to the rest of the sence does not necessarily affect prices very
the cost. This rules out a great deal of contem- artist's work is an essential consideration in deter- greatly, especially when the style is well-marked.
porary British painting, with some notable excep- mining price. Although a poor painting by a well- Source affects price. A painting of unknown pro-
tions such as Moore, Sutherland, and Nicholson, known name will bring more than if it were by venance will usually bring less than one of equal
whose work is favoured on the Continent. someone unknown, it will still make far less than a quality from a known source. A collection of
A purchase ought to be reasonably characteristic fine work, and it will be much more difficult to ne- paintings made with a care to the ultimate value of
of the style with which the artist is widely associ- gotiate subsequently. In present conditions no very the items forming it needs to reject all but the best
ated. A Tahitian painting by Gauguin would be great harm is done if one pays a little too much for which can be afforded. Fine paintings among a
a much safer purchase than a Brittany landscape, the best, but it is important to be realistic about great deal of rubbish suffer from their company.
or a late Van Gogh rather than a painting done anything less. The way in which a painting is negotiated and the
while he was still living in the Low Countries. A detailed history is a considerable asset, especi- manner of presentation also affects price. Inferior
Subject is important; an unpopular subject will ally if it begins with a purchase from the artist or work will do very much better in a small sale-room
be reflected in price. Size is perhaps less important, a close relative. If the painting has subsequently where it does not suffer from comparison.
although this depends largely on why the painting been in a collection of importance, or, better still, These are some of the more obvious factors
is bought and who buys it. Renoir is often sought in several such collections, this will increase its governing price, and they are essential considera-
because his work harmonizes with the fashionable desirability as a purchase. Previous appearances tions for anyone seeking to understand present day
eighteenth-century French Court style in interior at officially sponsored public exhibitions will have price-movements.
decoration, where he takes the place over the the same effect; so will inclusion in a standard

Some recent London saleroom prices

Sotheby Vincent Van Gogh Johann-Barthold Jongkind
Effet de lumiire dans un fouillis de branches £14,200 La Seine à Rouen 1965 £13,150
Georges Seurat 12 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. Painted in May 1890 at Auvers. 16 x 21 1/4 in. Signed and dated. Exhibited: Paris,
£36,000
Provenance: Dr Paul Gachet, Auvers. See J.-B.
Paysannes à Montfermeil c. 1882 Amsterdam, London. Provenance: Ferdinand
64 x 91 in. On panel. Provenance: Odilon Redon, de la Faille. Blumenthal.
Ary Redon. Extensively exhibited beginning in 1885
and included in Seurat, Paintings and Drawings, Constantin Guys Albert Gleizes
£6,090
£1,900
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958. Illustrated La promenade au bois Paysage avec un arbre
by Dorra & Rewald, and by de Hauke. (Record price for a Guys drawing) 39 1/4 x 31 1/4 in. Signed and dated '14. Exhibited:
x 10 in. Pen, ink, and watercolour. Provenance: Berlin Der Sturm (Herwarth Walden) No. 11.
Camille Pissarro Dr Voillemot; Matthiessen Gallery, London. Provenance: Frau Walden-Hermann, Berlin.
Route de Versailles a Saint-Germain a Louveciennes Exhibited: Compiegne, 1928; Paris, Galerie Marlborough Fine Arts, London.
1872 £24,000 Charpentier, 1943; London, Arts Council, 1958.
121 x 18 in. Signed and dated. Provenance: Wassily Kandinsky
Montaignac (sale December, 1917). Illustrated by Einige Spa zen 1;12,025
Pissarro & Venturi. 27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in. Dated '25. Signed with monogram.
Le Loing a Moret, le pont et l'imprimerie 1902 Signed, inscribed, dated, and numbered 292 on the
£20,000
211 x 254 in. Signed and dated. Provenance: Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd reverse. On board. Exhibited: New York, Galerie
Prince de Wagram, Meyer Goodfriend, New York. Chalette. See Grohmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Life and
See Pissarro & Venturi. Maurice Utrillo Work, 1959. Provenance: Galerie Ferdinand Moller,
Deux femmes cousant (interior) 1900 £16,800 Le Moulin Rouge c. 1925 £17,850 Berlin.
14 1/2 x 17 3/4 in. Signed and dated. Provenance: 21 x 171 in. On board, signed. Exhibited: New
Simon Bauer, Paris. Exhibited: Eugene Blot, Paris, York. See Paul Petrides. Amedeo Modigliani
1907; Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1928. See Pissarro L'Oeuvre Complet de Maurice Utrillo. Vol. II 1960 Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne £8,400
& Venturi. Illustrated. Provenance: Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd, 19/ x 15 in. Signed. Exhibited : Boston and Los
London. Angeles. Originally from the Galerie Zborowski.
Henri Matisse
Le Parc sous la pluie, Nice 1918 £7,500 Georges Braque Diego Rivera
£5,250
£14,700
10 x 131 in. On board, signed; inscribed, dated on Le Bouquet Jaune 1952 Portrait de Ramon Gomez de la Serna
reverse. Provenance: Bernheim-Jeune, Paris. 254 x 12 in. Signed. Provenance: Larry Aldrich 43 x 354 in. Signed with initials and dated '15.
Foundation. Exhibited: Paris, Galerie Maeght; Provenance: Ramon Gomez de la Serna, Buenos
Pierre Bonnard Berne, Kunsthalle; Venice, XXIX Biennale; Aires. Illustrated: Wolfe, Diego Rivera.
Les Puis, bord de mer Rome, Palazzo Barberini, and widely in the U.S.A.
£18,500
281 x 21 in. Signed. Provenance: Bauer Estate. See: Oeuvre catalogue of paintings 1948-57, and Juan Gris
Le petit dèjeuner 1922 Verve (illustrated in colour). A Braque of 1956 of a Guitare et journal sur une table 1913
£5,250
£12,000
161 x 20 in. Signed. Provenance: Bernheim-Jeune similar subject, Les dahlias rouge, from the Galerie 35 1/2 x 22 3/4 in. Charcoal and coloured crayon.
(bought from the artist); M. Monteux, Paris; sold Maeght, sold for $24,000 in the Larry Aldrich sale Exhibited: Dortmund Museum, 1965. Provenance:
in Paris in June 1937. at the Parke-Bernet Galleries in 1963. Helena Rubinstein, Knoedler & Co., New York.