Christie's Online Magazine No.203

From: Christie's - Saturday Jan 11, 2020 12:39 pm

Christie’s

How the art world fell for the gospel-singing ‘Bride of Jesus’ from the ‘headquarters of sin’

Discovered — a previously unpublished L.S. Lowry painting with links to a Nobel Prize

Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, on the poignance of this gift from Steven Spielberg

‘A vivacious creation’ — the remarkable story of The Allen and Beryl Freer Collection

A marriage of minimalists: meet the husband and wife who share a studio in Manhattan

From the walls of Brooke Astor’s apartment: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s Three studies of a donkey

More stories

Editor’s picks

Janet Sobel (1893-1968) first began to paint in 1939, aged 45. While works such as Untitled,1941 draw on the folk art of her native Ukraine, her abstract ‘drip’ paintings were cited by critic Clement Greenberg as a major influence on Jackson Pollock

Estimate: $2,000-4,000
17 January, New York

Study for Leonardo’s Dog was inspired by Dame Elisabeth Frink’s visit to Château du Clos Lucé near Amboise, the last residence of Leonardo da Vinci. Two stone dogs guard the entrance to the château, waiting for their master to return

Estimate: £50,000-80,000
22 January, London

These nine chromium-plated flasks, the largest of which is 24 cm high, were made in 1960 to look like car radiators. There are two Bentleys, one Bugatti, two Jaguars, one Mercedes and three Rolls-Royces in the group

Estimate: £5,000-8,000
22-29 January, Online

‘I am caught up in the visual tyranny of these blasted poppies,’ wrote Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979) of one of his favourite subjects. ‘When one is all set up and ready, the petals drop off.’ He painted Two Poppies in 1935

Estimate: £60,000-80,000
23 January, London

Gene Moore became famous as a window-display designer for Tiffany & Co. In 39 years with the firm, Moore decorated more than 5,000 windows, became friendly with artists including Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, and designed items such as this musical carousel

Estimate: $50,000-80,000
24 January, New York

More trending lots

Also on Christies.com

Richter in New York, Van Gogh in Detroit, Nara in LA — our guide to the must-see exhibitions in America in 2020

Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution, plus nine other shows in Europe that you can’t afford to miss this year

Auction calendar

Sister Gertrude Morgan in her prayer room at the Everlasting Gospel Mission in New Orleans, photographed by Guy Mendes in 1973. © Guy Mendes // Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976), The Mill, Pendlebury, 1943. Estimate: £700,000-1,000,000. Offered in the Modern British Art Evening Sale on 21 January at Christie’s in London. © The Estate of L.S. Lowry. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2020 // Bill Traylor (circa 1853-1949), Man on White, Woman on Red / Man with Black Dog (double-sided), 1939-1942. Estimate: $200,000-400,000. Offered in the Outsider Art sale at Christie’s in New York on 17 January // Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981), Zenia, 1979. Estimate: £10,000-15,000. Offered in The Delighted Eye: Works from the Collection of Allen and Beryl Freer on 23 January at Christie’s in London

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Christie's Online Magazine No.203