Christie's Online Magazine No.258

From: Christie's - Saturday Mar 13, 2021 11:32 am

Christie’s

Picasso portraits, Basquiat in Hong Kong, The life of Max Ernst, Rare Amrita Sher-Gil, Rising stars of figurative art, A vast ‘Vase’ carpet, and more |

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Warrior — the most valuable Western artwork ever offered in Asia

‘They are windows into Picasso’s life’: portraits of the artist’s lover and his wife, 30 years apart

‘

‘I stick to my intolerant ideas’: how Amrita Sher-Gil blazed a trail for modern Indian art

Paris, Boston, Berlin… the vast 400-year-old ‘Vase’ carpet that is now scattered across the globe

The new, the rediscovered and the rising stars of figurative art: eight names for your radar

Black magic, beautiful women, and birds galore: the obsessions of ‘the complete Surrealist’

More stories

Editor’s picks

In this 16th-century bronze from Tamil Nadu, the god Shiva appears as a beggar, in a guise known as Shiva Bhikshatana. To atone for severing Brahma’s fifth head, Shiva has to wander the universe soliciting alms — hence the bowl he is carrying in one of his four hands

Estimate: $200,000-300,000
17 March, New York

The bold yellow that dominates Jagdish Swaminathan’s 1982 painting Untitled (Bird, Tree and Mountain Series) helps to give the work its otherworldly, meditative stillness. Such non-naturalistic use of colour has deep roots in Indian art, being a key feature of the Basholi miniature paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries

Estimate: $80,000-120,000
17 March, New York

This pink gold watch from around 1950 is by the Swiss company Eska, named for the initials of its founder, Silvan Kocher. The figure depicted on the enamelled dial appears to be Odysseus resisting the call of the Sirens by having himself tied to the mast of his ship

Estimate: $15,000-25,000
until 23 March, Online

This Chinese ceramic model of a pavilion dates from the first half of the 20th century. Lavish details include coiled dragons on the two central pillars, a descending phoenix on each of the outer ones, and rows of candy-like tiles in yellow, pink and turquoise on the roof

Estimate: $30,000-50,000
18 March, New York

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-88), Warrior, 1982. Estimate: HK$240-320 million (US$31-41 million). Offered in We Are All Warriors: the Basquiat Auction on 23 March 2021 at Christie’s in Hong Kong // Left: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Femme nue couchée au collier (Marie-Thérèse), 1932. Estimate: £9,000,000-15,000,000. Right: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Femme assise dans un fauteuil noir (Jacqueline), 1962. Estimate: £6,000,000-9,000,000. Both offered in 20th Century Evening Sale on 23 March 2021 at Christie's in London. Artworks: © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2021 // Amrita Sher-Gil and Denyse Proutaux, Piscine Molitor, Paris, 1932. Photo: Courtesy the Proutaux-Dyvorne Family // Nicole Eisenman (b. 1965), Mermaid Catch, 1996. Estimate: £400,000-600,000. Offered in Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on 25 March 2021 at Christie's in London / Jammie Holmes (b. 1984), Untitled (aunt), 2020. Estimate: £35,000-55,000. Offered in Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on 25 March 2021 at Christie's in London / Bob Thompson (1937-1966), Upside-Down Man on Donkey (Dream), 1963. Estimate: £20,000-30,000. Offered in First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art Online, 18-29 March 2021 / Claire Tabouret (b. 1981), Les Madones (étude 3) (The Madonnas (Study 3)), 2014. Estimate: £20,000-30,000. Offered in Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale on 25 March 2021 at Christie's in London // Max Ernst sits in a high-backed chair, a cigarette in his hand, in the house he shared with then-wife Peggy Guggenheim, New York, 1942. Photograph by Arnold Newman / Getty Images

Christie's Newsletters

Christie's Online Magazine No.258