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Pablo Picasso, Woman with a Watch
Oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm, 1932
The expected transaction price is more than $120 million
On November 9, 2023 (Beijing time), Sotheby's New York will present a historic auction "The Exceptional Collection of Emily Fisher Lando", the highlight of which is Pablo Picasso's Woman with a Watch. This masterpiece of Picasso's "Year of Miracles" is estimated at $120 million. It is undoubtedly the most watched lot in the global art market this year.
Emily Fisher Lando's home in Manhattan in 2002. IMAGE CREDIT: CHESTER
Emily Fischer Lando, a member of the Whitney Museum's Board of Trustees, has been collecting it for more than half a century
"Woman with a Watch" is part of the collection of the late American collector Emily Fischer Lando. She was a longtime member of the board of trustees of the Whitney Museum of American Art, and died in March at the age of 102.
Emily Fisher Lando's acquisition was in 1968, just as her collecting career was just beginning. It was a bold decision for a novice collector, but she bought it on the spot. For more than 50 years, the painting hung above the fireplace in her New York home and became the cornerstone of her collection.
Emily Fisher Lando's collection of modern and contemporary art showcases some of the most inspiring artists of the twentieth century. Beginning in the 1960s, Fisher Landau began collecting important works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Pierre Mondrian, Jean Arp, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Paul Klee and Louis Nevillesson. She is committed to building deep relationships with artists: from post-war masters such as Ed Rucha and Jasper Jones, to pioneering artists of the early 21st century such as Glenn Ligan and Mark Tensey, Landau buys works directly from these artists to supplement her collection.
Beginning in the mid-'80s, Lando had a number of in-depth collaborations with Whitney: she was a member of the Takeover Committee, funded the museum's prestigious Whitney Biennial, and donated nearly 400 works in 2010. The fourth floor of the Breuer building is still named after her. An unsparing philanthropist, she also serves on the boards and committees of a number of cultural institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the SITE Sante Fe Museum, the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, and the Metropolitan Opera. In 1986, Fisher Landau was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in recognition of her patronage of the arts.
Julian Dawes, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Sotheby's Americas, said: "Picasso's Woman with a Watch is one of the most important works in Emily Fisher Lando's original collection, and it is a masterpiece by all accounts. Painted in 1932 – Picasso's 'Year of Wonders' – it is full of joy and passion, but at the same time deliberate and thoughtful. Bold primary colors run wild on the five-foot-tall canvas. Emily Fisher Lando's Picasso is not only an outstanding work from an illustrious period, but also a defining work in the history of Western art. ”
Portrait of a lover's muse – from Picasso's masterpiece of creating "The Year of Miracles".
There were many notable years in Picasso's long and dramatic career, but 1932 stood out. In 2018, the Tate held an exhibition dedicated to Picasso's 1932 paintings.
In 2018, Tate Modern in London presented Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy
That year, at the age of 50, Picasso was at the "peak of his artist's achievement", with his first retrospective and touring to the Kunsthalle Zurich in September. During this period, the first volume of a large chronicle was published; In December of the same year, the surrealist magazine Minotaure photographed its studio. In addition, the love life also indirectly contributed to Picasso's prolific year.
Scene of Picasso's solo exhibition "Picasso 1932 - Love, Fame, Tragedy", Tate Modern, London, 2018
On January 24, 1932, Picasso painted The Dream. It is one of a series of reclining and seated female nudes inspired by his lover Mary Teresa Walter for a retrospective in Paris. At that time, Picasso was faced with an unhappy marriage with ballerina Olga Khokhlova and a secret affair with the young Marie-Thérèse Walter. Although Marie-Theresa's identity was not made public until 1958, Picasso's 30 new works for the retrospective feature a large number of nudes of brightly coloured and plump women depict her secret lover. His pace of creation is almost fanatical, with 5 of his works completed in just 7 days.
Picasso, Dream, 1932, Oil on canvas, 129.9 x 96.8 cm
"Woman with a Watch" is the masterpiece of the "Miracle Year", and the protagonist of the painting is none other than Mary Teresa Walter. Among the many great paintings created by Picasso in the same year, this work is particularly striking.
In this work, the most distinctive feature is the eye-catching watch that the artist placed on Marie Deresa's wrist.
Picasso produced a number of paintings in a variety of styles during his long career, and only three of the known paintings depict watches, including this one, which meant a lot to him. He had a penchant for exceptional clock expressions, and in fact he owned three of the world's finest watches at the time. As a result, he depicts his young lover wearing his treasured watches, giving her the highest honour – and Marie de Resa is no exception, with her "almost superstitious reverence" for watches. At the same time, the appearance of the watch coincides with the centuries-old tradition of Vanitas, which symbolizes love and the transience of life.
Pablo Picasso, Woman with a Watch, oil on canvas, 130 x 97 cm, 1932
Not only that, but the watch also embodies Picasso's focus on a broader concept of time and space. In fact, while Einstein was pondering these concepts, Picasso was also exploring new ways to express them through painting. Thus, in addition to its symbolic significance, the importance of this watch is a testament to Picasso's participation at this crucial moment in the history of European thought.
Can "Woman with a Watch" make new history at auction around the world?
As the most "expensive" artist in the world, Picasso's works of more than 100 million dollars are currently auctioned in New York, and are sold at Christie's and Sotheby's New York auctions.
The current auction record for Picasso's paintings is on May 11, 2015, and "The Woman of Algiers" sold for $179 million (equivalent to about 1.112 billion yuan) at Christie's in New York, which is also the highest record for Picasso's works so far.
On May 11, 2015, "The Woman of Algiers" sold for $179 million at Christie's in New York
Picasso's first auction to exceed $100 million was in 2004, when Sotheby's New York's "Boy with a Pipe" sold for $104 million. It set an auction record for an artist at the time.
Picasso, "The Boy with the Pipe", 1905
In 2018, Christie's New York Spring Auction, "Girl with a Flower Basket" sold for $115 million.
Picasso, "Girl with a Flower Basket", 1905
In 2021, also Christie's New York Spring Auction, another work, "Woman Sitting by the Window", was predicted to be as high as $55 million, and finally sold for $103.4 million. It is worth mentioning that this work was also completed in 1932, and the woman in the painting is his "blonde muse", Mary Dresse Walter, which became the most expensive work at auction in the world that year.
Picasso, Woman Sitting by the Window, 1932
Completed in the same year and modelled after Mary Dries Walter, "Reclining Nude" sold for $67.541 million at Sotheby's New York in 2022.
Picasso, "Reclining Nude", 1932
In recent years, Picasso's work has also achieved good results in Asia. A number of works have been sold for more than HK$100 million.
In 2021, Picasso's "Woman with a Knee" sold for HK$191.6 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong Autumn Auction. It is Picasso's auction record in Asia to date.
Picasso, Woman with Knee, 1954, 92.2 × 73 cm
In the 2022 spring auction, Sotheby's Hong Kong's "Dora Marr" sold for HK$169 million.
In 2023, in the 50th anniversary spring auction of Sotheby's Asia, the lead lot "Woman in a Chair" was sold for 93.0865 million Hong Kong dollars.
Picasso, Woman in a Chair, oil on canvas, 1948, 92 x 73 cm
At this year's Christie's Shanghai 10th Anniversary Auction, the lead lot was Picasso's 1969 "Head of a Man", which sold for 7.802 million yuan at the Shanghai auction, which was Picasso's highest-priced work in Chinese mainland.
With an overestimate of $120 million, the 1932 "Year of Miracles" masterpiece Woman with a Watch will be able to create another miracle of Picasso's high-priced work and make new history at auction around the world? It will be the grand occasion of the global art market this year.
Sotheby's New York
The "Emily Fisher Lando's Treasures" auction
November 8 (New York time)
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