Christie’s announces the fall of Latin American Art with the live auction taking place November 21-22 and an online auction running November 13-21. Combined, the sales include over 200 lots, offering a comprehensive selection from the 18th-century colonial painting through modern and contemporary masterpieces, and together the sales expect to realize in excess of $ 18 million.
Leading the sale is a sumptuous canvas by Claudio Bravo (1936-2011), Lux Perpetua (3 Reds and Green), painted in 1999 (estimate: $ 900,000- $ 1,500,000), from the artist’s iconic cloth-study series christened with religious titles. The landmark series distills Biblical narratives into realist abstraction as Bravo’s richly painted drapery alludes to the robes of Renaissance painting and fabrics used in Roman Catholic liturgy. Also featured in the sale are three additional works by Bravo depicting the artist’s most iconic motifs-paper, drapery, and poetic realism-all of which were collected directly from the artist, including Papel aluminio Plata sobre tela Amarilla, painted in 2010 (estimate: $ 200,000-300,000).
Another top lot is Alfredo Ramos Martínez (1871-1946), Mujer con Flores, painted circa 1932 (estimate: $800,000-1,200,000). Completed during the artist’s voluntary exile in California, Ramos Martínez developed imagery that promoted a romanticized vision of Mexican culture as bucolic and timeless, as seen in the present work, which portrays a beautiful young woman surrounded lush hanging white floripondios.
Other highlights include Fernando Botero (b. 1932), The House, painted in 1995 (estimate: $800,000-1,200,000), illustrating a vignette of a traditional family group in almost surrealist proportions as the artist plays with scale and narrative; and for the first time at auction an outdoor piece by Jorge Jiménez Deredia (B. 1954), Crepúsculo, bronze, executed in 2008 (estimate: $300,000-400,000), which will be installed in the Rockefeller Center Plaza prior to the sale. e
Following the successful results of the selection offered in November 2016 and May 2017, this season’s sales feature the third installment CUBA MODERNA: Masterworks from a Private Collection. Included in this season’s offering are three masterpieces by Cuban artists: Mariano Rodríguez (1912-1990), Mujer con Gallo, painted in 1941 (estimate: $250,000-350,000); Amelia Peláez (1896-1968), Naturaleza muerta, executed in 1949 (estimate: $300,000-400,000); and René Portocarrero (1912-1985), Gestáltica, painted in 1946 (estimate: $180,000-220,000). Additionally, featured in the sale from a Distinguished Family Collection is Mario Carreño (1913-1999), The Farm, painted in 1945 (estimate: $200,000-300,000).
Additional modern highlights include two exquisite and vibrant works by Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991), Tres personajes en un interior, painted 1970 (estimate: $600,000-800,000) and Gemelos, painted in 1984 (estimate: $400,000-600,000); Joaquín Torres-García (1874-1949), Composición constructiva, painted in 1932 (estimate: $700,000-900,000); Diego Rivera (1886-1957) Paisaje, oil on canvas, painted circa 1919 (estimate: $150,000-200,000); and a unique double-sided folding-screen, painted by Augusto Torres (1913-1992) and Horacio Torres (1924-1976), Untitled, executed in 1960-61 (estimate: $120,000-180,000), among the most monumental furniture designs to be realized by members of the Taller Torres-García.
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Highlighting the contemporary section is an extremely rare early work by Carlos Cruz-Diez (B. 1923), Physichromie 163, executed in Paris in 1965 (estimate: $200,000-300,000); Carmen Herrera (B. 1915), Diagonal, painted in 1987, after a lost work from 1952 (estimate: $500,000-700,000); and Pablo Atchugarry (B. 1954), Untitled, executed in 2015 (estimate: $180,000-220,000).
