Koller View 2/22

10 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART Jara Koller jara.koller@kollerauctions.com ONLINE CATALOGUES www.kollerauctions.com 1 G eorges Braque (1882–1963). Nature morte à la guitare. 1920. Oil, sand and graphite on panel. 15 × 29.7 cm. Estimate: CHF 120 000/140 000 2 O ssip Zadkine (1890–1967). Le Messager. 1937. Bronze with black patina. Cast in 1971. H 114.5 cm. Estimate: CHF 80 000/120 000 3 J acques Lipchitz (1891–1973). Arlequin à la clari­ nette (1919). Circa 1970. Marble. Unique example. H 100.5 cm. Estimate: CHF 300 000/500 000 Preview of the Impressionist & Modern Art auction on 1 July 2022 In the echo chamber of Cubism Geometric shapes, such as in the works from our July auction illustrated here, continued to be a significant element of the visual arts two to three decades after the beginnings of Cubism. The animated dialogue between Picasso and Braque, as well as the progres- sive exhibitions organised by Kahnweiler and Vollard in Paris, inspired artists to constantly renew pictorial and sculptural experiments with cubic and fan-shaped forms. The heyday of Cubist sculpture occurred during the years between the world wars, after the transition into abstract painting made possible by Cézanne and then the Cubists themselves. The two sculptural works presented here come from this period. In his ‘Arlequin à la clarinette’, Jacques Lipchitz relies entirely on the three-dimensional representation of hard-edged in- ternal volumes (ill. 3). Rhythmically grouped in space, and despite the heterogeneous structure, together they compose a large form that can be viewed from all sides. The shadows cast on the white marble also help create a geometric three-dimensionality. Ossip Zadkine’s ‘Le Messager’, which stands on Paris’s Quai d’Orsay in a larger-than-life version, and of which smaller bronze casts also exist, presents a figure set almost classically in contrapposto (ill. 2). The artist inverts parts of the head and body, turns forms upside down and creates tensions between the inte- rior and exterior. Georges Braque’s ‘Still Life with Guitar’ is reminiscent of his own early Cubist collages, which explore thema- teriality and especially the corporeality of the subject (ill. 1). He integrates decorative elements by introduc- ing shading and the interplay of opaque and transpar- ent silhouettes, or by sculpting the still-wet paint by incising it. Thus the surface in the lower part of the painting resembles a carved piece of furniture, which Braque depicts in trompe-l’oeil. 1 2 © 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich © 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich