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Lot 12 - ÉMILE OTHON FRIESZ (1879-1949) THE PORT OF TOULON, 1926 Oil on canvas Signed lower left Contresigned, titled and dated on reverse Oil on canvas; signed lower left; signed again, titled and dated on the reverse 65 X 81,5 CM - 25 5/8 X 32 1/8 IN. Madame Odile Aittouares has confirmed the authenticity of this work. A notice of inclusion in the second volume of the Catalogue Raisonné currently in preparation will be given to the purchaser. "Friesz and his friends will no longer submit to the necessity, unquestioned by the Impressionists and their followers, of imitating sunlight; it will suffice for them to obtain its equivalence; they believe in pictorial light, in colored orchestration; to express a moving conception of the world, such is their goal, first, and no longer accessorily..." Maximilien Gauthier, Othon Friesz, Pierre Cailler, Geneva: 1957, pp. 48 and 149. This view of the port of Toulon, with its ochre, brown and blue tones, is emblematic of the work of painter Émile Othon Friesz. A native of Le Havre, the artist was particularly fond of the port scenes that punctuated his work. Throughout his career, he immortalized the ports of Le Havre, Antwerp, Dieppe and Toulon. In 1922, he made his first visit to Cap-Brun, near Toulon. Charmed by the peacefulness of the area, he bought a house there the following year. From 1926 onwards, he set up his studio in a fisherman's house on the Toulon harbor, and for the next three years devoted himself tirelessly to capturing the atmosphere of the city's beating heart at the beginning of the 20th century. The oil on canvas Le port de Toulon, which captures the view of the harbor from the studio window, dates from this fertile period. The vibrant brushstrokes and light are so characteristic of the artist. The effervescence of the port is brilliantly captured in the ripples of the water, the reflection of the buildings on the dock, the bustle of strollers and merchants on the quays, and the steam rising from a chimney in the distance.

Estim. 12 000 - 18 000 EUR

Lot 21 - MAURICE DENIS (1870-1943) CONVERSATION SACRÉE, DEVANT LA MER, À CONTRE-JOUR, CA. 1909 Oil on canvas Signed with the monogram lower right Oil on canvas; signed with the monogram lower right 92 X 65,5 CM - 36 1/4 X 25 3/4 IN. PROVENANCE Collection Madeleine Follain, daughter of the artist, France Private collection, France Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin Acquired from the latter by the current owner Madame Claire Denis has confirmed the authenticity of this work. A notice of inclusion in the Catalogue Raisonné de l'Œuvre de Maurice Denis currently in preparation will be given to the purchaser. MAURICE DENIS CONVERSATION SACRÉE, DEVANT LA MER, À CONTRE-JOUR, CIRCA 1909 "M. Maurice Denis [...] is an artist enamored of synthesis, from whom we can expect charming and subtle works. He is an archaic in the series he is showing us today; he has shut himself away in a beguinage of painting visited by the delicious rays of the setting sun. In silence, he watches the nuns with their bluish headdresses pass by in the brazenness of the lights, next to the golden Virgin - he celebrates the Catholic Mystery with devotion." Gustave Geffroy, "Les Indépendants", in. La Justice, 1892. "Painting is an essentially religious and Christian art. If this character has been lost in our godless century, it must be regained. And the way is to restore honor to the aesthetics of Fra Angelico, which alone is truly Catholic; which alone responds to the aspirations of pious, mystical, God-loving souls." Maurice Denis, Diary. Tome 1 (1885-1904), Edition La Colombe, Paris: 1957, p. 63.

Estim. 60 000 - 80 000 EUR

Lot 24 - ƒ NICOLAE GRIGORESCU (1838-1907) ROMANIAN PEASANT GIRL, CIRCA 1896 Oil on canvas pasted on Isorel Signed lower left Oil on canvas laid on masonite; signed lower left 57 X 39 CM - 22 5/8 X 15 3/8 IN. PROVENANCE Private collection, Romania Then by descent to current owner Private collection, USA RELATED WORKS Nicolae Grigorescu, Paysanne joyeuse, oil on canvas, 135 x 65 cm, National Art Museum of Romania Nicolae Grigorescu, Portrait de jeune paysanne, 1896, oil on panel, 31 x 23 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Agen, inv. 304 BR "The painter Nicolae Grigorescu was considered, even in his own lifetime, to be the one who knew better than anyone else how to transpose into paint the most characteristic images of the Romanian world. This assessment was part of a series of similar judgments made at the beginning of the 20th century, a period when all European countries were searching for their national identities and particularities. Romania, still the homeland of the peasant, found its ideal representative in Grigorescu. Of peasant origin himself, the painter of lyrical native landscapes and great portraitist of the dazzling, vital Romanian woman was considered by critics and exegetes to be a veritable "national monument", a place that still belongs to him today." Denia Matescu, "Un air de parenté: l'héritage français dans la peinture de Nicolae Grigorescu" in. Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) Itinéraire d'un peintre roumain de l'école de Barbizon à l'impressionnisme, Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Agen, April 22-August 14, 2006, ed. Somogy, Paris : 2006, p. 15

Estim. 30 000 - 50 000 EUR

Lot 25 - ƒ NATALIA GONTCHAROVA (1881-1962) POTTING, CIRCA 1908-1909 Oil on canvas Signed lower right Oil on canvas; signed lower right 53,5 X 85,5 CM - 21 X 33 5/8 IN. PROVENANCE SNZ Galleries, Germany Private collection, Israel BIBLIOGRAPHY Denise Bazetoux, Natalia Goncharova: son œuvre entre tradition et modernité, Tome 1, Édition Arteprint, Paris: 2011, described under no. 172 p. 69 and reproduced on p. 227 NATALIA GONTCHAROVA Potting, an oil on canvas executed by Natalia Goncharova around 1909-1910, is part of the artist's neo-primitive production. Having grown up in the Russian countryside, her iconography draws mainly on rural traditions, peasant ceremonies and the brightly-colored fabrics worn by the women of her childhood region. Neo-Primitivism, launched in 1907 with the collaboration of her husband Michel Larionov, favored primitive forms and subjects at a time when French art was considered by these two pioneers to be too influential in painting. The movement's aim was to return to Russian roots and folklore. The scene takes place in spring, the potting season for these peasant women who are busy potting flowers that have already bloomed. The focus here is on their labor, their patience and the precision of their gestures. The four women show no signs of fatigue, their clothes unblemished, idealized by the artist. This idealization of peasant labor is in line with the artistic research of nineteenth-century French painters such as Jules Breton and Jean-François Millet. Natalia Goncharova, with her academic training in painting, was of course familiar with these artists and their aspiration to depict a peasant world living in harmony with nature. Nineteenth-century Russian literature also emphasized the link between the peasant and nature as a link between Man and God. One example is the character of Levine in Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, a landowner and farm laborer raised by the author as a quasi-divine being and guardian of ancestral wisdom, at a time when the end of the century was marked by dazzling technological advances that Russia was struggling to keep up with. Natalia Goncharova's four peasant women here have the auras of spiritual beings, protectors of nature and life, who ensure the survival of plants by repotting them. The groves of flowers framing the scene highlight the peasant dwellings in the background, which seem haloed in golden light. Lilies, symbols of purity, beauty and serenity, are part of Natalia Goncharova's plastic rhetoric. Through the Russian peasant woman, the whole country is glorified. The two groves on either side of the stage resemble the curtains of a theater, an obvious analogy given that the artist began painting her first sets in 1908, and a few years later would become a painter for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Potting is a pivotal work, painted at a prolific period for Natalia Goncharova, which reveals her full artistic potential, between tradition and modernity. Le rempotage, is an oil on canvas painted by Natalia Goncharova around 1909-1910, as part of the artist's neoprimitive production. Growing up in the Russian countryside, her iconography stems mainly from rural traditions, peasant ceremonies and the brightly coloured fabrics worn by the women of the region where she grew up. NeoPrimitivism, launched in 1907 with the collaboration of her husband Michel Larionov, focuses on primitive forms and subjects at a time when French art is considered by these two pioneers to be too dominant in painting. The movement's aim was to return to Russia's roots and its folklore. The scene takes place in spring, the potting season for these peasant women who are busy potting flowers that have already blossomed. The focus here is on their labour, the patience and precision of their movements. The four women show no signs of fatigue, their clothes are spotless - they are idealised by the artist. This idealization of peasant labour is in line with the artistic research of nineteenth-century French painters such as Jules Breton and Jean-François Millet. Natalia Goncharova, who was trained as an academic painter, was of course familiar with these artists and their desire to depict a peasant world living in harmony with nature. Nineteenth-century Russian literature also emphasised the bond between the peasant and nature as a bond between Man and God. This is particularly true of the character of Levine in Leon Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, a landowner and farm labourer raised by the author as a quasi-divine being and guardian of ancestral wisdom, at a time when the end of the century was marked by a spectacular advance in technology that Russia

Estim. 100 000 - 150 000 EUR

Lot 26 - LÉONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA (1886-1968) SEATED WOMAN, 1914 Pencil on paper pasted on cardboard Dated and located '20 décembre 1914 à Paris' lower left Charcoal on paper laid on cardboard; dated and located lower left 34 X 26,5 CM - 13 3/8 X 10 3/8 IN. Sylvie and Casimir Buisson have confirmed the authenticity of this work. A certificate of authenticity will be given to the purchaser. Paris 1913. Just arrived in Paris, Tsuguharu Foujita visits Pablo Picasso's studio, introduced by his new friend, the painter Ortiz de Zarate. There, he discovered works from the Blue Period, Douanier Rousseau and Cubist paintings. This encounter shook all the young artist's certainties. "Picasso and his friends cleanse the plastic arts of their dusty appearance. Dreams and imagination are in power," he marveled. Foujita embraced the renewal of Western art. Eccentric and exotic, he became a central figure in the Montparnasse district, the epicenter of this artistic effervescence. Friendships were forged with Picasso, Rivera, Soutine and Modigliani - his studio neighbors - and Marie Vassilief. "I fell in with the best," he concluded. These encounters gave rise to cross-influences and portraits (Diego Rivera au café, Montparnasse, 1914, pencil on paper; Portrait de Chana Orloff, graphite on paper, 1915). In Portrait de Marie Vassilieff, the deconstructed figure of a woman at work is certainly close to the silhouette of Marie Vassilief (1884-1957). Artist, founder of the Académie Vassilief in 1912, manager of La Cantine des Artistes during the war, the frenetic "Cicada of the Steppes" distinguished herself in the creation of her "portrait dolls" in kid leather and papier-mâché. Produced in her studio at 21 avenue du Maine, their fragility meant that only around fifteen were kept. Reassigned in this way, this drawing could be a direct testimony to the artist's work. Quoted in Sylvie Buisson, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita, volume 2, ACR Édition, Courbevoie, 2011, p. 63 Quoted in Sylvie Buisson, La vie et l'œuvre de Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita, ACR Édition, Courbevoie, 1987, p. 40

Estim. 1 000 - 1 500 EUR

Lot 28 - JOSEPH SIMA (1891-1971), JOSEF ŠIMA KNOWN AS ÉCLUSE, 1950 Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right Countersigned and dated on reverse Oil on canvas; signed and dated lower right; signed again and dated on the reverse 61 X 50 CM - 24 X 19 3/4 IN. PROVENANCE Private collection, France By descent to the present owner EXHIBITION Turin, Biennale, Les peintres d'aujourd'hui France-Italie, 1951, listed in the exhibition catalog (n. p. ) JOSEPH SIMA LOCK, 1950 In 1950, a few years after the end of the Second World War - a period during which Joseph Sima had stopped painting - the Czech-born artist, who had lived in France since 1921, moved into a small apartment near Porte d'Orléans in Paris. He returns from a trip to Slovakia, where he revisits the landscapes of his childhood that inspired so many of his drawings. His series "Les Plaines de Brie" (1950-1953) begins, in which Sima immerses himself in the memories of this trip, as well as those of the landscapes of Yèbles in the Brie region. The oil on canvas Écluse, dated 1950, is part of this series of views with flattened perspectives, soft geometric shapes and light azure and golden colors. The simplified, hieratic forms of the houses are reminiscent of another decisive work in the artist's artistic development: Le Havre, 1923. The cube-shaped houses seem to float on the water's edge, and the two-dimensional view of the roofs is a reference to the little orange-roofed houses in the Montagne Saint-Victoire valley painted so many times by Cézanne. As in Le Havre, Écluse is devoid of organic elements. No grass, no trees, just water and houses. These two visions, far removed from reality, are dreamlike landscapes that seem to have merged in the artist's memory. In Écluse, the transparency of the colors and shapes and the "tracing" effect add to this dreamlike vision. Held in the same French collection since the 1960s, Écluse is an important testimony to three pillars of Sima's artistic production: the elements - air, earth, fire and water - landscape and memory. This oil on canvas also represents a pivotal moment for the artist, who gradually moved away from surrealism and towards abstraction. In 1950, just a few years after World War II - a period when Josef Sima had stopped painting - the Czech-born artist, who had lived in France since 1921, moved into a small apartment in Porte d'Orléans in Paris. It is because of a trip in Slovakia, where Sima saw his childhood landscapes, that the artist had found inspiration again for his drawings. At this moment he starts the series "Les Plaines de Brie" (1950-1953). The artist depicts his travel memories from Slovakia and from Yèbles, a region in Brie. Écluse is an oil on canvas dated 1950 from this series, where the artist shows us flattened views with soft geometric shapes and light azure and golden colours. This work reminds us of Le Havre, painted by Sima in 1923. Like Écluse, this painting was already representing a lock with simplified shapes and a source of water in the foreground. Houses seem to be floating on the water. They are painted in a cubist way and with two dimensional roofs, which is a reference to Cézanne who used to paint the orange roofs of the Sainte-Victoire mountain houses. As in Le Havre, there are no organic elements in Écluse, no grass, no trees, only water and houses. This painting is not depicting true landscapes, it is a dreamlike vision inspired by the artist's memories. The use of transparency for the colours and the shapes, increase the dreamlike vision. Écluse stayed in the same French collection since 1960. This painting is the perfect illustration of Sima's artistic production because of the reference of his usual topics, which are the four elements, the landscape, and the memory. This oil on canvas is also a turning point in his artistic carrier as it is the beginning of his abstraction era and his separation with surrealism. "In addition to these childhood memories, what was decisive in my work as a painter were the encounters I made: [...] The discovery of Cézanne, for example, was crucial for me. What the century suddenly taught me was the decisive reversal of painting technique that Cézanne had brought about. The sky was painted with the same insistence as the picture's foreground, so that each element was endowed with weight and as if subjected to a perpetual falling away." Josef Síma, Interview with Jacques Henric, Les Lettres françaises, November 13, 1968.

Estim. 100 000 - 150 000 EUR

Lot 36 - ¤ HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954) NÉZY, 1941 Indian ink on paper Signed and dated '10/41' lower left India ink on paper; signed and dated lower left 51 X 38 CM - 20 1/8 X 15 IN. Monsieur Georges Matisse has confirmed the authenticity of this work. It is registered in his archives. A certificate can be obtained on request. PROVENANCE Private collection, France By descent to the present owner The Nézy double-portrait, painted in Nice in the early 1940s when Henri Matisse set up his studio in the former Hôtel Régina, depicts Nézy-Hamidé Chawkat. A Turkish princess and great-granddaughter of the last Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid, Nézy moved to Nice with her grandmother after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic. The young woman came to the attention of Matisse, who came across her in the streets of Nice. The painter was struck by her beauty and asked her to pose for him, which she accepted. As Hilary Spurling recounts: "[Matisse] asked her if he could paint her, seeking her grandmother's formal permission like a suitor asking for her hand in marriage." H. Spurling, Matisse the Master, London, 2005, p. 410. The princess was to be his favorite model for almost two years, a prolific period for Matisse, who embarked on the project of publishing Thèmes et Variations with editor Alain Fabiani. This collection symbolizes the artist's creative passion, with lithograph reproductions of 158 selected drawings. The Nézy double-portrait was probably intended for inclusion in the 1943 publication. At this time, Matisse was at the peak of his art, establishing himself as a remarkable draftsman with a delicate, expressive line. "The primary virtue of drawing, as of engraving, is clarity, its directness, linked to the sharpness of the line. Each gesture, simple but entirely controlled, is animated by instinct, but it is logic that dominates, even if one has the impression of impromptu..." Matisse, Le point, N° XXI-4e année N° spécial Matisse, July 1939

Estim. 30 000 - 50 000 EUR

Lot 37 - SONIA DELAUNAY (1885-1979) RYTHME COULEUR, 1973 Oil on canvas Signed lower right Oil on canvas; signed lower right 65 X 54 CM - 25 5/8 X 21 1/4 IN. Mr. Richard Riss and Mr. Jean Louis Delaunay have confirmed the authenticity of this work. It is registered in their archives under n° F. 1896. A certificate of authenticity dated March 18, 2024 will be given to the buyer. PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist's family Then by descent to the current owner SONIA DELAUNAY RYTHME COULEUR, 1973 Unpublished on the art market, Sonia Delaunay's oil on canvas Rythme Couleur was painted in Paris in 1973. It is an exceptional testimony to the artist's work and her application of the theory of simultanimse (or Orphisme, according to Apollinaire) to painting. While Sonia Delaunay was often described by critics as a "decorator", this canvas serves as a reminder of the importance of the research of a great painter above all else. Blue, white, red, black, green, gray: six colors, including those of the French flag. 1973: six decades after the Delaunays' first research into simultaneity in painting. In the background, a stylized propeller: modernity, movement, rotation. Rythme Couleur painted by Sonia Delaunay in Paris in 1973 confirms a lifetime of plastic research. The colors and shapes arranged by the artist on the canvas are the expression of the theory of simultanism developed by Robert Delaunay in 1912-1913. This theory was espoused by the couple Sonia and Robert, who initiated a fruitful artistic dialogue in the early years of their life together. According to them, light dissolves form and creates the sensation of color in motion. This "synchromatic" movement can be achieved on canvas by contrasting colors and shapes. In his theoretical writings, Robert Delaunay acknowledges his debt to Michel-Eugène Chevreul's De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs, published in 1839, in which the author precisely dissects the mechanisms by which the eye reacts to color stimuli. Color is at the heart of their pictorial research, around which poetry, total art and the desire for art for all revolve. A new path was opened up in the field of art, a movement that Apollinaire called "Orphism", and which he defined as a new language rivaling that of the poets, of whom Orpheus was the tutelary figure. Apollinaire wrote in L'Intransigeant in 1913: "Much has already been said about Orphism. This is the first time this trend has manifested itself. It brings together painters of very different characters, all of whom, in their research, have arrived at a more interior, more popular, more poetic vision of the universe and of life. This trend is not a sudden invention, but the slow, logical evolution of Impressionism, Divisionism, the Fauvist school and Cubism". Simultanism or Orphism is part of the research into Cubism initiated by Braque and Picasso in 1907. Avant-garde artists such as Sonia Delaunay moved away from mimesis by decomposing figures. Figures and objects gradually disappeared from the canvas to reveal motifs, colors and lines. They all shared a common desire to break with the art of composition, but also to break down the boundaries between artistic disciplines. In this way, the language of music was gradually introduced into the visual arts, notably through Kandinsky's lyrical abstraction. The paintings would be called Composition, Fugue, Rythme Couleur. The six colors used by Sonia Delaunay in Rythme Couleur resonate with each other, altering and complementing each other. Blue, for example, complements red. The fields of force that arise between the colors move the shapes and create an optical effect. Rhythm is then introduced by the repetition of shapes and colors. Indeed, it was in the 1930s that rhythm became central to Sonia Delaunay's work. She cites light, music and dance as her main sources of inspiration, telling Roger Bordier that "the undulating, continuous rhythm of the tango incites the colors to move". The repetition of semicircles in Rythme Couleur is intended to represent the rotational movement of propellers, considered a symbol of modernity in the early twentieth century. This stylized motif is recurrent in Sonia Delaunay's work, and recalls one of the founding episodes of artistic modernity: Marcel Duchamp's visit to the Salon de l'Aéronautique in 1912. Stunned by the aircraft propellers, the artist prophesied the death of painting to his fellow artists. The propellers did not have the same effect.

Estim. 150 000 - 200 000 EUR

Lot 45 - AUGUSTIN LESAGE (1876-1954) UNTITLED, 1944 Oil on canvas Signed, dated 'Mai 1944' and located 'Burbure' lower right Annotated 'Toile peinte pendant l'occupation sous les bruits des moteurs' above and 'Énigmes des siècles/ En souvenir d'un grand passé, Thèbes, Memphis/ La Haute et la Basse Egypte/ Lion rugissant gardien des temples' below Oil on canvas; signed, dated and located lower right; annotated upper and lower part 185 X 135 CM - 72 7/8 X 52 3/8 IN. Mr. Pierre Guénégan has confirmed the authenticity of this work, which will be included in the catalog raisonné currently in preparation. A certificate of authenticity will be issued to the purchaser. PROVENANCE Private collection, France BIBLIOGRAPHY Olivier Chevrillon, Annick Notter, Didier Deroeux, Michel Thévoz, Augustin Lesage 1876-1954, cat. exp. Arras, Lausanne, Béthune, 1988 - Florence, 1989, Philippe Sers Editeur, Paris: 1988, plate 169, cat. 157, reproduced p. 177 and described p. 212 "Ancient Egypt plays an important role in the life and work of Augustin Lesage, who was introduced to its myths during his time in Spiritist circles. Indeed, this ancient civilization enjoys a fascination among many currents of thought, who see the Egyptians as the holders of a level of spiritual initiation and knowledge lost forever. This influence had a powerful impact on the artist's work. As early as 1925, Egypt began to appear in the works of the painter-miner, who gave it an increasingly important place as he became more involved in spiritualist circles. Like the representational conventions of the ancient Egyptians, Lesage's painting is marked by the use of symmetry and the organization of registers, which appear in his very first canvas. He also shares with Egyptian art a taste for monumentality and attention to detail. [...] Augustin Lesage saw himself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian artist, delivering the secrets of ancient Egypt through painting. From 1930 onwards, the artist literally quotes Egyptian objects in his work, occupying almost the entire canvas." Cédric Magniez "Augustin Lesage et l'Égypte" in. Lesage, Simon, Crépin, peintres, spirites et guérisseurs, cat. exp. LaM, October 4, 2019-January 5, 2020, Villeneuve d'Ascq: 2019, p. 176.

Estim. 40 000 - 60 000 EUR
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