On Wednesday, May 10 at 11am, Doyle will hold an auction of Impressionist & Modern Art. The sale presents American and European paintings, drawings and sculpture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Guy Pène du Bois (American, 1884-1958), Protectrice, 1921, Signed, dated and inscribed, 25 x 20 inches. The Collection of Willa Kim and William Pène du Bois. Est. $100,000-200,000.
Highlighting the auction is a selection of important works by Guy Pène du Bois from the Collection of Willa Kim and William Pène du Bois, the son of Guy Pène du Bois. These pieces have remained in the artist's family since they were painted and are completely fresh to market.
Although Guy Pène du Bois was an emphatic advocate for new movements in art in the early 20th century, his own work cannot be easily associated with any of them. His idiosyncratic style, with its simplified forms and resonant color, as well as his often satiric point of view, are clearly evident in a remarkable 1921 image of two young women entitled Protectrice (est. $100,000-200,000).
Painted while Pène du Bois was living in France five years after the blunt, almost confrontational and brilliantly colored Protectrice, the carefully balanced composition of On the Balcony conveys the understated sophistication of a chic couple in conversation. While the muted palette and static forms would seem to suggest a quiet intimacy, the woman gazes out at the viewer as though discomfited by such an intimate moment (est. $75,000-150,000).
Works by American artists from other collections and estates include examples by Joseph Raphael, Everett Shinn, Aiden Lassell Ripley, Daniel Ridgway Knight, Guy Carleton Wiggins, Eric Sloan, Paul Cadmus and Ogden Minton Pleissner.
European works to be offered feature a bronze, Frère et Soeur (Brother and Sister), by Auguste Rodin (1814-1917) (est. $100,000-200,000). In 1890, when this work was conceived, Rodin was at the height of his heroic creative powers. That this artist -- in the midst of his decades-long work on the epic Gates of Hell, and having recently completed his moving and tragic Burghers of Calais -- was also capable of producing this exquisite essay in tenderness is a testament to his remarkable emotional range.
European paintings offer a view of the harbor at Brest from the early 1870s by Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) (est. $50,000-70,000). Born on the Normandy coast, Boudin devoted his art to the sea and its harbors and beaches, with all of their nuances of light and color. This work shows his mastery of the subtle effects of light and atmosphere on an overcast day.
Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927) is best known today as a landscape painter, but like Rodin, he, too, could express the warmth of family love. Madame Guillaumin et sa Fille from the early 1890s of the artist's wife and daughter enjoying a conversation outdoors is a testament to his powers in that vein, from the Estate of Mary Kettaneh (est. $20,000-40,000).
Also featured are works by Odilon Redon, Charles Burton Barber, Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin, Maurice Utrillo, Pablo Picasso, Paul Henry and Wassily Kandinsky.
The public is invited to the exhibition on view May 6 – 8, and May 9 by appointment. Doyle is located at 175 East 87th Street in Manhattan. The catalogue is available online at Doyle.com