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Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction on November 18 presents an extraordinary selection of works spanning the breadth of Modern art, featuring significant works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Signac and Franz Marc, alongside remarkable masterworks in sculpture by Alberto Giacometti and Leonora Carrington.
For the first time ever, Sotheby’s ModernEvening Auction will also include a spectacular work by Tiffany Studios: The Danner Memorial Window, the most valuable work by Tiffany’s to ever be offered at auction. Leading the sale is Torse de jeune fille, an early odalisque by Henri Matisse that marks a pivotal moment in his artistic evolution. This work reflects the stylistic transformation Matisse embraced after settling in Nice in 1917, where he would remain for the rest of his life. It showcases his meticulous construction of lavish interiors, with richly patterned elements framing the figure — a hallmark of his celebrated Nice period.
Another highlight is Pablo Picasso’s Buste de femme (1949) ($9-12 million), a poignant portrait of Françoise Gilot, held in the esteemed Neumann Family collection since it was acquired from Picasso’s main Parisian dealer in 1951. Additionally, there is a vibrant masterpiece of pointillism by Paul Signac of Antibes ($6-8 million) as well as Leonora Carrington’s most significant and ambitious sculpture La Grande Dame (The Cat Woman) from 1951 ($5-7 million), emblematic of Carrington’s potent exploration of magic, alchemy and feminine power. The sale will also feature The Danner Memorial Window by Tiffany Studios ($5-7 million), coming to sale for the first time in over 20 years.
Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction Highlights
Henri Matisse, Torse de jeune fille, 1921–22 Estimate: $12-18 million The motif of the female nude, particularly of the Odalisque, is one of the most celebrated and enduring themes in Henri Matisse’s work. Torse de jeune fille marks an important early example of the style Matisse developed upon moving to Nice in 1917, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Saturated with the vivid hues and brilliance of Mediterranean light, the rich patterning framing the figure is a quintessential example of the lavish interiors Matisse meticulously fashioned in the backdrops of his work from this period. Comparable works from this period are rarely seen outside of institutional collections, making Torse de jeune fille a highly coveted painting. A similar subject achieved a record for the artist at auction in 2018, when Odalisque couchée aux magnolias sold for $80.8 million.
Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme, 1949 Estimate: $9-12 million Painted at the height of Pablo Picasso’s relationship with his partner and fellow artist Françoise Gilot, Buste de femme is a poignant portrait of one of the key figures in his life. Gilot was 40 years Picasso’s junior, yet already an established painter, when she first met the artist in May 1943. At the time, Picasso was still entangled in a turbulent affair with the Surrealist artist Dora Maar. Yet despite the existing relationship and the tumult of wartime Paris, Gilot and Picasso soon embarked upon a decade-long romance which would profoundly influence Picasso’s artistic output. After the war, Picasso and Gilot left Paris for the south of France in the summer of 1946, eventually settling in Vallauris where they would raise their two children, Claude and Paloma. The paintings and sculptures from this period reflect a heightened sense of vitality, chromatic richness, and artistic freedom following the turbulence and desolation of the war years. This painting comes with an illustrious provenance. Never before seen at auction, Buste de femme has been held in the Neumann Family Collection since 1951, when Morton G. Neumann – Picasso’s ‘Favorite American Collector’ as he was known – acquired the work from Galerie Louise Leiris.
Paul Signac, Antibes. La Pointe de Bacon, 1917 Estimate: $6-8 million Paul Signac’s Antibes. La Pointe de Bacon from 1917 captures the luminous essence of the Côte d’Azur. In 1913, Signac and his partner, painter Jeanne Selmersheim-Desgrange, settled in Antibes, marking the start of a prolonged wartime residence on the northern Riviera following his departure from his villa in Saint-Tropez. Antibes. La Pointe de Bacon exemplifies the chromatic richness and compositional harmony which characterize this intense period of artistic growth. For Immediate Release One of fewer than 20 completed compositions from the wartime period, Antibes. La Pointe de Bacon is among the largest of this group that remains in private hands. A masterpiece of Signac’s rarefied wartime oeuvre, this work is being offered at auction for the very first time, having remained in the same family collection for several decades.
Leonora Carrington, Temple of the Word, 1954 Estimate: $3-5 million Leonora Carrington’s Temple of the Word (1954) is the most celebrated work by the artist from the 1950s to appear at auction in more than a decade. Temple of the Word is dense with imagery drawn from Mayan cosmology, Irish folklore, alchemy, and medieval scientific texts. Carrington weaves these influences into an otherworldly scene, set against a stormy, mountainous backdrop that echoes the esoteric settings of works by her close friend Remedios Varo. Testament to its importance, the painting was chosen to illustrate the cover of Whitney Chadwick's seminal 1994 monograph on Carrington. The work last appeared at auction in 1993, where it set a record for the artist at that time.
Tiffany Studios, The Danner Memorial Window, executed in 1913 Estimate: $5-7 million This glass masterpiece – created at the height of the artistic careers of Louis Comfort Tiffany and designer Agnes Northrop – comes from the esteemed collection of Alan Gerry, a long-term connoisseur of American art. The composition of the Danner Memorial Window immerses the viewer in an idyllic landscape, featuring flourishing fruit-laden trees on the banks of a winding, flowing river set against a sunset sky. The scene is further enriched by a field of brilliant red poppies dappled with the last rays of sun. The painterly effects of the window's glass selection rival the supreme works of Impressionist masters, capturing the true essence of light as seen in nature. The window was designed by Agnes Northrop, who quickly established herself in the 1880s as one of Tiffany’s most trusted artists and leading window designers in a male-dominated field. It is among the most accomplished For Immediate Release examples of Tiffany Studios’ major window commissions and represents the most valuable work by Tiffany Studios ever offered at auction, achieving $2 million when it debuted at auction in 2000, a world auction record for a Tiffany window at the time.
Mark Rothko: No. 6, 1947 Estimate: $3-5 Million Rothko’s No. 6 (1947) is one of several works offered from the collection of American sculptor and painter Herbert Ferber. It is a powerful example of Rothko’s early Multiforms created during the year he met Ferber. This painting was gifted to Ferber that same year, marking the beginning of a close and intellectually rich friendship between the two artists. No. 6 stands as a testament to their shared exploration of abstraction and philosophy, with Rothko’s expressive layers of color resonating with Ferber’s own abstract pursuits. As one of Rothko’s early forays into his signature style, this painting is an iconic piece that captures the artist’s transition to the large color fields for which he would become renowned.
The most significant sculpture ever created by Leonora Carrington will be offered at Sotheby’s this November during the Modern Evening Sale. Steeped in the artist’s rich visual language, La Grande Dame (The Cat Woman) is an ambitious and imposing work capturing the essence of Carrington’s creative exploration in the 1950s, touching on themes of feminine power, mythology, and spiritual symbolism. Appearing at auction for the first time in almost 30 years, it is one of the most valuable works by Carrington to come to auction.
Born from a collaboration with the artist’s friend José Horna, the larger-than-life sculpture is adorned with bright, narrative vignettes painted by Carrington in her rich surrealist style, echoing both ancient and modern traditions. From her butterfly-like face and placid expression to her balletic arms and long, elegant fingers, La Grande Dame’s form includes a rich tapestry of cultural references, including ancient folklore and witchcraft, and evokes the Modern sculptors of the European avant-garde, through its gleaming finish, geometric forms, and masterful use of negative space.
In recent years, Carrington’s work, like that of many women artists of her generation, is finally experiencing market growth to levels that parallel her male peers, with Les Distractions de Dagobert, achieving $28.5 million at Sotheby’s in May. This marked a significant increase from her previous auction record of $3.3 million, set only two years earlier, establishing a new benchmark for the artist and affirming Carrington as the most valuable UKborn female artist, as well as one of the highest-selling Surrealist artists in history.
Sculpting Surrealism
Leonora Carrington’s distinct surrealist style was first formed during her earliest experiences discovering the movement at the first International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936 – where she found kindred artistic spirits in Salvador Dalí, André Breton, Man Rayand Max Ernst, who like her were fascinated by dreams, the subconscious and the occult. When she settled in Mexico City in 1942, she found a vibrant artistic community of both international artists fleeing World War II, and of Mexican modern artists, from Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera and critically, profound friendships with Remedios Varo and Surrealist photographer Kati Horna..
By 1951, Leonora Carrington was immersed in a period of furious productivity and occult studies alongside Varo and Horna, crystallizing her mature style as a painter and producing some of the most rich, inventive work of her career across a range of media.
In La Grande Dame Carrington masterfully weaves together iconographies of the divine feminine from across the globe; her kaleidoscopic references touch on cultures ranging from the ancient Egyptians and Celts to modern Mexico. She makes reference to Bastet, ancient Egyptian goddess of protection, pleasure, and the bringer of good health, who is often depicted as a cat – echoing the grandeur of Ancient Egyptian statues with its imposing size, geometric stylization, and vivid symbolism. Below the goddess are two bound figures allude to the history of witchcraft, peacefully situated in a lush grove with flowers and animals emerging from their chests, symbolizing rebirth. Surrounding them, creatures from Irish and Mexican lore – foxes, skunks, rabbits, and birds – represent spirits traversing between realms.
La Grande Dame was long held in the collection of storied Surrealist patron Edward James; in years since, it has been widely exhibited across the globe, featuring prominently in exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery and Tate Modern in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice among many others. Its prominence follows a resurgence of interest in the long-overlooked women artists associated with the Surrealist movement.
La Grande Dame stands as a manifestation of this golden period of creativity for Carrington, created in close collaboration with José Horna – a gifted woodworker and husband of Kati Horna; the work brings the artist’s otherworldly visions to life, in human scale. Adorned with lush narrative imagery throughout, the most vibrant scenes play cross the figure’s chest, where a woman with a goose-like head delicately holds an egg, which she offers to a smaller figure below. This image is echoed on La Grande Dame’s back – where, bathed in soft lavender, a wolf-like goddess cradles a dandelion spirit. The egg floats between them. A recurring, hopeful image for Carrington, the egg can embody the feminine power to create life – and, crucially, potential for rebirth and renewal.
Leonora Carrington
Born in 1917 to an upper-class Catholic family in rural Northwestern England, Leonora Carrington’s upbringing was shaped by strict social expectations and the magical folklore – first introduced to her by her Irish grandmother and nanny. After a rebellious youth and several school expulsions, Carrington began studying painting with Amédée Ozenfant in London in 1936. That same year, she met Max Ernst at a dinner party, igniting a romance that led her to Paris, where she joined the Surrealist circle. Known for her sharp wit and dedication to painting, Carrington quickly made her mark with vivid, gem-like works populated by fantastical creatures, culminating in her participation in the Exposition International du Surréalisme at the Galerie Beaux-Arts in 1938. By 1941, after a traumatic separation from Ernst and a period of confinement in a Spanish psychiatric institution, she married Mexican diplomat Renato Le Duc, who eventually brought her to Mexico City – her lifelong adopted home.
In Mexico City, Carrington found a thriving art scene that combined local traditions with international influences. The city’s avant-garde was dominated by two groups: the celebrated muralists, who helped shape a post-revolutionary national identity, and artists like Rufino Tamayo, Frida Kahlo, and Maria Izquierdo, who explored fantasy and folklore. Numerous European artists and intellectuals, including some from Carrington’s Parisian circle, sought refuge in Mexico during the 1940s, joining a creative milieu that embraced her vision. Unlike New York galleries, which often sidelined surrealist women, Mexico’s leading gallerist, Inés Amor, championed artists like Carrington. In Mexico, she grew close to Remedios Varo, Kati Horna, and Gunther Gerzso, sharing in Surrealist games and creative pursuits.
In her later decades, Leonora Carrington continued to delve into mystical and surreal realms, exploring themes of feminine power, mythology, and transformation that had defined her earlier career but with an even deeper resonance. She immersed herself in the burgeoning feminist movement in Mexico, and her work evolved to reflect her engagement with political, social, and ecological concerns. Even as her health declined, Carrington’s creative output remained dynamic, and with her final works and words, left an enduring legacy as a luminary of Surrealism and a powerful advocate for imagination’s role in reshaping reality