ART IN MOTION
24
LEFT: Group of Mezcala
fi gures in the home of
Professor Ilya Prigogine.
© Christie's Images Limited,
2018.
MIDDLE LEFT: Temple
model. Mezcala, Mexico.
300–100 BC.
© Christie's Images Limited,
2018.
To be offered by Christie's, Paris,
in Arts précolombiens – collection
Prigogine, April 9, 2018,
est. 20,000–40,000 euros.
RIGHT: Reliquary
guardian fi gure. Fang,
Gabon.
Ex Paul Guillaume; exhibited at
Galerie Durand-Ruel, New York,
in 1933.
© Christie's Images Limited,
2018.
To be offered by Christie's, Paris,
in Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie,
April 10, 2018, est. 1,500,000–
2,000,000 euros.
BELOW: Standing fi gure.
Mezcala, Mexico.
300–100 BC.
© Christie's Images Limited,
2018.
To be offered by Christie's, Paris,
in Arts précolombiens – collection
Prigogine, April 9, 2018,
est. 70,000–90,000 euros.
Spring Sales at Christie’s
PARIS—At Christie’s most recent auction, several
lots from the Vérité Collection achieved record
prices. The auction house isn’t resting on its laurels
and is promising to build on the resounding
successes of its sales in recent years. This spring,
it is broadening its ambitions by reactivating its
Pre-Columbian art department for public sales.
The fi rst sale featuring ancient American art will
be held in Paris on April 9, 2018, and will feature
nearly 150 pieces from the prestigious collection
assembled by Ilya Prigogine (1917, Moscow–
2003, Paris), winner of the Nobel Prize for
chemistry in 1997, and his wife, Maryna. They
had a particular interest in Mezcala and Chontal
works from the Guerrero region, as well as in Olmec
art, and put together a collection that is unique in
many respects and may rightly be characterized as
an ode to stonework.
Christie’s various owners sale will be held the
following day, April 10, and will feature artworks
from Africa and Oceania, complemented by
additional objects from the Pre-Columbian Americas.
A highlight here will be a superb Fang reliquary
guardian fi gure that was formerly the property of
Paul Guillaume and—as if that provenance is not
enough—was included in Galerie Durand-Ruel’s
landmark 1933 exhibition, which was recently the
subject of an homage show by Bernard de Grunne
and Almine Rech. Objects from two other particularly
fi ne collections will be on hand as well. The fi rst is that
of Belgian artist Guy Berbé, an afi cionado of the arts
of the DR Congo who developed a particularly keen
eye for Mangbetu and Kongo works, as the selection
of twenty works on offer at Christie’s clearly shows.
The second is that of Hans Sonnenberg, well-known
collector of both contemporary and tribal art, most
notably of New Ireland art. This promises to be yet
another vividly successful sale.
Christie’s Masterworks
NEW YORK CITY—For the third year running, in
mid May Christie’s will hold its now-annual sale of
masterworks. Held in conjunction with its major sales
of modern and post-war contemporary art and previewed
within them at its Rockefeller Center location,
this small but fine sale features a selection of
about a dozen tightly curated masterpieces from Africa
and Oceania. The results for the past two sales
have been striking. As we go to press, Christie’s has
not yet released the contents of the sale or its precise
date, but be sure to keep an eye out for when they
unveil it.