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Provenance: Galerie Lou Cosyn, Brussels, by 1947.
Private Collection, Paris.
Daniel Malingue, Paris.
Galerie Agora, Paris.
Andrew Crispo Gallery, New York.
Private collection, Scandinavia.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's London, 4 February 2003, lot 45.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
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Exhibited: Brussels, Galerie Lou Cosyn, Exposition Magritte, May - June 1947.
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Literature: D. Sylvester, ed., René Magritte, Catalogue raisonné, vol. IV, Gouaches, Temperas, Watercolours and Papiers Collés 1918-1967, Brussels, 1994, no. 1232, p. 87 (illustrated).
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Notes: Collecting is itself an art.
Many great collections have been built on a single guiding principle: great collectors who focus on one subject and plough a single exacting furrow. Others choose a much more complex route to greatness by choosing the very best in many fields to create strong artistic tensions that deliver great visual harmony through dramatic contrasts. This is just such a collection, built with great care over a period of 30 years by two passionate collectors who bought the very best in a variety of fields. The resulting collection is a tribute to their eye, their patience and a deep interest in the great collectors of the past.
Over 150 artworks spanning over two millennia were carefully chosen - covering artifacts from the ancient world, medieval Europe and Post-War America. The provenances of these pieces are quite remarkable: a viewing of the collection will take you through objects owned by Henry VIII, Lord Astor of Hever, Lord Elgin and Cardinal Wolsey. In the collection, are a number of very personal gifts from artists to friends or members of their families: a Juan Gris gifted by the artist to Léonce Rosenberg to celebrate the opening of his Paris Exhibition in 1919, a Juan Miró gifted to the greatest typographer of the 20th Century, Ilya Zdanevich, and a Léger of 1925 gifted by the artist to Maja Sacher-Hoffman, one of the greatest Swiss Collectors of 20<->th<-> Century art. I should also mention the Yves Tanguy gifted to his mother at the height of his career in 1921 or the casket given by Henry VIII to his wife Anne Boleyn. There are countless interesting associations and friendships to be discovered throughout the collection.
Provenance and great quality are not the only prerequisites of a memorable collection. There must always be an added factor that raises a collection of great works beyond a simple A-Z of artists. In this instance, the word that comes to mind is 'taste'. This is particularly evident in the interior photographs taken at the owner's home, where the superb 1946 Miró hangs majestically above an Alexander Calder sculpture juxtaposed with a standing Tribal figure. As great paintings by Picasso, Gris, Miró, Meléndez and Léger were acquired, so they were lovingly re-presented in an array of antique frames from the 16<->th<->, 17<->th<-> and 18<->th<-> Centuries.
There are also surprises - objects that amuse and that capture the imagination. None more so than the beautiful bronze lion created in Northern Germany in the 13<->th<-> Century. Its modernism is splendid and it is fascinating to witness how even the most classical of objects can create a dialogue with 20<->th<-> Century paintings. In so many ways this is a 21<->st<-> Century collection; one which pays homage to the great classical artistic movements and which builds very clever bridges between periods and genres. As we move forward and the world becomes ever more multicultural, collections like this one, designed around contrasts and contradictions will become more prevalent and an emblem of great taste.
It has been a great pleasure for the Christie's team to work on such a fascinating collection and we look forward to the New Year exhibitions at the Museum of Mankind and here at our Headquarters at King Street in January.
Jussi Pylkkänen
President & Chairman, Christie's Europe, Middle East, Russia and India
Artist's Resale Right ("droit de Suite").If the Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer also agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
René Magritte (1898-1967)
Shéhérazade
signed 'magritte' (lower right)
gouache and watercolour on paper laid down on card
9¼ x 7½ in. (23.5 x 19 cm.)
Executed in 1947
