Etude pour 'La Montagne' (recto); Etude d'un couple (verso)

Details

Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola) (1908-2001)
Etude pour 'La Montagne' (recto); Etude d'un couple (verso)
pencil on paper (recto); pen and India ink on paper (verso)
13 5/8 x 10½ in. (34.5 x 26.7 cm.)
Executed circa 1933

Provenance

E.V. Thaw & Co., New York.
B.C. Holland Gallery, Chicago.
Dr. Eugene A. Solow, by whom acquired at the above in 1966; his sale, Christies, New York, 1 May 1996, lot 250.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Literature

V. Monnier & J. Clair, Balthus, Catalogue Raisonné of the Complete Works, Paris, 1999, no. D468 (illustrated p. 223, only recto).

Exhibited

Chicago, Holland Gallery, Exhibition of Balthus drawings, September - October 1966.
Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Balthus in Chicago, August - November 1980, no. 8.
Chicago, The Art Institute, Chicago Collects: Selections from the Collection of Dr. Eugene A. Solow, May - August 1988, no. 3 (illustrated p. 5, fig. 3).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The present lot is a preparatory drawing for the painting La Montagne (L'Eté) (M & C P102), dated 1937, which is now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The verso is a rediscovered drawing.

For thirty years, between 1966 and 1996, this drawing was the property of Dr. Eugene A. Solow, a prominent allergist, a connoisseur of works on paper and one of the leading figure in Chicago's cultural milieu. Dr. Solow helped found the Chicago Museum of Contemporay Art and was on The Art Institute of Chicago Advisory Committe for Prints and Drawings.

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