Property from the Estate of Frances Leventritt It is a rare pleasure in our professional meanderings to meet a true, quintessential New Yorker--one whose tastes, manner, politics and sense of style are evident in every gesture. Frances Leventritt was just this near mythical New Yorker that one longs to know, or perhaps, that one longs to be after a full and engaging life in this city. The poet Frank O'Hara wrote that one should have "The grace to be born and live as variously as possible." This prophetic statement suited Frances personally and was perfectly apparent in her outstanding and eclectic collection. I came to know Frances personally in the last years of her life, when she had already left her East 86th Street apartment for a more comfortable life at the Carlyle. She liked to sleep late and preferred the hour of afternoon tea for a meeting. There, we would discuss her colorful recollections of the New York art world of the 1950s and 60s. She and her husband Victor began collecting early in their marriage, and she continued even after his death in 1968. The collection ranges from Modernist paintings, drawings and sculptures including brilliant examples by Giacometti and Degas to Post War American and European artists, featuring jewels from Dubuffet and Calder as well as objects spanning the distant passions of Islamic pottery and old Master prints. Throughout the varied collection, quality and connoisseurship are the hallmarks. The Leventritts began collecting with the guidance of their dear friend, the art historian Leo Steinberg. His advice was invaluable and through his introduction, the Leventritts came to have personal relationships with many important dealers, such as Pierre Matisse and Sam Kootz. With great candor, Frances would tell stories about artists they had met, dinners they had shared and tales of her wranglings with dealers to get the works of art she deeply desired. Her Giacometti paintings came from Pierre Matisse, about whom she recalled, "I knew they were meant to be mine, but I had to spend some time convincing the dealer of that." And to my query about her stunning 1952 Dubuffet Portrait of Sam Kootz, she replied, "He was such a lovely man--one of the only dealers I would have a portrait of." Over the years, Frances continued to nurture her interest in art and culture while focusing on her philanthropic activities. She started her career as a Broadway singer and actress and even appeared in the 1946 Broadway revival of Showboat. Though she married a man from an established Harvard legacy, and then went on to raise three children, she never lost her sense of art's power to transform ordinary lives or to raise the bar for what women of her era could experience or accomplish. Most importantly, she never lost her entitlement to critique or comment frankly about artistic talent--real or imagined. She endowed a lecture in the history and theory of art in her husband's memory at the Harvard University Art Museums and sponsored the creation of a new garden in his memory at The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard, in addition to supporting countless other charities including the New York Philharmonic and The Actor's Fund. A New Yorker through and through, Frances Leventritt enjoyed many of life's riches, but collecting works ranked high in her worldly pursuits. Christie's is pleased to offer the following works from the Estate of Frances Leventritt: lots 131-146. Amy Cappellazzo Christie's Property from the Estate of Frances Leventritt

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)

Tête d'homme (Pierre Loeb)

Details

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)
Tête d'homme (Pierre Loeb)
signed and dated 'Alberto Giacometti 1946' (lower right)
pencil on paper laid down at the edges on board
21¼ x 14½ in. (54 x 36.7 cm.)
Drawn in 1946

Provenance

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York.
Acquired from the above by the late owner, 1957.

Lot Essay

The Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation will include this work in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Alberto Giacometti.

The Association Alberto and Annette Giacometti has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

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