This lot is offered without reserve and will be so… 顯示更多

Whilst on holiday in the summer of 1972, I stumbled upon a painting in a Swiss attic that turned out to be decisive for the next thirty years of my professional life. Back home, I took my discovery to Christie's foreman Andries Baart, who was just preparing the company's first sale in Holland, held at the Singer Museum in Laren. According to Baart, the painting was an early work by Andreas Schelfhout, and at the end of our conversation I was asked if I would be interested in assisting him. During the following six years I had the opportunity to learn from this charismatic connoisseur what no university could have taught me: to assess the quality of a painting intuitively. In 1978, following the completion of my studies, I started out for myself, registering as an art-dealer in Amsterdam. A decision which, after twenty-seven years, I never regretted. The introduction of the computer, however, made a major change to the profession. Today there is less need to travel to Alpine attics as one can now contact colleagues, attend viewing days and place bids online. Art-dealers have become 'office-chair-buyers', and office-chair-sellers too, for that matter. Leaning back, they can inform themselves about a painting by a favourite artist coming up for auction, while at the same time keeping an eye on hundreds of other sales in every corner of the world. The art-dealer of today, distant and efficient, has become a stamp-dealer and stockbroker in one. Acknowledging the risk of being accused of spitting in the soup that has fed me for so long, I do still consider it a privilege to make a living from paintings. Fortunately, there are still art-dealers and collectors who buy with their eyes and heart instead of balancing accounts. I hope they will attend this sale. Without any reserve, I offer my stock for sale at Christie's Amsterdam, the auction house where I started my career. This sale offers paintings by artists who created quality rather than fame for themselves. When I was younger, I bought their work simply because I could not afford the large amounts needed to buy work by the famous names. Within my budget, I used my eyes, raised my hand intuitively and had fun. Over the years I noticed that, given time, a painting of quality always becomes known and valuable. The question is not 'if' but 'when'. Accordingly, it became my policy to buy 'unripe', giving paintings time to 'mature'. For example, I made more profit with one painting by Adrien Jean Le Mayeur de Merprès (1880-1958) that I kept for ten years because I couldn't part with it, than with the twenty-five which I sold soon after buying them. Having this successful strategy, you may ask, what is the point of selling now? I want to promote two living artists whom I very much admire: American Tim Brown (b. 1923) and Dutchman Pierre Guillaume (b. 1954). To do so properly, I will need all my energy and means. You will soon hear from them, I promise. If you are interested in this sale, please do me one favour: visit the viewing days in person. Neither a computer screen nor a catalogue does justice to these paintings. Unlike a stamp or a share certificate, every single painting is unique. To a certain extent, heart still beats knowledge in this metier. At the sale, I would like you to have fun. Please take time to enjoy whatever prize you may win in the saleroom and do not be afraid to allow a painting to mature. In the future you may not be disappointed by my and your intuition. And do not forget: a no reserve sale means that you may be able to acquire a work of art that I cherished and considered worthy keeping until now, for any price higher than 1 Euro. That should sound interesting to dealers and exotic investors alike, while the passionate collector has a chance to trick them both. Guus Maris

Karin van Leyden (American, 1906-1977)

Melon seller

細節

Karin van Leyden (American, 1906-1977)
Melon seller
signed and dated 'Karin 55' (lower right)
oil and sand on canvas
89 x 151.5 cm.

出版

Jop Ubbens and Ragnar van Leyden, Karin van Leyden 1906-1977, Haarlem 1999, p.83 (ill.)

展覽

Rotterdam, Kunsthal, Karin en Ernst van Leyden. Een reizend kunstenaarspaar, 16 October 1999 - 9 January 2000, p. 82-83 (ill.)

注意事項

This lot is offered without reserve and will be sold to the highest bidder. Christie's charge a premium to the buyer on the final bid price of each lot sold at the following rates: 23.8% of the final bid price of each lot sold up to and including €150,000 and 14.28% of any amount in excess of €150,000. Buyers' premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.

拍品專文

Karin van Leyden, a traveller artist, visited Mexico several times between 1947 and 1955 to get to know the Indians of Chiapas; there she befriended Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco.