La Lettre

Details

ANDRÉ MASSON (1896-1987)
La Lettre
signed with initials 'am' (lower left); dated and titled 'La Lettre 1947' (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
15 x 18 1/8 in. (38.1 x 46 cm.)
Painted in 1947

Provenance

Galerie Louise Leiris (Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler), Paris.
(probably) Acquired from the above by the family of the present owners, circa 1960.

Special notice

On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is such a lot.

Further details

The Comité André Masson has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

Conditions of sale

Lot Essay

The present work was part of an extensive collection of over 100 works formed throughout the 1950s and 60s. The collection contained works by the towering figures of 20th century art such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and Max Ernst, among others. Often acquired either directly from the artists with whom the collector, a German émigré to the US in the 1930s, shared personal friendships, or through their primary dealers such as Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and Aimé Maeght, historic figures in their own right.

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