First look at works coming to TEFAF Maastricht 2018

20 février 2018

First look at works coming to TEFAF Maastricht 2018

HELVOIRT.- TEFAF Maastricht will present more than 280 of the world’s finest art, antiques and design dealers, who will bring their very best pieces to the 2018 edition of the Fair. The Fair provides an unrivalled draw for private collectors, museum curators, art market professionals and art lovers from many different countries. TEFAF Maastricht is the world’s leading art and antiques fair, and its international reputation is reflected in the range and quality of the rare works of art for sale at the Fair, which is held in the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition & Conference Centre) from 10 – 18 March 2018.

Dealers that participate in TEFAF Maastricht are leaders in their respective fields which means that often newly discovered and re-discovered works come to market for the first time. This is the case for Kollenburg Antiquairs (Stand 182), who will exhibit Saint Albinus and Saint Bernardus, 1496, tempera on panel, by Filippino Lippi (c.1457-1504). This work is coming to market for the first time in over one hundred years and comes with extraordinary provenance. The panel, which was part of a larger alterpiece, was painted for the Convent of the San Donato agli Scopeti, to substitute the one commissioned in 1481 to Leonardo da Vinci, who left it unfinished.

Filippino Lippi (c.1457-1504), Saint Albinus and Saint Bernardus, Florence, 1496, tempera on panel, 32 x 44.4 cm (12.5 x 17.5 in.). Kollenburg Antiquairs (Stand 182) © TEFAF 2018

This recently discovered picture was for a long time only known through a black and white photo. The panel was painted by Filippino Lippi as part of the predella for an altarpiece in Florence.

Leonardo and San Scopeto

The Friars of the San Donato a Scopeto in Florence ordered for their church an altarpiece in 1481.

They asked Leonardo da Vinci to paint an Adoration of the Magi. Leonardo started the commission but left for Milan far before the painting was finished.

After 15 years the Friars asked Filippino Lippi to replace the unfinished painting by a new altarpiece.

In march 1496 Lippi delivered the new Adoration of the magi to the San Donato a Scopeto. In the months after the installation of the central panel of the High Altar, Lippi was paid for the framing and pictures. The friars sold a piece of land which was intended for Leonardo da Vinci as payment for the initial altarpiece. The friars paid the huge sum of 300 florins for the altarpiece. This sum probably included a gilded frame and predella. The frame with columns was built by Baccio d’Angelo who was paid by Lippi the same year for instalments.

Already in 1529 the Altarpiece left the church. During the siege of Florence the convent was demolished by the citizens of Florence to prevent it from falling into the hand of the enemy. The Adoration came in the possession of Cardinale Carlo de Medici and was given to the Galleria degli Uffizi in 1666. When the Adoration became part of the collection of the Uffizi, it had already lost his frame. Although the ancient documents and sources do not speak of a predella, Alessandro Cecchi argued convincingly in 1988 that this included four closely related panels depicting saints of particular importance for the convent of San Donato. It is unknown what happened to the predella in 1529 and the centuries afterwards. At the end of the nineteenth century most pieces were exhibited, published and sold at auction. Two in pairs and the centrepiece probably alone.

The restauration of the unfinished Leonardo which is part of the Uffizi collection, was reason for an exhibition of the two Adorations by Leonardo and Lippi. The predella was reconstructed and the paintings were shown together for the first time since 1529. Except for the missing Saint Albinus and Saint Bernardus which was shown in a black and white photo.

Two parts of the predella formed part of the Kress collection and were given to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh in 1961. These two small panels with only one figure represent the saints Donato and Agostino. A third painting in a private collection shows Saint Ubaldus and Saint Fridianus.

The present picture depicts two saints: Saint Albinus and Saint Bernardus.

The two Saints

Saint Albinus was Bishop and miracle worker, also known as Aubin. As a youngster he entered the monastery at Tincilloc, near his hometown of Vannes, in Brittany. When he was thirty five he became an abbot, and was named the bishop of Angers in 529. Albinus was a noted miracle worker during his lifetime and his grave became a popular pilgrimage destination because of the miracles performed there. He showed great generosity to the sick and poor. He ransomed slaves whenever possible and cared for them. Saint Bernardus of Menthon has given his name to the famous Great St. Bernard Pass in the Alps. Since the most ancient times there has been a path across the Pennine Alps leading from the Aosta Valley to the Swiss canton of Valais. The traditional route of this pass is covered with perpetual snow from seven to eight feet deep, and drifts sometimes accumulate to the height of forty feet. Although the pass was extremely dangerous, especially in the springtime on account of avalanches, it was often used by French and German pilgrims on their way to Rome. In his office as archdeacon, Bernard had the charge of caring for the poor and travelers. For their convenience and protection, Bernard founded a canonry and hostel at the highest point of the pass, 8,000 feet above sea-level, in the year 1050, at the site which has come to bear his name. A few years later he established another hostel on the Little St. Bernard Pass, a mountain saddle in the Graian Alps, 7,076 feet above sea-level. Both were placed in charge of communities of canons regular, after papal approval had been obtained by Bernard during a visit to Rome. The new community was placed under the patronage of St. Nicholas of Myra, patron saint of travellers.

Provenance: Church of San Donato a Scopeto, Florence, 1496-1529; Collection 5th Earl of Ashburnam, London before 1896; His sale, Christie's London 13 July 1901, lot no. 95; Private collection, Germany

Literature: Florence Gallerie Degli Uffizi, Il Cosmo Magico di Leonardo: L'Adorazione dei Magi, Florence 2017, pp. 89-91
Patrizia Zambrano, Jonathan Katz Nelson, Filippino Lippi, Milano 2004, no. 52

Exhibited: London, The New Gallery, 'Early Italian Art from 1300 to 1550', 1893-1894, cat. no. 69, p. 13

TEFAF Antiques is the largest section of the fair, comprising 90 dealers. Each year the section presents some of the most outstanding examples of fine and decorative arts available on the market. Sculpture from across the centuries will be particularly well represented at the 2018 Fair.

Daniel Katz Gallery (Stand 100) will offer the extraordinarily evocative bronze sculpture Torso of a Crouching Woman by Camille Claudel (1864-1943). Conceived c.1887 and cast by 1913, it is believed to reflect the destructive relationship between Claudel and Auguste Rodin, in whose studio she worked for many years. Axel Vervoordt (Stand 424) will present a beautiful 1st century AD marble sculpture of the Head of Venus Genetrix, coming to market for the first time since the 1960s.

Camille Claudel (1864-1943), Torso of a Crouching Woman. Bronze. Height 35 cm (88.9 in.). Conceived circa 1887, cast by 1913. Daniel Katz Gallery (Stand 100). © TEFAF 2018

The compacted silhouette of Camille Claudel’s Torso of a Crouching Woman evokes sculptural fragments from antiquity. Reduced to its essential elements, the form folded on itself reveals an intense expressive power. Torso of a Crouching Woman is the result of the radical removal by Claudel of parts of her work titled Crouching Woman (1884-1885, plaster,

Musée Camille Claudel, Nogent-sur-Seine). The severe mutilation of the figure suggests violence and some have seen this work as a reflection of the destructive relationship between Claudel and Rodin.

Having met Auguste Rodin in 1883, Claudel went to work in his studio as an assistant in 1884 or 1885, when he was working on The Gates of Hell and The Burghers of Calais. She soon became his lover and his principal collaborator. The two artists found themselves in a remarkable symbiosis, inspiring and influencing each other; the intricate nature of these

reciprocal influences is complex and new scholarship continues to revive the question. When Claudel created Crouching Woman she was probably inspired by one of the figures modelled by Rodin circa 1881-1882 for The Gates of Hell, a terracotta of a Crouching Woman, of which she owned a proof. The subject matter and style, with the contorted pose and

expressionistic treatment of the musculature, as well as the fragmentary nature of the present sculpture, are evocative of Rodin. But in her work Claudel was also influenced by Renaissance masters and Torso of a Crouching Woman seems to show the inheritance of Michelangelo and his Crouching Boy (marble, 1524, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg).

Mathias Morhardt, an influential art critic and specialist of Claudel’s work, described the sculpture Crouching Woman as the first work Claudel modelled in Rodin’s studio: “Study of a Nude that shows a young woman crouching down on her heels, her back in a circular arc and her head leaning on her right arm, which is, in turn, leaning on her knee. The left arm is raised above her head, and her two hands are joined in a simple and harmonious gesture in

front of her right knee.” The plaster of this complete figure, an “admirable nude”, was shown in 1885 at the Salon des Artistes Français.

The context and date of the mutilation of Crouching Woman by Claudel remains obscure and it is difficult to establish with certainty when the artist made these changes. It was certainly before 1913, since the first known illustration of Torso of a Crouching Woman was published that year. It was included in an important and richly illustrated article by Paul Claudel, the artist’s brother, titled ‘Camille Claudel, Statuaire’ and published in L’Art Décoratif just a few

months after the artist was institutionalized5. In the article the plaster of Torso of a Crouching Woman is reproduced and dated to the year 1887. It is interesting to note that in the same period, circa 1888, Claudel produced another partial figure titled Torso of a Standing Woman (bronze, Muzeul National de Artà României, Bucarest), which also resembles a small antique.

The reworking of the piece and the removal of the head, arms and left knee effectively changed its subject matter - from a Crouching Woman it became Torso of a Crouching Woman. The figure’s back, kept in its integrity, presents a splendid study of anatomy. Across the curved surface emanates a musculature vibrant with life while the lines of the mould, left

visible, underscore its strong architecture. The movement of the piece focuses on the perfectly mastered balance of the body. The weight rests on the feet that are in turn firmly anchored to the ground; contrarily to Crouching Woman, the present figure is not supported by a flat base. The way in which this piece was mutilated, with its cleanly cut planes, suggests an intentional, reasoned and completed work.

Paul Claudel described it thus: “In this torso of a crouching woman, for example (a striking

piece, worthy of the Renaissance), I see an animal instinct that folds in on itself to escape capture, blinding itself to be invisible, someone who seeks within for refuge from danger, and not only from the past, but also from the present”.

From 1892 Claudel became progressively more estranged from Rodin; the definitive rupture

in 1898 was devastating for her and marked the beginning of a period that was both destructive and transformative for her work.

The present bronze is extremely rare. It is one of only two casts of this model and the only one in private hands, the other being in the André-Diligent Museum of Art and Industry, Roubaix. Both bronzes, unsigned and without a foundry mark, came from the collection of Paul Claudel and remained until very recently in the family.

The plaster (now in a private collection) was in Camille Claudel’s studio until she was

institutionalised in 1913. It became part of the collection of Philippe Berthelot, a close friend

of Paul Claudel who was asked by the family to empty out the artist’s studio after she left for

the asylum. Berthelot therefore is a very likely candidate for the commission of the two bronzes, which were probably cast circa 1913. All Camille Claudel’s works that belonged to Berthelot were eventually bequeathed to Paul Claudel.

Provenance: Paul Claudel (1868-1955), brother of the artist, then by descent to 2014.

Head of Venus Genetrix, Roman Empire - 1st century A.D. Marble. Height 20.5 cm (8 in.). Axel Vervoordt (Stand 424). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance: Private collection, Japan, acquired 1960; Thence by descent.

Exhibited: Umeda, Osaka, Hankyu Department Store, 'Chichukai - Bi no Junrei (The Mediterranean Sea - Art of Pilgrimage), Greek, Rome, Orient Exhibition', 25 March - 15 April 1960.

Often dealers will choose TEFAF Maastricht as the opportunity to celebrate a particular movement or theme from art history, as well as celebrating their own anniversaries. Epoque Fine Jewels (Stand 186) will celebrate their 60th anniversary at TEFAF Maastricht. To mark the occasion, they will display a remarkable piece of Belgian heritage: the Art Nouveau ‘Glycines’ choker by Philippe Wolfers (1858-1929). The choker is one of the most impressive pieces of jewellery designed by Wolfers and is composed of five alternating wisterias set with carved watermelon tourmaline and carved opal, between purple and green plique-à-jour enamel leaf clusters.

Philippe Wolfers (1858-1929), Art Nouveau ‘Glycines’ choker. Gold, carved watermelon tourmaline, carved opal, ruby, garnet; 36 x 6.3 cm (14.1 x 2.5 in.) Maker's mark of Philippe Wolfers and marked ‘Ex: Unique’ for Exemplaire Unique, number 126 of the Catalogue des Exemplaires Uniques de Philippe Wolfers and numbers 108 and 111 of the workshop archiveBrussels - Designed circa 1900-1901, executed before January 18, 1902. Epoque Fine Jewels (Stand 186). © TEFAF 2018

The choker was designed with five alternating carved watermelon tourmaline and opal wisterias, between purple and green plique-à-jour enamel scrolling leaf clusters, enhanced by garnet-set scrolls and ruby accents, mounted in gold.

Provenance: Sophie Willstädter, wife of Philippe Wolfers; Collection Wittamer-De Camps, Brussels.

A small but impressive assemblage of exhibitors within the TEFAF Antiques section are the TEFAF Haute Joaillerie exhibitors. TEFAF Maastricht is delighted to welcome new exhibitor Glenn Spiro who is exhibiting under the name G (Stand 139). G is one of the UK’s finest contemporary jewelers and his first time exhibiting at TEFAF Maastricht will be sure to delight visitors to the Fair. A highlight on his stand will be a pair of extremely rare Cornelian bangles from the ‘Antique’ collection. They feature Mesopotamian Cornelian Arrowhead shaped elements, dating from the 1st millennium BC, paired with white rose cut diamonds, coral beads and 18ct yellow gold.

A pair of historical Cornelian bangles (London, 1962). Mesopotamian Cornelian arrowhead shaped elements, white rose cut diamonds, coral beads and 18ct yellow gold, 6.3 x 2.5 x 8.8 cm (2.4 x 0.9 x 3.5 in.) Signed 'G'London - Elements dating from the 1st Millennium BC. G (Stand 139). © TEFAF 2018

Between TEFAF Paintings and TEFAF Modern, collectors to the Fair are guaranteed to discover some of the most exciting paintings currently available, from Old Masters through to contemporary. TEFAF Modern is an ever-expanding section of the Fair which continues to go from strength to strength. In 2018, we welcome Perrotin (Stand 441), Massimo de Carlo (Stand 443), Mazzoleni (Stand 500), M&L Fine Art (Stand 523), and Leon Tovar Gallery (Stand 522). They join the 48 other dealers in this section.

Modern masters of the 20th century lead the charge in TEFAF Modern; Paolo Antonacci (Stand 337) celebrates the first retrospective dedicated to Marino Marini at the Peggy Guggenheim in Venice, Italy, presenting the powerful and evocative Cavallo e Cavaliere (‘Il Lambicco’), 1952, oil on canvas, by Marino Marini (1901 – 1980). Alongside this, Van de Weghe (Stand 510) will offer an exceptional oil on canvas work by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Tête d’Homme, 1965.

Marino Marini (1901 – 1980), Cavallo e Cavaliere (‘Il Lambicco’), 1952, oil on canvas, 89.5 x 89.5 cm. Signed and dated upper right 'Marino 1952' and on the verso 'Marino Marini 1952'. Paolo Antonacci (Stand 337). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance: New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1964; Private collection, New York; Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, sale 24 October 1974, lot no. 424/A; Private collection, Rome.

Literature: L. Papi, Marino Marini pittore, Ivrea 1987, p. 167
H. Read, P. Waldberg; G. di San Lazzaro, Marino Marini, l’opera completa, Milan 1970, p. 135.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Tête d’Homme, 1965. Oil on canvas, 41.5 x 33 cm (16.3 x 13 in.) Signed lower right 'Picasso' and dated on the reverse '2.4.65.IV'. Van de Weghe (Stand 510). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance: Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris; Private collection, USA; Private collection, 1970

Literature: C. Zervos, Pablo Picasso, Oeuvres de 1965-67, Paris 1972, 94, p. 53.

Notable artists from central Europe are also well represented at the Fair; Richard Nagy (Stand 412), will offer works by Austrian master Egon Schiele (1890 – 1918), including the exquisite Nude with Green Stockings, 1918, gouache and black crayon on paper, whilst The Mayor Gallery (Stand 451) will offer, a sensational work, Barson, 1966-1969, oil on wood, by world renowned Op artist, Victor Vasarely (1906 – 1997).

Victor Vasarely (1906 – 1997), Barson, 1966-1969, Oil on wood, 80 x 80 x 3 cm (31.5 x 31.5 x 1.2 in.) Signed, titled and dated on the reverse Paris - 1966-69. Mayor Gallery (Stand 451). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance: Fundación Daniela Chappard, Caracas.

Rediscoveries also take precedence in TEFAF Paintings, with Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art (Stand 345) offering an unpublished painting by Antonio Canova (1757 - 1822), which constitutes a major rediscovery and marks a significant addition to our knowledge of the great sculptor’s work as a painter. The painting in question is Ritratto di Giorgione, oil on canvas, a work created to deceive some of the most renowned artists of the time into thinking it was a self-portrait by Giorgione. Portraits of Giorgione by other artists are exceptionally rare.

TEFAF Paper provides visitors with some of the most expressive and culturally significant works on paper. Spanish dealer Artur Ramon (Stand 160) will present an unpublished work by José de Ribera (1591-1652) entitled Philosopher, an oil on canvas work. It is a masterpiece of portraiture by Ribera and the intensity of the work can be compared to depictions of the Apostles today at the Prado (such as Saint Bartholomew, Saint Philip or Saint Thomas).

Stephen Ongpin Fine Art (Stand 724) will present a magnificent ink drawing by Théodore Géricault, Study of a Lion, 1791. Géricault is unrivalled in the quality of his depictions of animals. This delicate work is believed to have originally belonged to the artist’s illegitimate son, Georges Hippolyte Géricault, and has been in a private collection since the 1980s.

Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), Study of a Lion, 1791. Pen and brown ink and grey wash, with touches of pencil and red wash, 9.9 x 11.7 cm (3.8 x 4.6 in.). Stephen Ongpin Fine Art (Stand 724). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance: Possibly the artist’s illegitimate son, Georges-Hippolyte Géricault, Paris; Louise Marie Becq de Fouquières, Paris; By descent in the Becq de Fouquières family; Georges Renand, Paris, until 1988; Private collection.

Literature: Germain Bazin, Théodore Géricault: Étude critique, documents et catalogue raisonné, Paris 1997, pp. 31 and 144, no. 2330

Exhibited: Paris, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, 'Dessins de l‘ecole moderne', 1884, part of no. 318 or 320 (lent by Mme. Becq de Fouquières); Paris, Charpentier, Gericault, 1924, no. 211d

TEFAF Ancient Art enables visitors to view some of the oldest works of art available to buy today, with objects coming from all areas of the world. A highlight from US based The Merrin Gallery (Stand 430), is a Mayan polychrome cylinder vase depicting young corn gods on jaguar skin cushion, which dates from 550-950AD.

Polychrome cylinder vase depicting young corn gods on jaguar-skin cushions, Maya, 550-950 AD. Terracotta. Height 19.3 cm (7.6 in.) Diameter 13.3 cm (5.2 in.). The Merrin Gallery (Stand 430). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance. Private collection, prior to 1983.

Literature: Sotheby's, Important Pre-Columbian Art, New York 1983, Lot 194.

Alongside TEFAF Ancient Art there is the newest section of the Fair which is TEFAF Tribal, which first appeared during the 2017 edition of the Fair. This is an exciting and growing section of TEFAF Maastricht and visitors can find items of rich cultural history here. Of note is a Standing Statue, from New Ireland, black Uli, which will be exhibited by Belgian dealer Bernard de Grunne Tribal Fine Arts (Stand 121). This is one of the finest examples of this kind of work to come to market; a real show stopper within TEFAF Tribal.

Standing Statue, Black Uli, New Ireland. Wood. Height 41.6 cm (16.4 in.). Bernard de Grunne Tribal Fine Arts (Stand 121). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance: Arthur Speyer, 1922, Frankfurt, Museum für Völkerkunde, inv n° NS 25586; Private collection, Germany; Wayne Heathcote, London; Private collection, New York.

Another dynamic section of the Fair is TEFAF Design, which comprises 15 dealers, who will have exhibited an unrivalled selection of rare and award-winning objects. New York based Demisch Danant (Stand 610) are offering an impressive wall library, which was crafted in 1958 and then presented at the Brussels International Exposition in the same year. It was awarded the Grand Prix and Gold Medal at the Exposition. Alongside this, Galerie Eric Philippe (Stand 608) is presenting two chandeliers by Finnish designer Paavo Tynell (1890-1973), which were created in 1954. Only three of these were ever produced making them exceptionally rare.

Wall library, 1958. Walnut, oak, palm wood and bronze with integrated metal lamp, 280 x 396 x 55 cm (110.2 x 155.9 x 21.6 in.). Presented at the Brussels International Exposition 1958; Pavillon Français / Applied Arts and Crafts Section; Awarded Grand Prix and Gold medal. Demisch Danant (Stand 610). © TEFAF 2018

Provenance: Apartment decorated by Renou and Génisset, Paris 1970s

Literature: Pascal Renou, Portraits de décorateurs. Éditions H, Vial 1963, p. 171
Patrick Favardin, Les décorateurs des années 50, Paris 2002, p. 152

Exhibited: Brussels International Exposition, 1958; Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsant.

Paavo Tynell (1890-1973), Two chandeliers, Finland, 1954. Copper. Height 55 cm (21.6 in.) Diameter 60 cm (23.6 in.). Both pieces are engraved 'TAITO'. Galerie Eric Philippe (Stand 608). © TEFAF 2018

Only 3 pieces were produced.

Provenance: Designed for the Myllykoski paper mil club house, Finland.

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Tags: Maya, Pablo Picasso, Théodore Géricault, Victor Vasarely, Marino Marini, Camille Claudel, Philippe Wolfers, Filippino Lippi, Black Uli, New Ireland, Standing Statue, Paavo Tynell