Give Away: Sotheby's Christie’s 3 Picasso Single Subject Auction Catalogs 1988/89

Offered to actively participating , well-known members. We’ll see what the situation is Sunday evening. Free really cheap poorly packed shipping.

Christie’s 1988: Picasso’s “Acrobate et Jeune Arlequin”
10” by 7 7/8”, softcover

Christie’s 1989: Picasso’s “La Maternite”
10 1/2” by 8 1/4”

Sotheby’s 1989: Pablo Picasso, Au Lapin Agile
10 7/8” by 8 1/2”

Each discusses its painting in relation to Picasso’s life and work, as well as provenance.

Au Lapin Agile has a fold-out of the painting and reproduces a photo of the cafe in question with the painting hanging in the background.

Acrobate et Jeune Arlequin set a record price in its sale: $38million + to a Japanese Corporate bidder.

Acrobate et Jeune Arlequin was owned (legitimately) by a German gallery prior to WWII. The Nazis declared it degenerate art and seized it from the museum. Being the government, they were able to pass legislation that allowed this. This catalog mentions a 1939 auction held in Lucerne in which the German government sold off seized works by modern masters. (The Nazis might not have liked the stuff, but they weren’t blind to its value elsewhere. I did read that the works were sold in an atmosphere of contempt.) These works had been similarly seized from other German museums and displayed in the notorious 1937 exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art). The thing is: I can’t find anything that says this painting was part of that exhibit, or sold in the subsequent auction. There’s plenty of info online and I even found a list of the artists in the sale, but Picasso’s name was not among them. Still, it’s an infamous moment in art history and interesting reading.

 

I'm not in, but both Christie's AND Sotheby's DO make NICE catalogues!!!! OR at least the DID!!! Nice offer @moreotherstuff!

 

And another one bites the dust. Far from done, but not ready to post tonight.