Paris – An impressive scale 2008 painting by Lee Ufan (born 1936) and an iconic Concetto Spaziale, Attesa painting by Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) lead Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s Post-War & Contemporary Art sale on 7 December in Paris. The sale will also include a section devoted to the Second School of Paris and an important section of Italian Art.
Giacomo Balsamo, International Director of the Department of Post-War and Contemporary Art, said: “Lee Ufan is an incredibly impressive artist. Still working at the age of 87, the artist aims to invest his thinking in half of his work while using the second half to reconcile the visible and the invisible, the exterior with the interior. His vibrant work, Dialogue, from 2008 encapsulates Ufan’s extremely simple and minimalist style– and it certainly stands out. We’re particularly pleased to offer this piece alongside a number of other outstanding works by top Post-War & Contemporary artists, including Lucio Fontana, Chu Teh-Chun, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Jean Dubuffet, Günther Uecker, Simon Hantaï, and Futura 2000.“
Active in Korea, Japan, and France since the 1960s, Lee Ufan has been creating a visual, conceptual, and theoretical terrain that has radically expanded the possibilities for Post-Minimalist painting and sculpture. Dialogue (2008) is a large-scale emblematic painting of Lee’s eponymous series, which consists of minimal signs placed on a white gesso ground. (estimate: €500,000-700,000).
In the important Italian section, Concetto spaziale, Attesa 1963-1964 by Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) comes from a private Italian collection (estimate: €400,000-600,000). Taking a blade to water painted canvas, Lucio Fontana slashes open modernist conceptions of painting in Concetto spaziale, Attese. Though he began the Attese series in 1958, the present example dates to the height of Fontana’s career and anticipates his achievement of the Grand Prize for Painting at the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966. The formal simplicity belies a richness of philosophical and art historical meaning. With one diagonal cut across a vibrant green canvas that peels open into a black space beyond, Concetto spaziale, Attese pierces through centuries of painting. Giuseppe Capogrossi Superficie 106 is one of the most important paintings ever to appear on the market by the artist. With an illustrious provenance, Italian architect Luigi Walter Moretti was the first owner, this impressive painting has since been in the same family collection from the mid-1950s (estimate: €180,000-250,000).
Several works from the Forma 1 movement, a Roman abstract movement from the late 1940s to early 1950s, will also be offered including Carla Accardi (1924-2014) Grigio con colori from 1954 (estimate: €35,000-55,000) as well as two rare paintings by Piero Dorazio (1927-2005) Salomone costruisce il sole from 1950 (estimate: €20,000-30,000) and Studio 21 from 1960 belonging to the artist’s acclaimed ‘Reticoli’ series (estimate: €35,000-55,000).
Other highlights of the sale include:
- An outstanding painting by Chu Teh-Chun (1920-2014) Vibrations lumineuses III from 1986 with the iconic use of chiaroscuro which reproduces a spiritual vision of nature (estimate: €180,000-250,000)
- Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) Pierre Philosophique (d’accomodation au suspens) from 1952-1953 (estimate: €160,000-220,000)
- Two historical works by the father of the ZERO movement Gunther Uecker (born 1930) from 1963 (estimate: €140,000-180,000 each)
- FUTURA 2000 (Leonard Mcgurr) (born 1955), History of Spray Painting Part 3, 1989, is a rare spray paint on canvas formerly in the collection of artist Keith Haring, and dedicated to him on the reverse, is offered for the very first time to the open market with an estimate of €70,000 to 100,000.
