What Do You See? The Collection of Sidney Rothberg, Part III

Provenance:

Private Collection.

Sotheby's Arcade, New York, sale of September 9, 1993, lot 295.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Exhibition History:

"American Modernism," Graham Gallery, New York, New York, 1984.

Lot Note:

For other works by the artist in this sale, please see Lots 53, 62, 63, 79, 108, 164, 165 and 204.

Lot Essay:

Arthur B. Carles was born in Philadelphia in 1882. He studied and later taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, becoming one of the city’s most influential and inspiring artistic figures. A pivotal force in the introduction of Modernism to America, Carles witnessed the movement’s early developments firsthand in France and famously exhibited in the landmark 1913 Armory Show, helping pave the way for future generations of American artists, including the Abstract Expressionists.

Carles was one of the artists most passionately collected by Sidney Rothberg. This sale features no fewer than nine works, spanning various styles, formats, subjects, and media. Among the many themes Carles explored, it was the female form that most captivated Rothberg—from reclining nudes (Lots 62 and 63) to entwined, abstracted couples (Lot 165). Together, these works reflect the artist’s complex, often conflicted, attitude toward women—objects of desire, love, and at times, fear.

The present work is a striking example: a seated woman gazes boldly at the viewer as she bites into an apple, at once alluring and defiant. The model is likely Angele, a red-haired Frenchwoman Carles met on a train in France, who became both his mistress and the inspiration for a series of paintings that cast her in the role of the femme fatale.