New & Noteworthy
Stay up to date with news, highlights, & features from across Freeman's.
Stay up to date with news, highlights, & features from across Freeman's.
Freeman’s October 27 sale of Impressionist and Modern Art features several artists and landscapes that spotlight the École de Rouen, one of the most distinctive regional expressions of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. But what exactly was this movement that links to Claude Monet and Camillo Pissarro?
This fall, Freeman's is honored to present a remarkable collection assembled over decades by Joan Wellhouse Newton Stein of Jacksonville, Florida—a group of paintings that traces Impressionism's journey from the villages of rural France to the shores and studios of America.
For Beverly Grossman, collecting was never simply about acquiring beautiful things. It was about curiosity, relationships, discovery, and the people and experiences that gave those objects meaning.
By Raphaël Chatroux, VP, Head of Department, Impressionist & Modern Art In the early 1950s, Fernand Léger began working on Les Constructeurs, one of the most important series of his late career. Reflecting on post-war Europe’s reconstruction, it also focused on the dignity of working-class labor and the scale of modern industry. Among its key preparatory works is the 1950 gouache Les Constructeurs au Vélo, which Freeman’s will proudly offer for sale in its October 27 Impressionist & Modern Art auction in New York. Léger drew inspiration during evening drives to Chevreuse, where he saw construction workers climbing newly erected high-voltage pylons. He recalled being struck by the contrast between the small scale of the workers and the rigid industrial structures around them: “Lost in the rigid, hard, hostile surroundings, the men appeared tiny. I wanted to render this in my paintings, without making any concessions.” Les Constructeurs au Vélo brings together the central elements of the series. The lower half focuses on the workers, while the upper half is dominated by intersecting metal structures. A bicycle in the foreground refers to everyday working-class life and mobility. The work also connects Léger’s early interest in Cubism and mechanical forms with his later focus on labor and collective life. Here, the workers become the central figure within the industrial landscape—the human presence at the heart of modern progress. INQUIRIES: [email protected] VIEWING: October 19 – 26 32 East 67th Street, New York, NY TO BE OFFERED OCTOBER 27, NEW YORK Fernand Léger (French, 1881-1955) Les Constructeurs au Vélo, 1950 Estimate: $150,000 – 250,000
Painted in 1973, Swimmer #2 belongs to a distinctive moment in Katz’s career, when he was refining the cool, distilled visual language that would come to define his oeuvre. The composition presents a close-cropped profile of his son, Vincent, emerging from rippling water, rendered in luminous planes of color and sweeping, gestural brushwork. The swimmer’s serene expression contrasts with the energetic strokes of water surrounding him, creating a delicate balance between stillness and movement. Throughout the 1970s, Katz returned to the swimmer motif in a small group of related works, including the oils Swimmer and Swimmer #3, both painted in 1973, as well as the prints The Swimmer (1974) and Olympic Swimmer (1976). Across these works, Katz explored repetition and variation, transforming an ordinary moment of leisure into an image of striking graphic clarity and intimacy. Within this small body of work, Swimmer #2 has remained remarkably elusive. While related compositions have entered museums and collections and the imagery has circulated in print, this painting has remained in the same private collection since it was acquired directly from Marlborough Godard, Toronto, in 1976. Its return to public view nearly fifty years later offers a rare opportunity to encounter a work that has - until now - remained largely unseen.
Few figures of the 19th century carried a reputation as powerful as Rain-in-the-Face (c. 1835–1905). A Hunkpapa Lakota warrior and leader, he became one of the most famous Native figures associated with the “Indian Wars.”
These present lots stand as a testament to the Rosenthal family's unique contributions, both material and personal, to the Post-War New York artistic community.
On assignment to cover the trial for the monthly Marxist magazine Masses & Mainstream, Alice Neel--who first joined the Communist Party in 1935--indelibly captured this historic American moment in several images, including two studies and a striking grisaille, “Judge Medina-Trial Scene.”
As Silva explained in 1966, he imagined “the fish and the birds in motion” before developing their colors. Over the course of his career, he worked on diverse surfaces, from walls, paper, and board to canvas, as well as cloth, plywood, and household objects.
Oversized necklaces, elaborate cuffs, cascading chains, enormous brooches, and richly colored Gripoix glass became part of the House's visual language. These were pieces meant to be noticed.
By Monica Brown, Senior Vice President, Head of Photographs
by Ariel Barken, Specialist, Jewelry & Watches
As part of our stewardship of this spectacular Abercrombie, we decided with the consignor to have the painting professionally cleaned by Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration to return the painting to as close to the color and finish that Gertrude intended as possible. The painting did not present with any condition issues, but the passage of time had resulted in an accumulation of grime and clouding of the varnish layer that was obscuring the full range of hues and meticulous detail that Abercrombie originally applied to the panel. Sure enough, removing the old varnish layer and the grime with it revealed the magnificent magically realistic paint surface just as Gertrude deemed it complete back in 1951. The following link will take you to a video capturing the conservation process and a conservation about the work between myself and conservator Julian Baumgartner. A longer form version of our conversation can be found here.
By April Matteini, Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Jewelry
By Ben Farina, SVP, International Representative, Asian Art
Tanner Branson, Associate Vice President, Head of Department, Luxury Handbags & Couture