Ebook Opening Beirut

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opening

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preface

W

e are thrilled to open the doors of Opera Gallery Beirut in the ancient geographical core of the Beirut Central District, an area whose reconstruction constitutes one of the most ambitious contemporary urban developments in the Middle East.

Overlooking both the city’s trendy epicenter and the Beirut Roman baths, Opera Gallery’s integration into the textured tapestry of Beirut’s archeological heritage

marks a significant development for both our growing gallery group and the burgeoning creative pulse of Lebanon’s capital. In 400 square meters of exhibition space including one floor dedicated solely to Masters works, we plan to continue to grow our global aesthetic with a dedicated focus on the inclusion of Middle Eastern art.

Since its inception, Opera Gallery Group has strived to offer its international collectors unique access to a diversity of multicultural artists, from the works of Modern Masters such as Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Bernard Buffet, Henri Matisse, Lucio Fontana, and Andy Warhol, to the most sought-after contemporary artists such as Marc Quinn, Yayoi Kusama, Yue Minjun, David Mach, Gérard Rancinan, Lita Cabellut, and Joe Black, among many others.

The selection presented here embodies Opera Gallery’s expansive breadth of genres, mediums, and represented regions, showcasing a sample of our distinctive collection for our exciting new gallery space. Adapted to the dynamics of today’s world, Opera Gallery Group offers an eclectic mix of styles and artworks that exemplify not only the varied tastes and styles prevalent in the artistic sphere, but also the gallery’s foremost dedication to the accessibility of art and the universal communication it inspires.

Gilles Dyan

Georges Chaloub

Founder and Chairman Opera Gallery Group

Owner Opera Gallery Beirut

4

CONTEMPORAry art d e raksh ani Fa r ha d mo sh iri Koor osh Sh ishe gara n Paul Ale xis David Mach Ti mur D'Vatz Jea n -Pi er r e Ro c-Ro uss e y Sylva i n Tre mbl ay Li ta Cabe l lut Phi li ppe Pasq ua An ton i o Se guร Jea n -Fr a n รง oi s Larrie u Erne sto Da mi en Hirst Um berto Mariani Edua r do Gue lfe nbe in Joha n n e Co rno Mr. Brainwash Se e n Reza

re z a

DERAKSHANI [ b. 1952 ]

6 Garden Party Green, 2011 Signed (on the reverse) Oil on canvas, 200 x 100 cm - 78.7 x 39.4 in.

Reza Derakshani is a painter, musician and performance artist born in Sangsar, a small village in the northeast of Iran.

Raised in a nomadic family in the mountains, Derakshani's diverse creative energies were deeply influenced by the changing seasons and landscapes he grew up amongst.

Harnessing the wonders of creation in multiple avenues of artistic expression, his admiration for natural beauty is enormously present in his work. Derakshani's career includes collaborations with renowned artists, musicians and poets including Deepak Chopra, Madonna, Dawn Avery and Simone Haggiag, among many others.

He currently lives and works between Tehran, the US and Europe and is considered one of Iran’s most important contemporary artists.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Derakshani’s rebellious exploration of form and style are brilliantly rendered in the link between tradition and modernism present in this piece. Seduced by Abstract Art during his personal exodus to New York in the 1980s, Derakshani’s work is heavily inspired by the soul of Persian miniatures and the freedom displayed by the artists of New Wave American Modernism. A trained and established musician as well as painter, Derakshani’s Garden Party Green symphonically merges the abstract to the figurative.

Fa r h a d

M OSHIRI [ b. 1963 ]

8 Untitled, 1999 Signed and dated 'F. Moshiri 99' (lower left) Mixed media on canvas, 140 x 85 cm - 55.1 x 33.5 in.

Born in Shiraz, Iran in 1963 and now

provenance

living and working in Paris, Farhad

Private collection

Moshiri’s work is expressed through a personal language that communicates with both Iranian and Western cultures.

Inspired by Pop Art, Moshiri’s work oscillates between the playful and decorative as well as the more critical, a style in line with the philosophical core of pop culture. Acknowledging both the flaws of contemporary Iran and the limitations of the Western world, Moshiri’s works toy with the experimental and the figurative within a challenging cultural status quo.

Public notes In 1999 Moshiri started a series of works on canvas inspired by ceramic jars he had seen in a museum in his hometown of Tehran. Vaguely evocative of the Saqqakheneh school, an Iranian art movement inspired by Persian calligraphic traditions that is often attributed to Parviz Tanavoli, the marbled surface of the jars in Moshiri’s paintings are overlain with popular Americanisms. A golden age of ironic Iranian art, Moshiri’s guileful references to the Iranian modern Pop Art movement have made his jar series some of the most highly collectible artworks in the country.

Ko or o s h

SHISHEGARAN [ b. 1944 ]

10 Untitled, 2011 Signed 'Koorosh' (lower left) Acrylic on canvas, 160 x 130 cm - 63 x 51.2 in.

Koorosh Shishegaran was born in Iran in 1944.

Recognized worldwide for his familiar ‘doodle’ style of painting and popular revolutionary posters, Shishegaran’s artistic life is divided into a number of distinct periods. Before the 1980s he focused on reproductive artworks before transitioning to appropriation, Street Art and Post Art, a method using public posts as an instrument of communicating to the public.

Shishegaran began printing political posters in 1976 during the Lebanese Civil War, a style that eventually won him an honorary certificate from the United Nations for his poster of “For Peace in Lebanon”.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes In the early 1980s Shishegaran was accused of anti-regime activities and imprisoned by the Iranian government. Since his release the artist has focused on linear, non-political paintings that are now considered his signature style, as seen in this piece. Inspired by calligraphy, the artist’s use of tone, volume and layering create an intense surface with a surprising sense of depth. Stylistically minimal and deceptively simple, these works represent an organized chaos heightened by a visual energy and dynamism.

pau l

ALEXIS [ b. 1947 ]

12 Oum Kalsoum, 2010 Signed 'Paul Alexis' (lower left) Oil on wire netting on canvas, 135 x 115 cm - 53.1 x 45.3 in.

Paul Alexis is a French artist born in 1947.

His work is comprised of a superimposition of multiple painted metal sheets atop a coloured canvas.

Greatly influenced by his travels through China, Alexis’s art is infused with an abstract realism that forces the viewer into a double take. Lurking under the metal layers is a familiar image, unseen from up close, but as the viewer steps back a face, an object, an icon is revealed from the painterly shadows. Preferring to work in large formats, Alexis’s works engulf the viewer in their purity of colour and ghostly forms, the joy of recognition an integral part of the viewer’s experience.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Oum Kalsoum was an internationally acclaimed Egyptian singer, songwriter and film actress of the 20th century. Her honorary title, “Star of the East”, reflects her position as the most widely regarded Arabic singer in history. In this piece, Alexis captures the elegance of the superstar even in her later years as she stares longingly into the distance, adorned in her trademark sunglasses and unparalleled grace.

dav i d

M ACH [ b. 1956 ]

14 Sherene, 2010 Signed 'David Mach' (lower right) Postcards and photographies on wood, 183 x 183 cm - 72 x 72 in.

Best known for his flowing assemblages made from massproduced objects, David Mach’s works are painstaking studies of form and temporality.

A Scottish sculptor and installation artist, many of Mach’s public works are temporary and socially critical in nature, representing the artist’s insistence on creating coherence out of the relentless objects and imagery that inundates us.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Made from thousands of postcards, Sherene is an excellent example of Mach’s painstaking, highly detailed assemblage works.

t im u r

D ’ VAT Z [ b. 1968 ]

16 Falcon, 2012 Signed with intial ‘T’ with a crown on top (lower right) Mixed media on canvas, 107 x 127 cm - 42.1 x 50 in.

Timur D’Vatz is a figurative painter born in Moscow.

He studied at the Republic College of Art in Uzbekistan and later in the Royal Academy of Art in London. His work has won him several awards, including the A.T. Kearney Prize and the B.P. Portrait award from the London National Portrait Gallery in 2002. Depicting ancient symbols and legends in a striking, primarily earth tone palette, D’Vatz’s paintings convey a medieval history made relevant through a contemporary vibrancy of colour.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Falcon depicts a mystical scene of falconry that has been repeated for thousands of years through Arabia and the Middle East. An art form believed to have originated over 4,000 years ago, the intense relationship between the birds and their handlers remains one of the most mysterious elements of the art. Seen here together with a handler and two men, the falcon, though smaller in size, possesses an enigmatic presence.

Jean-Pierre

ROC - ROUSSEY [ b. 1951 ]

18 Apsara en vert et jaune bras levés, 2013 Signed ‘Roc-Roussey’ (centre left) Oil on canvas, 195 x 70 cm - 76.8 x 27.6 in.

Born near Paris in 1951, Jean-Pierre Roc-Roussey worked as a graphic designer, book illustrator and poster designer before transitioning full time into painting. Recognized for his mythical, baroque-inspired compositions, Roc-Roussey’s paintings explore themes of the human face and body. Accentuating the figure to dramatic proportions, his style flirts between the elegant and the grotesque.

Using a jewel-toned palette, Roc-Roussey’s figures are embellished in spectacular, imaginative costumes disconnected from a particular place in time.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes In Apsara en vert et jaune bras levés Roc-Roussey captures the beautiful Apsara, the female spirit of clouds and water in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Believed to be supernatural female beings, apsaras represent youth, elegance and the art of dance.

Artworks depicting the spirits often present them in flight. Ethereal in their essence, Roc-Roussey’s strong use of colour and form situates his apsara precariously between the tangible and ethereal worlds.

S y lva i n

T RE M BLAY [ b. 1966 ]

20 Êtres de lumière intemporels (triptych), 2011 Signed ‘SylvainTremblay’ (lower right) Mixed media on canvas, 152 x 213 cm - 59.8 x 83.9 in.

Sylvain Tremblay is a Canadian artist born in 1966 in Quebec City.

He earned a degree in graphic design and illustration before deciding to devote himself full time to art. A painter and performance artist, Tremblay frequently exhibits around North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, most recently as part of the Canada Pavilion at the 2010 Expo in Shanghai and the Beijing International Art Biennial. Tremblay currently lives and works in Dubai, where in addition to painting he also teaches the history of Modern Art at the Canadian University of Dubai.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes This striking triptych reveals Tremblay's Giacometti-inspired figures ablaze in the artist's signature veneer. The emerging figures, roughly sketched and hardly discernable upon first glance, speak to the artist's reference to the human condition within an overbearing external context. Waif-like, they undulate through the backdrop, as unintelligible as they are apparent.

lita

CABELLU T [ b. 1961 ]

22 Hidden dreams 19, 2014 Signed (on the reverse) Mixed media on canvas, 270 x 200 cm - 106.3 x 78.7 in.

Born in 1961 in Barcelona to a Gipsy family, Lita Cabellut is a prolific contemporary portraitist.

Inspired by the ubiquitous fresco paintings in her hometown, Cabellut developed a unique technique that yields an inimitable quality and texture to her work. Delicately combining traditional and contemporary styles, her paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes In her signature fresco style of portraiture, Cabellut’s young beauty stares contemplatively from beneath a fractured canvas. Her eyes alight with the fear that accommodates the wise, the girl appears poised between expression and concealment of a provocative selfassurance. Referring to the declaration of a secret or concealed ambition, Cabellut’s Hidden Dreams series captures the moment before a dream is finally and cathartically revealed.

Philippe

PASQUA [ b. 1965 ]

24 M12, 2011 Signed and dated (lower right) Mixed media on paper laid down on canvas, 110 x 80 cm - 43.3 x 31.5 in.

Born in the French Riviera in 1965, the self-taught Philippe Pasqua uses diverse mediums to achieve the impassioned quality of his large-scale portraits.

His work is inspired by the varied types of humans he encounters in his daily life and travels. Famously elusive, Pasqua's evocative painting style has asserted him as one of the major artists of his generation.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Influenced by artists such as Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, Pasqua’s distinguished figurative technique reveals the vulnerability of his subject through frank realism and intensity. Drawn to the unusual, many of Pasqua’s subjects include prostitutes, transvestites, or people moments after trauma in an attempt to capture the underbelly of human existence.

AntonIo

SEGU Í [ b. 1934 ]

26 Todos Nerviosos, 2011 Signed and dated 'Seguí 4.3.2011' (on the reverse) Acrylic on canvas, 146 x 114 cm - 57.5 x 44.9 in.

Born in Córdoba in 1934, Antonio Seguí is a highly influential contemporary Latin American painter.

After finishing his studies at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he returned in the 1980s as a professor, the artist travelled the world, visiting North Africa, Latin America and Mexico.

Collecting the multiculturalism he encountered overseas, Seguí relocated to Paris in the 1960s and set about capturing the quintessential aura of contemporary urban culture. Seguí’s work is exhibited in more than 100 museums around the globe, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the MoMA in New York and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Influenced by artists such as Diego Rivera and Fernand Léger, Seguí’s works are satirical critiques of man both within and outside of society. His visual language translates the incessancy of urban persistence into a sense of absurdity we can identify with. In this piece, which translates into All Nervous, Seguí employs his signature visual language to evoke a desire to stand out within the restlessness of urbanity.

Jean-François

LARRIEU [ b. 1960 ]

28 Village en fête, 2014 Signed ‘Larrieu’ (lower right) Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 150 cm - 78.7 x 59.1 in.

Jean-François Larrieu is a French painter born in 1960.

He is president of the Salon d’Automne de Paris and President of the government affiliated Fondation Taylor. Larrieu’s elaborate oil paintings are exotic portrayals of nature and architecture that are striking in their vivid form and colour.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Larrieu’s Village en fête exemplifies the artist’s unique, joyous way of portraying dense urban spaces. Suggesting the reaffirmation of roots, both literally and figuratively, Village en fête is a classic example of the artist’s ability to infuse magic, imagination and musical cadence to any scene his brush depicts.

i

ERNES TO [ b. 1960 ]

30 Diamond Girls, 2009 Signed ‘Ernesto’ (lower right); signed and dated ‘Ernesto 2009’ (on the reverse) Acrylic on canvas, 162 x 97 cm - 63.8 x 38.2 in.

Born in Portugal, Ernesto moved to Paris to study at the école des Beaux-Arts at the age of 18.

Greatly influenced by the Parisian lifestyle and atmosphere, Ernesto’s mystical and mysterious personality has helped him develop an inventive style of painting. Plainly decorative, Ernesto’s inspiration stems from a desire to create eye-pleasing harmonies of intimate scene and charming subjects that depart from the difficulties of everyday life.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Ernesto's elegant subjects, well-dressed and lazily beautiful, suggest a playful nonchalance. Occupying the centre of the canvas, they command attention yet seem oblivious to the scene around them. Self-assured, the women gaze knowingly at each other as if hiding the secret to a happy life.

Da m i e n

HIRS T [ b. 1965 ]

32 Diligam te Domine, 2009 Signed 'Damien Hirst' and numbered (lower left and centre) Silkscreen print with diamond dust, edition of 50 + 10 AP, 74 x 71.5 cm - 29.1 x 28.1 in.

Born in Bristol in 1965, Damien Hirst first emerged in the public eye after conceiving and curating Freeze in 1988, an exhibition featuring works by him and his friends from Goldsmiths College in London. Considered one of the most prominent artists of his generation and a spearhead of the loosely coined Young British Artists group of the 1990s, Hirst’s work often pushed boundaries and tested the limits of public acceptance. Notable for its strong associations to life and death, Hirst’s work calls into question our awareness and convictions about preconceived societal truth.

Public notes Drawing from his large-scale mandalas of dead insects, Hirst’s Psalm Prints, Diligam te Domine, are arranged in a pattern that mimics the precision of a collector’s display while calling to mind the beauty in the demise. Incorporating butterfly wings into stained glass-like images are a temperate example of Hirst’s controversial works, which include encasing dead animals in various states of preservation, filling cabinets with cigarette butts and constructing city maps out of razor blades.

Um b e rto

M ARIANI [ b. 1936 ]

34 Senza titolo 4, 2014 Signed and titled (on the reverse) Vinyl and sand on lead sheet, 90 x 120.5 cm - 35.4 x 47.4 in.

Umberto Mariani is a post-World War II multimedia artist whose work is reminiscent of the three dimensional spatialism of the Italian avant-garde.

Recognized for his affinity to the folds of textiles, Mariani was inspired by the Classical Greek statues he grew up observing on the streets of Italy.

Fascinated by the delicate folds of fabric carved out of white marble Mariani developed a desire to manipulate the material. Best known for his complex draperies on irregular-shaped canvases, his work explores illusions of light and shadow created within the folds of fabric. New multi-dimensional works include lead sheets beneath intricate drapery, whereby the fabric both serves to conceal a mysterious object beneath while also evoking its presence.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes In this metallic piece, Mariani's signature deftness with light and shadow is superbly rendered. Concurrently forceful and delicate, this piece is a beautiful example of Mariani's affinity for the allusion of softness rendered by the ancient Greeks. Paradoxical in its essence, it challenges the reliability of perception while meditating on the impact of contour on texture.

E d ua r d o

GUELFENBEIN [ b. 1953 ]

36 Phobos, 2014 Signed and dated 'Guelf 2014' (on the reverse) Acrylic on canvas, D: 80 cm - 31.5 in.

A Chilean artist based in Paris, Eduardo Guelfenbein’s aesthetic is inspired by his nomadic lifestyle and sensibilities.

After travelling through Italy and Lake Varese, the artist settled in the French capital where he paints his thick, expressive and colourful pieces enriched with the energy of South America. Dominated by a commanding presence of bold strokes and riveting colour tones, Guelfenbein’s work is an energetic blend of both pictorial and sculptural properties.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes The eponymous Phobos references the inner, larger of the two satellites of Mars discovered in 1877. Heavily cratered, the origin of name comes from one of the sons of the Greek war god Ares, literally translating into ‘fear’. In fiery red, Guelfenbein’s Phobos indeed evokes a sense of power, trepidation and the mystery of the cosmos.

Johanne

CORNO [ b. 1952 ]

38 Blonde on taupe (Diptych), 2013 Signed ‘Corno’ (lower right) Mixed media on canvas, 183 x 244 cm - 72 x 96 in.

Johanne Corno is a painter from Montreal.

Painting since her early 20s, by the late 1980s she had established herself as one of the most sought after painters in Quebec before moving to New York City in 1992. Known for painting large-scale faces and torsos, Corno’s bold use of colour and forceful brushstrokes represent an innovative style of portrait painting. Her work has been exhibited extensively worldwide and especially throughout Canada, where she is widely revered.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Blonde on Taupe exudes the pulsating intensity and sensuality for which Corno is known.

At once intimate and detached, Blonde on Taupe teases the viewer by inspiring a sense of exposed voyeurism. Caught in a moment of ecstasy, the painting boldly invites the viewer into the privacy of female pleasure.

b

MR. BRAINWASH [ b. 1966 ]

40 Chaplin & the Kid, 2012 Signed and numbered (on the reverse) Stencil and mixed media on canvas, 91.5 x 61 cm - 36 x 24 in.

Mr. Brainwash is the street name used

provenance

by French filmmaker and breakout star

Artist’s studio

of the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop.

A modern legend, the story of MBW’s rise to fame is an extraordinary critique on Modern Art and the power of association. While some speculate the phenomenon of Mr. Brainwash is an astute and elaborate prank, his meteoric rise to success is a fascinating illustration of the commercial art market.

Public notes Mr. Brainwash famously appropriates famous artistic and historic images in his work. In this piece, the artist dissects a still image from Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 American silentcomedy film The Kid, a film still widely considered one of the greatest in cinematic history.

b

seen [ b. 1961 ]

42 Wolverine, 2011 Signed and dated (on the reverse) Stencil and spray paint on canvas, 162 x 130 cm - 64 x 51.2 in.

Born in 1961 in the Bronx, Richard

provenance

Mirando, known by his alias SEEN,

Artist’s studio

began painting in the halls and corridors of the New York Subway system in the 1970s.

Dubbed the “Godfather of Street Art”, SEEN’s work has dominated the genre and the streets of many major European and American cities for the last thirty years. In the 1980s he began working on canvas and exhibiting alongside the likes of Keith Haring, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Exhibited at the Cartier Foundation and Paris’ Grand Palais in 2009, the artist’s work is recognized worldwide and exhibited in numerous venues in London, San Francisco, Stockholm and Hong Kong.

Public notes Seen’s fascination with comics began as a boy, when his single-parent mother would often put him in front of cartoons on the TV while she was working. Developing a passion for the fictional strength and survivalist mentalities of Marvel and DC Comics’ most famous superheroes, he has since painted numerous comic books heroes that have been immortalized on the silver screen. Wolverine, the Marvel Comics creation depicted here, is a mutant possessing enhanced physical capabilities and animal-keen senses.

44

modern art Ro din Raoul Dufy Pa blo Picasso Sa lva dor Da lÍ Hen r i Matisse Ma r c Ch agall Joa n MirÓ Alexa n der Cal d e r Jea n Dubuffe t Ber na r d Buffe t An dr é Brasilie r Arman Fer na n do Bote ro Auguste

Aug u s t e

ro di n [ 1840 - 1917 ]

46 Main de Jean de Fiennes pour les Bourgeois de Calais Signed and numbered ‘1’ on the base Bronze, edition numbered '1', 31.5 x 15 x 13.6 cm - 12.4 x 5.9 x 5.3 in.

Rodin is considered one of the most influential and prolific sculptors of the 20th century.

A progenitor of modern sculpture, Rodin took a traditional, craftsmanlike approach to his work motivated for a desire for academic recognition. A gifted sculptor, Rodin revolutionized the form by emphasizing fragmentation, rejecting idealism and portraying his subjects as they truly appeared.

Criticized in his lifetime for clashing with the decorative, thematic sculptural tradition at the time, Rodin’s most original works celebrated individual physicality and character. His 1890 work The Thinker remains one of the most recognized works of sculpture of all time.

provenance Milton J. Wigder collection

Certificate The Cabinet d’expertise Art Conseil de Paris has confirmed the authenticity of this work

Public notes Rodin spent much of his career exploring the power of expression in the figure, often isolating parts of the body as artworks in their own right. The hand, fragmented and suggestive, encompassed one of Rodin’s most extensive studies. Emerging from the base of the stone, Main de Jean de Fiennes pour les bourgeois de Calais captures a hand in a moment of tender acquiescence, haunting in the sensation of defeat it suggests.

rao u l

dufy [ 1877 - 1953 ]

48 Marine, soleil couchant, circa 1924 Signed 'Raoul Dufy' (lower right) Gouache on paper, 49.8 x 65 cm - 19.6 x 25.6 in.

Raoul Dufy was a French Fauvist painter, book illustrator, draftsman and furniture designer known for his colourful and decorative style.

Born in Le Havre in 1877, Dufy began taking evening classes in art in 1895, when he was 18, and won a scholarship five years later to study at the école des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Profoundly influenced by Claude Monet, Dufy’s early work emphasized bright colours and bold contours. A decade later, after briefly flirting with Cubism, Dufy adopted a more distinctive stenographic style, marked by foreshortened perspective and quickly, thinly applied colour washes.

provenance Galerie Louis Manteau, Brussels (1943) Private collection (acquired in the 1950s)

Exhibited Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Dufy dans les collections belges, 1943

Literature This work will be included in the supplément du Catalogue raisonné des Aquarelles, Gouaches et Pastels de Raoul Dufy being prepared by Fanny Guillon-Laffaille

Certificate Fanny Guillon-Laffaille has confirmed the authenticity of this work

Public notes Dufy’s cheerful watercolour depicts the bourgeois lifestyle of his period, including yachting scenes, views of the French Riviera and elegant parties. The optimistic and decorative nature of his works reveal the artist’s keen eye for design and spatial construction, an art he mastered alongside various creative pursuits. This piece, painted in the late 1920s, marked Dufy’s first years as an internationally recognized artist.

pa bl o

p i ca s s o [ 1881 - 1973 ]

50 Tête de faune, 14 april 1958 Signed and dated 'Picasso 14.4.58.' (lower right) Coloured wax crayons on paper, 32.8 x 25.7 cm - 12.9 x 10.1 in.

Born in Málaga in 1881, Pablo Picasso is one of the most widely celebrated modern artists in the world.

Painter, sculptor, engraver and ceramist, he spent most of his career in France developing and experimenting with styles and movements that contributed significantly to revolutionary developments in 20th century art.

Picasso is known for co-founding, together with Georges Braque and Juan Gris, the Cubist movement, which sought to deconstruct objects into two-dimensional geometric shapes.

An extraordinarily talented painter, Picasso’s most revered works include sensual portraits of his muses as seen in the 1907 The Young Ladies of Avignon, and the portrayal of the battle of Guernica in the large-scale painting of the same name. Remaining politically neutral throughout World War I, the Spanish Civil War and World War II, in 1944 Picasso joined the French Communist Party and remained a loyal, if often controversial, member until his death.

provenance Galerie Raymonde Cazenave, Paris Spiro Skyrus, Los Angeles Private collection (acquired from the above, 1975)

Certificate Claude Ruiz-Picasso has confirmed the authenticity of this work

Public notes Picasso’s works developed in tandem with the historical avant-garde yet he fearlessly reinvented new styles throughout the seven decades of his career. In this work, the head of a faun is depicted in a dazzle of colour, spilling over the borders of the page. The work is an example of Picasso’s interest in metamorphosis and mythology, subjects that preoccupied him from an early stage in his career. In Roman mythology, the half-man, half-goat creature is capable of guiding humans who are or lost or in need.

salvador

dalÍ [ 1904 - 1989 ]

52 Birdman, 1971-1981 Signed and numbered (on the base) Bronze, edition of 350 + 35 EA, 27 x 7 x 7 cm - 10.6 x 2.8 x 2.8 in.

Born in Figueras in 1904, Salvador Dalí

provenance

is one of the most celebrated painters

Private collection

of all time.

In 1926, after completing his studies at Madrid’s Escuela de Bellas Artes, Dalí moved to Paris where he met Pablo Picasso, Paul Eluard and André Breton. Quickly intrigued by the Surrealist movement, Dalí developed a highly technical and unusual style of painting and sculpture that explored visionary boundaries, ushering in a new generation of imaginative expression.

Alongside his successful artistic career, Dalí’s private life reached veritable cult status, with two museums inaugurated in his name during his lifetime the Salvador Dalí Museum in the United States and the Dalí Museo-Teatro in Figueras.

Public notes Dalí’s Birdman figure derives from ancient Egyptian mythology. The figure appears as Horus, a god with the body of a man and the head of a falcon. First appearing in Dalí’s oeuvre in 1947, the half-bird, half-man imagery challenges the reliability of our perception of man. Dalí’s inclusion of draperies on the creature’s figure emphasizes modern man’s dependence on material possessions and accouterments.

henri

m at is s e [ 1869 - 1954 ]

54 Étude de nu, visage couvert, 1927 Signed ‘H Matisse’ (lower left) Pencil on paper, 27.6 x 37.8 cm - 10.9 x 14.9 in.

Born in 1869, Henri Matisse was a

provenance

French draughtsman, printmaker,

Pierre Matisse, New York, by descent from the artist Private collection (acquired by descent from the above)

painter and sculptor, widely regarded as one of the most revolutionary plastic artists of the 20th century together with Picasso and Duchamp.

A master of expression in colour and drawing, his body of work has situated him as a leading figure in Modern Art. Henri Matisse studied law before attending the Paris école des Beaux-Arts, and in 1905 at the Salon d’Automne the artist was given nickname “fauve” (wild beast), later leading the artistic movement of the same name. In 1941 Matisse was diagnosed with abdominal cancer that left him bed bound; a tragedy that led to brilliant final chapter of his career through the medium of cut outs and decoupage.

Certificate Wanda de Guébriant has confirmed the authenticity of this work

Public notes While the artist’s stylistic innovations bore influence on every subsequent movement in art history, Matisse is perhaps most famous for his brilliant use of colour and elegance of line in his draftsmanship. étude de nu, visage couvert is a particularly graceful example of Matisse’s work on paper. Communicating the atmosphere of beauty and sensuality for which he is most recognized, Matisse’s early nude studies demonstrates the fluidity and ease with which the artist brings to life his drawings.

marc

chag a l l [ 1887 - 1985 ]

56 La famille au village, circa 1978 Stamped with the signature ‘Marc Chagall’ (lower right) Pencil on paper, 68.5 x 58 cm - 27 x 22.8 in.

Born in Russia to Jewish parents,

provenance

Chagall spent his painting career

Private collection, Switzerland

developing his personal style through constant experimentation with genres, ideas and trends.

Flirting with Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism, Chagall remained separate from conventions with his distinctive colour pallette and fantastical iconography. Chagall’s early years were spent in St. Petersburg and Paris, developing his artistic style and distinguishing himself from the Cubist forms in the works of French artists.

He returned to Moscow in his late 20s before returning to France in 1923 and joining the burgeoning movement of writers, artists and musicians migrating west at the time. Chagall drew inspiration from his childhood in the pastoral countryside, from his Jewish culture, Russian folklore, the Bible, and his love for his wife Vava.

The Musée National Marc Chagall in Nice was inaugurated in 1973, and retrospectives of his work have been held in major museums worldwide including the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris; the Jewish Museum of New York; the Tate Modern in London; the MoMA, New York and the Grand Palais in Paris.

Certificate The Comité Marc Chagall has confirmed the authenticity of this work David Mc Neil (son of the artist) has confirmed the authenticity of this work

Public notes Chagall’s black and white sketch La Famille au village demonstrates the artist’s lifelong nostalgia for the naivety and simplicity of his Russian hometown. In this peaceful image of a loving young family Chagall succeeds in conjuring the beauty and affection that resonates through his illustrious oeuvre.

j oan

mirÓ [ 1893 - 1983 ]

58 Les Essències de la Terra, 1968 Signed 'Miró' (lower right) Brush and ink over lithograph on Japan paper, 50 x 36 cm - 19.7 x 14.2 in.

Joan Miró was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramist internationally acclaimed for his distinctly surrealist and childlike technique.

Initially studying business as well as art, Miró left the business world after suffering a nervous breakdown. His first solo exhibition in 1918 in Barcelona was ridiculed by the art elite, drawing him to the more liberal arts community gathering in Montparnasse at the time.

In 1920 he settled in Paris where he finished a number of key pieces in his early style, establishing himself as a painter with distinct accomplishment in depicting the essence of Catalonia. Four years later Miró joined the Surrealist group where he developed his signature style of flattened planes and sharp lines. A significant influence on the American Abstract Expressionism, Miró’s oeuvre holds an essential place in the development of late 20th century art.

provenance Ediciones Poligrafa, Barcelona Private collection, Spain

Literature Joan Teixidor, Joan Miró, Lithographs, 1964-1969, vol. III, No. 578, ill. of the lithograph p. 165

Certificate ADOM (Association pour la Défense de l'œuvre de Joan Miró) has confirmed the authenticity of this work

Public notes Using a language of symbols reflecting a personal sense of freedom and energy, Miró's works trace one of the most turbulent periods on Modern European history. His abstract paintings from the 1960s and 1970s, seen here in Les Essències de la Terra, mark a period of fascination with the natural world. In the centre of the work are images that recall cave drawings or the doodles of children. Cutting across the surface of the work are black stripes that lend a degree of violence characteristic of his mature work. The present piece is one of eight hand-painted examples by the artist executed on Japanese paper in 1968.

a lex a n d e r

ca l de r [ 1898 - 1976 ]

60 Untitled, 1953 Signed and dated ‘Calder 53 ‘ (lower right) Gouache on paper, 48.3 x 63.5 cm - 19 x 25 in.

Calder was born in 1898 in Philadelphia, the son of well-known sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder and portrait painter Nanette Calder.

After obtaining his mechanical engineering degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology, Calder worked in various jobs before enrolling at the Art Students League in New York City in 1923. During his college years Calder worked as an illustrator for the National Police Gazette. In 1926 he moved to Paris, established a studio in Montparnasse and began his Cirque de Calder project, a miniature circus that soon became popular with the Parisian avant-garde and marked the beginning of his interest in wire sculpture and Kinetic Art. Marchel Duchamp would ultimately dub Calder’s kinetic sculptures as “mobiles”.

Today Calder is celebrated for his contribution to Kinetic Art as his public sculptures continued to be enjoyed across the globe.

provenance Private collection, Rome (gift of the artist in 1968) Private collection (acquired by descent)

Certificate This work is registered in the archives of the Calder Foundation, New York, under the reference No. A18039

Public notes Calder created a series of paintings in gouache during a yearlong stay in Aix-en-Provence in 1953 in parallel to his sculptural practice. Painting quickly, the gouache allowed Calder to quickly translate the vocabulary of sculpture into something more immediate, using the angular figuratism as inspiration for later metal works. Presenting a synthesis of geometric forms with more representational subjects, such as the animals in this piece, Calder’s lines convey the simple delights of nature and the spontaneous impressions it evokes.

jean

dubuffet [ 1901 - 1985 ]

62 Arabe et palmiers sous le soleil, 1948 Signed and dated ‘J. Dubuffet 48’ (lower right) Coloured wax crayons on paper, 23.5 x 32 cm - 9.3 x 12.6 in.

Born in Le Havre in 1901, Jean Dubuffet was a self-taught painter, lithographer and writer.

He is considered the founding father of the Art Brut, a collection of spontaneous works made by outsiders of the art world such as the mentally ill and children.

Doubting the value of art and culture, Dubuffet made two major attempts to abort his painting career until his first solo exhibition at the Galerie René Drouin in 1942. Embracing the idea of “low art” to express what he believed to be a more authentic approach to creation, Dubuffet was and remains one of the most criticized and admired postwar French artists in history. His oeuvre incudes paintings, collages, sculptures, monuments, sound recordings and philosophical essays, perhaps the most notable being his L'Hourloupe style developed from a chance doodle while on the telephone. Retrospectives of his work have been held in the Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate Gallery, London; and the Palazzo Grassi, Venice.

provenance Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York Sale: Sotheby’s, New York, 12 Nov. 1988, lot 171 Sale: Sotheby’s, London, 8 Feb. 2007, lot 139 Private collection, London

Literature Max Loreau, Catalogue des travaux de Jean Dubuffet, Fascicule IV : Roses d’Allah, clowns du désert, Les Éditions de Minuit, Paris, 1967, No. 167, ill. p. 95

Public notes During the 1940s and 1950s Dubuffet advocated a nihilistic anti-culturalism prompted by war-ravaged Europe. He arranged his first Art Brut exhibition in 1947, collecting works made by children and mentally ill patients in a declarative rejection of traditional art forms. In Arabe et palmiers sous le soleil Dubuffet emulates this approach by relying on the inner world of the creative mind. In perfunctory lines of coloured wax and crayons on paper, Dubuffet evokes a youthfully pure and unencumbered creative spirit, relying on intuition and movement rather than traditional institution. This work celebrates what Dubuffet called ‘the values of savagery: instinct, passion, mood, violence, [and] madness.’

B e r na r d

BUFFE T [ 1928 - 1999 ]

64 l'église, 1971 Signed ‘Bernard Buffet’ (on top left) Oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm - 25.6 x 31.9 in.

Bernard Buffet was a well-known Expressionist painter and member of the anti-Abstract Art group L’Homme témoin.

Born in Paris in 1928, Buffet was only fifteen when he commenced his studies at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

His restricted palette, melancholy characters and unique sketching style using thick, angular stroked have made him one of the most recognizable painters of the 20th century. A prolific painter, Buffet’s legacy remains one of public admiration and institutional scorn, though his distinct style is inarguable in influence and has inspired posthumous critical acclaim. In 1973, the Bernard Buffet Museum was inaugurated in Japan. Ever since, the artist’s work has been featured in the most prestigious Modern Art collections around the world including the MoMA, New York, the Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris and the Tretiakov Gallerie in Moscow.

provenance Galerie Maurice Garnier

Public notes Created in the late period of the artist’s life, this painting demonstrates Buffet’s connection to the Miserabilist Expressionism movement and the technique that hailed him a genius by many of his admirers. Dry, strong and poignant, this piece is especially remarkable for its vibrant splashes of red and green, which add to a sense of distance and nostalgia.

a ndr é

BRASILIER [ b. 1929 ]

66 Grand ciel rose, 2013 Signed ‘André Brasilier’ (lower right) Oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm - 25.6 x 31.9 in.

André Brasilier was born into an

provenance

artistic family in Saumur, France

Artist’s studio

in 1929.

Possessing a natural inclination for painting at an early age, at 20 he went to Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. While his works reflect the influences of Expressionist artists and Japanese prints, Brasilier has retained a personal style of schematized nature and imagery that makes him anomaly in the contemporary Zeitgeist. His subdued works often feature themes and motifs of horses, nature, music and women, provocative in their timelessness and emotional subjectivity.

Public notes Set against the most simplistic and romantic background, Grand ciel rose embodies the artist’s effortlessness in transporting the viewer into surreal landscapes, lightening the soul with dreamy infusions of figures set in modest hues of colour and shape. Rather than try to imitate form, Grand ciel rose expresses the emotion that lies at the core of human intimacy and experience.

i

AR M AN [ 1928 - 2005 ]

68 Violon cubiste Signed 'Arman' (on top) Bronze, edition of 100, 71 x 20 x 16 cm - 28 x 7.9 x 6.3 in.

A French-born American artist,

provenance

Armand Pierre Fernandez is best

Private collection

known for his accumulations and recompositions of objects and his inclusion in the Nouveau Réalisme group founded by Pierre Restany in 1960.

He learned oil painting and photography from his father before receiving a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and mathematics at the école des BeauxArts in Nice. Friends with Yves Klein, Arman moved to Paris in his early 20s to continue his studies in art at the école du Louvre in Paris. From 1962 to 1969 he developed his most recognizable style of accumulations by arranging common and identical objects into polyester castings. He moved to New York City in 1961 and began working on large public sculptures, many of which have been collected by prestigious public and private institutions worldwide.

Public notes During his 1961 debut in the United States Arman began exploring the act of creation through destruction. The series “Coupes” featured objects with a previously strong identity, such as musical instruments, clocks and furniture, that the artist burned, smashed and rearranged onto canvas. His most recognizable works from this series were his violins and saxophones; instruments he found had the most distinctive visual and auditory expressions.

Fernando

BOT ERO [ b. 1932 ]

70 Reclining woman Signed 'Botero' (on the base) Marble, unique piece, 19.1 x 52.1 x 23.5 cm - 7.5 x 20.5 x 9.2 in.

With a uniquely recognizable style of distorted proportions and jocular imagery, Fernando Botero is the most prominent Latin American artist in the world.

He was only 16 years old when his drawings were first published in one of the most popular newspapers in Medellín, and he has since become a celebrated critic and documentarian of the Colombian regime, religion, bullfighting, family life and circus culture in his work. His signature style, “Boterismo”, depicting figures in exaggerated volume in situational portraiture, has made him one of the world’s most recognizable living artists.

provenance Private collection, Miami

Public notes Botero’s Reclining Woman sculpture displays a declining naked woman in the artist’s signature voluptuousness, as a symbol of the sleeping soul. Illustrating the sensuality, beauty and fertility of the woman, Reclining Woman conveys a volume and presence marked by poised elegance.

72

PHOTOGRAPHy ALAOUI & Marco GUERRA Youssef NABIL Gér a r d RANCINAN guy le baube Yasmina

Yas m ina

ALAOUI [ b. 1977 ]

&

Marco

GUERRA [ b. 1965 ]

74 Yasco 48, 2009 Signed 'Yasmina & Guerra' (on the reverse) Photography, unique piece, 56 x 173 cm - 22 x 68 in.

Creatively collaborating since 2005, Chilean photographer Marco Guerra and Moroccan artist Yasmina Alaoui are exhibited and collected together internationally.

Each piece begins with a black and white nude photograph by Guerra, which is then added to with layers of complex, henna-inspired patterns painted on by Alaoui. Captivating and sculptural, the artists’ individual touches fuse into a delicate communication of composition, form and colour.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes From their collaborative series 1001 Dreams, Yasco 48 reveals an intricate illusion of painting and portraiture that tantalizes the viewer’s perception. Alaoui adorns Guerra’s stirring photograph with henna, a 5,000-year-old art form originating from Africa and the Middle East. A popular adornment for both the rich and the poor, who could not afford jewellery, henna has since been adopted by cultures all over the world as temporary, spiritual body decoration. Captured here, the ancient, multicultural art form becomes a symbol of universal beauty and acceptance.

Yo u s s e f

NABIL [ b. 1972 ]

76 Amani, Cairo, 1993 Signed and dated 'Youssef Nabil Cairo 1993' (on the reverse) Hand-coloured gelatine silver print, edition of 10, 38 x 25 cm - 15 x 9.8 in.

An Egyptian artist and photographer, Nabil began his photographic career after meeting the American photographer David LaChapelle in Cairo in the early 1990s.

In 1997 the artist moved to Paris where he worked with acclaimed fashion photographer Mario Testino, followed shortly by his first solo exhibition in Cairo. A keen and tender observer, Nabil’s distinct technique of handcoloured gelatin silver prints have captured artist superstars such as Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic´ and Catherine Deneuve. His works have been exhibited in numerous prestigious venues worldwide. In 2003 he was awarded the Seydou Keita Prize in the Biennial of African Photography.

Since 2006 he has been living and working in New York.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Inspired by an old friend named Amani with whom Nabil went to school in Cairo, Amani tells the story of a mysterious woman hiding from people on the roof of an old house next to cemetery, stealing laundry and jumping from one rooftop to the next. Writing and directing the scene for which Amani acted, Nabil recalls this project to be the first to inspire his career as an artist.

Gérard

RANCINAN [ b. 1953 ]

78 Batman family (Girls), 2011 Signed 'Gérard Rancinan' (on the reverse) Argentic print mounted on Plexiglas in artist’s frame, edition of 8 + 4 EA, 125 x 180 cm - 49.2 x 70.9 in.

Born in 1953 near Bordeaux, Gérard Rancinan began work at the Sygma News Agency in 1973 before becoming an independent photographer in 1989.

Rancinan’s work explores the excesses and paradoxes of modern society, with a unique allegorical and theatrical style.

Internationally known, the artist’s work is exhibited in museums around the globe: in Paris at the Musée des Arts et Métiers and the Palais de Tokyo, but also in Barcelona, Milan, Bratislava and New York. Chosen to represent France at the 50th anniversary of the recognition of China, the entire series comprising his Trilogy of the Moderns was exhibited at the Himalaya Contemporary Art Museum of Shanghai, 2014.

provenance Artist’s studio

certificate Gérard Rancinan has confirmed the authenticity of this work

Public notes Rancinan’s staged photographs are bold testimonies of our time. Exhaustively composed, they calculatingly highlight the subtleties and exaggerations of contemporary society.

Batman Family (Girls) sees the continuation of a series following the misadventures of this masked, fictional family. Its stark monochromatic hue and glossy finish remove it from the narrative of realism, yet its facetious undertones are artfully constructed in this familiar, if not eccentric, familial narrative.

guy

LE BAUBE [ b. 1944 ]

80 Donald Duck, 1990 Signed 'Guy Le Baube' (on the reverse) Photography, edition of 20, 100 x 132 cm - 39.4 x 52 in.

Guy Le Baube is an award-winning

provenance

French photographer born in Paris

Artist’s studio

in 1944.

In 1976 he moved to New York to pursue fashion and editorial photography, becoming highly acclaimed for his work in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and Marie Claire, among others. In the early 1990’s Le Baube published a private collection of photographs that won critical acclaim for their allegorical meaning masked by playful composition. A master photographer, his creative narratives are intimate, touching and witty portrayals of classic beauty.

Public notes Guy Le Baube’s focus on the female form captures a nuanced precision evocative of both fashion photography and Surrealism. Playful and witty, Le Baube’s nude series, like this pieces from the 1990s, address an awareness of the darker side of female objectification in fashion.

82

SCULPTURES INSTALLATIONS TANAVOLI Mi k i GUtié RREZ Seo Yo ung-De o k Maur o Co rda Ni c ola Ro sini Di Sant i Pi er r e Matt e r Hi r o Ando Ri c ha r d Orl inski Laur en c e Je nke l l Pa rv i z

Pa rv i z

TANAVOLI [ b. 1937 ]

84 Black Heech, 2007 Signed and dated 'Parviz 07' (on the base) Fiberglass, edition of 25, H: 65 cm - 25.6 in.

A preeminent Iranian artist, scholar and teacher, Parviz Tanavoli is considered Iran’s first significant contemporary sculptor.

Born in 1937, Tanavoli is part of a group of artists of the Saqqakheneh movement, a style developed in the 1960s that produced an intermediary art mixing Western and Persian artistic conventions. Accredited with a radically broad scope both in scholar and artistry, Tanavoli’s expansive oeuvre represents both a fervor and irreverence for formal Iranian culture, giving his works a relevance that transcends specific cultural context.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Tanavoli’s signature ‘heech’ series, meaning ‘nil’ or ‘nothing’ in Parsi, reflects the artist’s intellectual objection to a reckless crossover between Persian and Western artistic practices. Believing his ‘heech’ statues to be symbols of life in Iranian mysticism, Tanavoli claims his inspiration derived form the desire to provide poetry with the threedimensionality it lacked as a purely lingual entity.

m iki

GUtI é RREZ [ b. 1956 ]

86 ¡Chiqui Ups! 2011 Signed 'Miki' (on the base) Bronze, edition of 8, 94 x 22 x 22 cm - 37 x 8.7 x 8.7 in.

Miki Gutiérrez is an abstract sculptor based in Mexico.

An experimental artist with a background in marketing, jewelry design and production, Gutiérrez dedicated himself wholly to artistic pursuits at the relatively late age of fifty. Working with clay to produce models before casting them in bronze, Gutiérrez sculptures play with the boundaries of space, volume and movement in reference to the life’s universal cyclicality.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes In polished, smooth lines and basic circular shapes, this sculpture speaks to the point of harmony at the core of Guiterrez’s work. Solemn and simple, ¡Chiqui Ups! expresses a visible sense of rhythm and unity of composition. Its form is reminiscent of the complementary interconnectedness of the yin-yang, forming a dynamic system of duality and interaction.

SEO

YOUNG - DEOK [ b. 1983 ]

88 Anguish 11, 2013 Signed (on the outer left side leg) Iron chains, edition of 5, 80 x 60 x 75 cm - 31.5 x 23.6 x 29.5 in.

Contemporary Korean artist Seo Young-Deok is a metal smith and sculptor.

He graduated from the Environmental Sculpture department of the University of Seoul in 2008. Seo Young-Deok explores the relationship between humans and the modern environment through the creative repurposing of iron chains – a material that has been critical to the development of the modern world and Korea’s manufacturing industry. Inspired by his own rural upbringing in contrast to his urban adult life, he uses chains to question the industrialization of labour that has become synonymous with today’s human condition. While being artistically repurposed, his meticulous manipulation of the iron chains expose the monotony and repetition of nature and material.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Anguish 11 is a tender and poignant rendering of the emotional intricacy of the human condition. With deep empathy and sensitivity, Seo Young-Deok gives birth to his nude sculptures through an intense and complicated process of welding chain. Woven stitch by stitch, the anguished woman in this piece is a spiritual exploration of emancipation from the limitations of the flesh.

Mau r o

CORDA [ b. 1960 ]

90 Outrage, 2011 Signed 'Corda' (on the base) Cast iron, edition of 8, 173 x 100 x 64 cm - 68.1 x 39.4 x 25.2 in.

Born in 1960 in the foothills of the Pyrénées, Mauro Corda showed a talent for sculpting at a very early age.

At only 15, he was admitted to the école des Beaux-Arts de Reims and later went on to finish his studies in Paris.

Above all a sculptor of bodies, Corda uses a rich variety of materials such as bronze, aluminium, iron, stainless and polished steel and glass for his life-size creations. Corda’s art of shaping and modeling allows him to capture every sinew of his subjects, breathing life into his works while giving them a sense of quasi-invincibility.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Outrage adheres to a classic representation of the figure altered by unexpected, modernist elements. Corda’s sensitivity to both traditional and modernist forms adds an enigmatic and timelessly poetic quality to his work, seen most viscerally in this series.

nico l a

ROSINI DI SANTI [ b. 1959 ]

92 Variations par trois, 2005 Signed ‘Nicola Rosini’ (on the base) Bronze, edition of 8, H: 86 cm - 33.9 in.

Nicola Rosini Di Santi is a French sculptor and painter.

In 2010 the artist and his wife opened the Di Santi Art Gallery in the heart of the French Riviera to showcase the artist’s broad collection of metal and glass sculptures.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes In fluid lines and delicate form, Variations par trois is a lovely example of Rosini’s craft.

Spartan and elegant, this piece achieves a grace of technique and aesthetic inspired by the harmony in movement. A continuous series, Variations par trois relates to the number of acrobats in the sculpture. With each new variation Rosini Di Santi adds a new character to create an ever-evolving playground with no definitive end.

pie r r e

M ATT ER [ b. 1964 ]

94 Big Meca Ray, 2013 Signed (on the back) Bronze and stainless steel, unique piece, 183 x 162 x 80 cm - 72 x 63.8 x 31.5 in.

Born in France in 1964, Pierre Matter’s works have been exhibited worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai, the Museum of Modern Art in Nanjing, and St’Art in Strasbourg, France.

His ability to escape into his own uniquely constructed sphere of creation and contemplation are boundless.

Skilled in oil and watercolour paintings, Matter’s current medium focuses on the combination of organic and mechanical matter that reflect the robotic evolution of life-forms and objects. Exploring the integral nature of technology in the modern human lifestyle, Matter’s poignant sculptures are intricate explorations of the tangibly surreal.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Matter’s Big Meca Ray is an example of the artist’s infatuation with the marriage between the mechanical and the organic. Sensitive to the pervasive nature of technology, Matter’s sculptures integrate accessories of the industrial world into the forms of animals as a critique on the evolution of the cyber organism accelerated by man.

h ir o

ANDO [ b. 1973 ]

96 Samourai Cat Black, 2009 Signed 'Hiro Hando' (on the right foot) and dated 'Dec. 2009' (on the left foot) Resin, edition of 12, H: 150 cm - 59.1 in.

Hiro Ando is a Japanese artist born on the island of Shikoku in 1973.

He began his career in the 1990s as an illustrator and has since evolved into digital art, painting and sculpture, often applying various mediums to his work. In 2005 he founded the studio Crazy Noodles with the goal to unite and promote young Japanese artists in the international art scene. A neopop artist, Ando’s work expresses a particular vision of popular culture that combines the urban flux of Tokyo life with the tradition of Japanese art.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Inspired by the Pop Art Surrealism of Takashi Murakami and the Japanese neo-pop movement, Samourai Cat Black investigates a modernist approach to the anime, manga, samurai and kawaii culture born out of traditional and contemporary Japan. Fusing codes of Japanese society with a modern, urbanized west, Samourai Cat Black symbolizes the unusual fetishisms of an idiosyncratic culture.

rich a r d

ORLINSKI [ b. 1966 ]

98 Wild Red Kong With Barrel, 2011 Signed and numbered ‘Orlinski’ (on the inside left leg) Resin, edition of 8, H: 110 cm - 43.3 in.

Richard Orlinski was born in 1966 in Paris. His artworks are designed according to his concept of "Born Wild", a contemporary style intended to appeal to a wide audience, especially children.

His work is made with resin and aluminium, but he often utilised more archaic materials such as marble, stone and bronze. In 2010 Orlinski was the second best-selling contemporary French artist in France by Art Price, and two of his artworks were among the 10 highest in auction in 2011. He has since been exhibited extensively in galleries and fairs throughout the world.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Wild Red Kong With Barrel is an apt example of Orlinski’s ‘Born Wild’ philosophy. The piece is inspired by the series of Donkey Kong video games developed in Japan in the 1980s. Including a hallmark of the Donkey Kong series in the form of the barrel, used by the fictional character as a weapon, vehicle, furniture and home, Orlinski touches upon both the familiarity and popularity of the character and the ingenuity it represents.

L au r e n c e

J ENKELL [ b. 1965 ]

100 Bonbon bleu, 2013 Signed and dated 'Jenkell 2013' (on the bottom of the candy) Plexiglas, H: 80 cm - 31.5 in.

Born in Bourges, France, in 1965, Laurence Jenkell is renowned internationally for her candy sculptures.

She studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Cannes, painting composites, landscapes and portraits.

Later, she found inspiration in fashion and industrial design, successfully integrating contemporary consumerism and industrial images and patterns into her work. Her candy sculptures are named “Bonbon wrapping” after the distortion the medium undergoes in her hands. As a result of her studying of colour for so many years, Jenkell now masters a large range of bright, splendid and acidulous shades.

provenance Artist’s studio

Public notes Jenkell’s Plexiglas creations are a result of years of studying materials and technique.

In the spirit of Pop Art, these bonbons contain a childlike whimsicality that taps into the imagination while insisting on the importance of innocence in creation. Used as a powerful means of communication, Jenkell’s choice of colour becomes a quintessential variant in her works. Bonbon Bleu boasts a vivid shade of blue – the natural colour for water and sky, as well as traditionally a symbol of trust, serenity, loyalty and intelligence.

102

index CONTEMPORAry art

54 henri

6

56 marc

reza

DERAKSHANI Garden Party Green, 2011

8 Farhad

MOSHIRI Untitled, 1999

10 Koorosh 12 paul

SHISHEGARAN Untitled, 2011

ALEXIS Oum Kalsoum, 2010

58 joan

matisse Étude de nu, visage couvert, 1927 chagall La famille au village, circa 1978

mirÓ Les Essències de la Terra, 1968

60 alexander 62 jean

dubuffet Arabe et palmiers sous le soleil, 1948

14 david

MACH Sherene, 2010

64 Bernard

16 timur

D’VATZ Falcon, 2012

66 andré

18 Jean-Pierre 20 Sylvain 22 lita

ROC-ROUSSEY Apsara en vert et jaune bras levés, 2013

TREMBLAY Êtres de lumière intemporels (triptych), 2011

CABELLUT Hidden Dreams 19, 2014

24 Philippe

PASQUA M12, 2011

26 AntonIo

SEGUÍ Todos nerviosos, 2011

28 Jean-François 30

LARRIEU Village en fête, 2014

ERNESTO Diamond Girls, 2009

32 Damien

HIRST Diligam te Domine, 2009

34 Umberto

MARIANI Senza titolo 4, 2014

36 Eduardo

GUELFENBEIN Phobos, 2014

38 Johanne

CORNO Blonde on T aupe (diptych), 2013

68

calder Untitled, 1953

BUFFET L'église, 1971

BRASILIER Grand ciel rose, 2013

ARMAN Violon cubiste

70 Fernando

BOTERO Reclining woman

PHOTOGRAPHy 74 Yasmina

ALAOUI & Marco GUERRA Yasco 48, 2009

76 Youssef

NABIL Amani, Cairo, 1993

78 Gérard 80 guy

RANCINAN Batman family (Girls), 2011

LE BAUBE

Donald Duck, 1990

SCULPTURES / INSTALLATIONS 84 Parviz

TANAVOLI Black Heech, 2007

40

MR . BRAINWASH Chaplin & the Kid, 2012

86 miki

GUtIéRREZ ¡Chiqui Ups! 2011

42

seen Wolverine, 2011

88 SEO

YOUNG-DEOK Anguish 11, 2013

modern art 46 Auguste

rodin Main de Jean de Fiennes pour les Bourgeois de Calais

90 Mauro

CORDA Outrage, 2011

92 nicola

ROSINI DI SANTI Variations par trois, 2005

94 pierre

MATTER Big Meca Ray, 2013

ANDO Samourai Cat Black, 2009

48 raoul

dufy Marine, soleil couchant, circa 1924

96 hiro

50 pablo

picasso Tête de faune, 1958

98 richard

52 salvador

dalÍ Birdman, 1971-1981

ORLINSKI Wild Red Kong With Barrel, 2011

100 Laurence

JENKELL Bonbon bleu, 2013

Foch 94 - Foch Avenue Beirut Central District - Beirut, Lebanon operagallery.com