Sotheby’s will hold an inaugural 20th Century Art – A Different Perspective sale in London on 12 November 2014, featuring modern art from countries across Europe and around the Mediterranean by artists who have a strong regional following but are not yet part of the international mainstream. Leading the sale is a group of works by artists who were at the forefront of the intellectual avant-garde in Europe between the First and Second World Wars.
Their principal occupation was the exploration of non-figurative art and in the pursuit of art’s highest form of purity they decreed that painting must be abstract. The auction, comprising 74 lots, also features a strong selection of early twentieth-century figurative works by artists who had assimilated the tenets of impressionist and cubist painting. Tessa Kostrzewa, Sotheby’s Head of Auction Sales, 20th Century Art, said: “We are thrilled to present the inaugural 20th Century Art – A Different Perspective sale, which will become an annual feature of our sale calendar, focusing primarily on artworks from the 1920s through to the 1960s with a special focus on cubism, abstraction, constructivism and other avant-garde works by members of the Bauhaus, Der Sturm, De Stijl and Osma.”
Some of the works include Composition néo-plastique, painted in 1926 by Dutch artist César Domela (1900-1992), estimated at £400,000-600,000; Composition no. 56, painted in 1930 by German artist Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart (1897-1963), estimated at £120,000-180,000; Three Difficult Absences, produced in 1964 by Czech artist Mikusláš Medek (1926-1974), estimated at £40,000-60,000; Cubist Figure, painted in Paris, circa 1914 by Otakar Kubin (1883-1983), estimated at £80,000-120,000; Sea by Hungarian artist Károly Ferenczy (1862-1917), painted in 1904, estimated at £80,000-120,000 and Pfälzische Weinernte (Wine Harvest in The Palatinate) by German artist Max Selvogt (1868-1932), painted circa 1920, estimated at £140,000-180,000.
