Nicolae Grigorescu’s paintings exhibited at Brussels!

"Woman in the garden", Nicolae Grigorescu  

From 4^th of October to 15^th of January 2012 at  "Hotel de Ville", the old City hall of Brussels, the visitors can admire the exhibition L'Age de l'Impressionnisme en Roumanie. Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) – The age of Impressionism in Romania. Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907).

Romania's National Art Museum opened in Brussels a big monographic exhibition dedicated to the painter Nicolae Grigorescu. It is for the first time that a Romanian painter has such an exhibition in the elegant rooms of the old City Hall from Brussels.

Partners of this event, produced as part of bilateral cooperation between Romania and Wallonia-Brussels are: Wallonia-Brussels International, Romanian Embassy in Brussels and Brussels City Hall.

The exhibition presents 72 paintings and 20 graphic works from the patrimony of Romania's National Art Museum, covering all periods of the creative artist, focusing on elements of modernity and national spirit revealed in his works.

"A flower among flowers, Miss Millet", Nicolae Grigorescu

JOAN VANDENBERGHE, scientific collaborator Hotel de Ville:

“Unfortunately, Grigorescu is not well known here. Now the public come to see his paintings and discover an impressionist painter who come from a country about which we don’t know to many things.   

The people are curious. All persons that saw the exhibition were very pleased because they discovered Grigorescu’s landscape and through them a small part of Romania. Grigorescu is considered the national painter of Romanian, a symbol of the national identity.

The famous Belgium newspapers were here and wrote about Grigorescu. All of them were surprised of the beauty of Grigorescu’s paintings.

It is very hard to choose among Grigorescu’s works, but I like very much the painting so called by Grigorescu “A flower among flowers”, painting which shows the daughter of Millet, the French painter. Grigorescu loved her, but their love story didn’t end well. I like very much this painting because it is a happy joint between Grigorescu’s Romanian style, I mean the portrait, and the French influences.”

 "A flower among flowers, Miss Millet", Nicolae Grigorescu - detail

JOAN VANDENBERGHE, scientific collaborator Hotel de Ville:

“I like also “Cart with oxes”. We see in these paintings how the animal is important for Grigorescu, this being who live near the human being and help him in nature, so dear to Grigorescu.”

Let’s admire some more of Grigorescu’s paints from private collection:

“Cart with oxes”, Nicolae Grigorescu, signed below in the right side in red, oil on cardboard, 24.5x45 cm, Dr. Nour collection

“Cart with oxes”, Nicolae Grigorescu - detail

"Sheper", Nicolae Grigorescu, signed below in the right side in red, oil on wood, 36.5 x 18.5 cm authenticity confirmed by profesor Remus Niculescu collection, genuine frame, Dr. Nour collection

The exhibition gives the Belgian public the opportunity to find out Grigorescu art, seeking to present new aspects of the artist activity and original connections with European art.

The event, along with exhibition Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) – Itinéraire d’un peintre roumain de l’école de Barbizon à l’impressionnisme (Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) - Itinerary of a romanian painter from Barbizon school to Impressionism) that Romania's National Art Museum organized in 2006 in France, at Agen and Barbizon, contribute to efforts to integrate his painting Grigorescu in the European values circuit.

The National Television realized a reportage on this issue.

More details about the opening hours and location here.

Brâncuşi’s bronze sold for almost $15 millions in New York



“Le premier cri”, by Constantin Brâncuşi (1867-1957), bronze, 26 cm (10¼  inches)

"Le Premier Cri" by Constantin Brâncuşi (1867-1957) represents a fabulous polished bronze sculpture and it was sold for $14,866,500 at the Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie's Auction from New York. Conceived in 1917, the sculpture illustrate the artist's rapid trajectory from figural art to pure abstraction in the 1920s.

The art work had 4 owners: Henri Pierre Roché from Paris, who bought it directly from the artist, Claude Bernard Gallery from Paris and Isidore Cohen from New York who bought it in 1968 and sold it in 1975 to the family of the present owner.

The sculpture was last displayed during the exhibition “The unfinished century: Heritages from the XXth century” which took place at the Museum of Modern Art from Tokyo. Also, the bronze was presented in 9 big events organized in New York and Europe: Chicago, Paris, Zurich, Philadelphia and Vienna in 1926.

On Christie’s site, you can watch a presentation of the art work done by Adrien Meyer, Specialist in Impressionist & Modern Art, New York.



The catalogue provides the following commentary about this work:

"The genesis of the present bronze dates to 1913, when Brâncuşi carved “Le premier pas”, his earliest free-standing, full-length figure and his inaugural sculptural effort in wood... That work, which depicts a highly stylized figure of a toddler taking his first, unstable steps, was included in Brâncuşi's earliest solo exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Session Gallery in New York, March 1914.  Following the close of the exhibition, Brâncuşi appears to have destroyed the body of the sculpture, keeping just the head; the complete figure is known only through photographs... In 1914 or 1915, Brâncuşi re-worked the head of “Le Premier Pas”. In 1917, the sculptor made a series of casts of the head, modeled directly from the wood; four of the casts, including the present example, are polished bronze, while three are plaster and one is black cement... The sculptor's immense confidence in these egg-like works emerged in a remark that he made about them in 1926: “With this form I could move the universe.”

Over $ 7,000,000 sales at Christie’s Middle East

Bita Vakili (Iranian, b. 1973), Untitled, signed and dated in Farsi (lower centre of the right panel), oil, paper, sand, encaustic, pen, glitter, threads and cloth on canvas;     199.6 x 219.6cm, executed in 2010
Estimated price: $15,000 - $20,000
Realized price: $35,000

 

Christie’s auction held in Dubai on October 25-26 introduced a new sale format for the Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art sales.

The main representatives of Dr. Nour Foundation for Art and Heritage were present at the event.

Dr. Nour expecting the paint of Bita Vakali

Dr. Nour with an art dealer

The part I sale, from 25^th October, included modern works and higher-value contemporary works by artists such as Sohrab Sepehri, Farhad Moshiri, Louay Kayyali, Paul Guiragossian Mahmoud  Said, Charles Hossein Zenderoudi.

The part II sale, from 26^th October, offered a wide range of artists and concentrated on Contemporary art from the region reflecting the continued maturity and international interest for sales in this category held in the region.

There were 215 paints and sculptures exhibited and all were sold, for the total amount of $ 7,528,100.

Mahmoud Saïd (Egyptian, 1897-1964), “Petite fille d'Assiout”, signed and dated 'M.SAÏD 1945' (lower left); signed, dated and inscribed 'MAHMOUD SAÏD "PETITE FILLE D'ASSIOUT" -1945-' (on the stretcher), oil on canvas, 78 x 62cm

Estimated price: $ 250,000 - $ 300,000

Realized price: $ 650,000

Sohrab Sepehri (Iranian, 1928-1980), Untitled (from the Tree-Trunks series), signed in Farsi with the artist's monogram (lower right), oil on canvas, 70 x 140cm, painted in 1969

Estimated price: $250,000 – $300,000

Realized price: $662,500

Azade Köker (Turkish, b. 1949), “The Apple”, signed 'Koker' (lower right), mixed media on panel, 140 x 210cm, executed in 2011

Estimated price: $70,000 – $90,000

Realized price: $122,500

Paul Guiragossian (Lebanese, 1926-1993), “La famille”, signed PAUL.G.' (lower right), oil on board, 137 x 130cm, painted in 1991

Estimated price: $120,000 – $180,000

Realized price: $242,500

Hilda Hiary (Jordanian, b. 1969), “Divided Middle East”, signed and dated 'Hilda Hiary 2011' (lower centre), acrylic on canvas, 180 x 180cm, painted in 2011

Estimated price: $10,000 – $15,000

Realized price: $11,250

Fateh Moudarres (Syrian, 1922-1999), Untitled, signed 'moudarres' and again in Arabic (lower right), oil and sand on paper, 25 x 34cm

Estimated price: $5,000 – $7,000

Realized price: $6,250

Abdulrahman Al Mouzayyen (Palestinian, b. 1943), “Untitled”, signed in Arabic and dated '2002' (lower right), ink on paper, 65 x 50cm, executed in 2002

Estimated price: $8,000 – $10,000

Realized price: $7,500

         Ahmed Askalany (Egyptian, b. 1978), “Kissing”, bronze, Height: 120cm,

executed in 2011; this work is unique

Estimated price: $30,000 – $40,000

Realized price: $68,500