Contact: Stephanie Manstein, T +44 20 7389 2962, smanstein@christies.

com
Michèle Sandoz, T +41 (0)44 268 10 29, msandoz@christies.com

Like Father, Like son: Family gatherings at Christie’s

Swiss Art sale in Zurich, 21 March 2011

Like father, Like son: Christie’s spring

sale of Swiss art at the Kunsthaus
Zurich on 21 March 2011 will bring
together outstanding works from
famous artist fathers and their equally
famous sons. The top lot of the sale,
which comes from a Swiss private
collection, is Giovanni Giacometti’s
family portrait Unter dem Holunder /
Under the elder tree (1911) (estimate SFr.
1,8 – 2,5 million). The family is one of the core subjects of Giovanni Giacometti’s
oeuvre. Christie’s set a world record price of SFr. 3,240,000 for the rediscovered portrait
Die Mutter / The mother (circa 1911) by the artist and successfully sold two other versions
of the family subject – Maternité (1908) which sold for SFr. 2,640,000 in 2008 and Der
Nussbaum / The walnut tree (1908) which achieved Sfr. 2,280,000 in last June’s Swiss Art
sale.

Under the elder tree (1911) is set in the garden of the

Giacometti’s family home in Stampa. Pictured are
Giacometti’s wife Annetta (1871–1964) and their four
children. Affectionately, with a smile, Annetta focuses on
her daughter Ottilia (1904–1937) who turns, with her back
to the viewer, towards her mother. On a chair, on his
mother’s lap, sits the youngest son Bruno, who is still alive
today and aged 103 years. On the left, with his face hidden
behind the trunk, stands Diego (1902-1985) and at the right border, likewise with his face
covered, stands Alberto (1901-1966), the eldest of the four, with his hand resting on his
mother’s shoulder. As it was for his father, family was intrinsic to Alberto Giacometti
(1901-1966) who – for the first time since the 2006 sale of the Buste de Isaku Yanaihara
(which achieved SFr. 2,6 million) from the famous Gustav Zumsteg collection - will be
represented with an important bronze at a Zurich Swiss Art sale.

Alberto Giacometti’s Buste d'homme from the Collection of Franz Meyer

At first glance Alberto Giacometti’s Buste d'homme (estimate

SFr. 900,000-1,200,000) has nothing to do with the family
theme but it was modeled on his brother, Diego, one of
Alberto’s most popular subjects. The original plaster
sculpture originated in 1956 and was auctioned in
November 2010 at Christie’s New York for $3,8 million.
Like the plaster version, the bronze also comes from the
Zurich collection of Franz Meyer (1919–2007), Marc
Chagall’s son-in-law and former director of Kunstmuseum Basel. Meyer was dedicated to
the oeuvre of Alberto Giacometti throughout his life. In his early career, as director of
Kunsthalle Bern (1955 -1961), Meyer curated one of the first Giacometti Retrospective
exhibitions worldwide. He later became a board member of the Giacometti Foundation
in Zurich.

The Segantinis – the higher the better

Christie’s sale then turns from Zurich to the

Engadine village of Maloja, where the late home
of the Segantini family was based and
subsequently turned into a museum foundation
dedicated to preserving Segantini’s legacy. Like
his famous father Giovanni Segantini (1858-
1899) Gottardo Segantini (1882-1974) was
fascinated by the light and the colours of the
Swiss Alps, which are pictured in most of his
paintings. In Novembertag in Soglio / November day in Soglio (estimate SFr. 120,000-180,000),
one of three paintings by Gottardo Segantini offered on 21 March 2011, he pictures the
light of autumn in the mountains surrounding Soglio in Bergell, a village 1000m above
sea level, which his father Giovanni used to call ”the doorstep to paradise” and where
the family used to reside in a little hotel when it became too cold in Maloja, which is
1800m above sea level.

The scene of a mother carrying her child accompanied by a goat with her lamb in
Giovanni Segantini’s Le due madri / The two mothers (1891) (estimate SFr. 800,000-
1,200,000) is situated in Savognin, a village in Graubünden, where the Segantinis were
based from 1886 to 1894. Le due madri is one of four works by Giovanni Segantini, which
will be offered for sale on 21 March 2011 and was once part of the collection of the
Austrian steel entrepreneur Karl
Wittgenstein (1847-1913), father of the
philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-
1951). Le due madri was listed as “location
unknown” in the Catalogue Raisonné as it
was recently rediscovered by Christie’s
Head of Swiss Art Hans-Peter Keller. The
reverse of the canvas of Le due madri shows a drawing, which could be identified as a
study for Ave Maria a trasbordo, one of the most important works by Segantini, whose
oeuvre is currently celebrated in a large exhibition at Fondation Beyeler in Basel
(16.01.2011 – 25.04.2011).

Art Brut
Another highlight of the 154 lots offered at the Swiss Art sale will be a large group of Art
brut – such as Potentats d'Imfirmités (estimate SFr. 150,000 - 200,000) by Louis Soutter
(1871-1942) and Brotkunst Zeichnung: 'Riesen-Stadt Lion-Nord' (1919) (estimate SFr. 50,000 -
70,000) by Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930).

A rare find
The sale on 21 March 2011 also offers art lovers the rare opportunity to acquire a work
by Andreas Walser (1908–1930). Walser, who was friends with the much older Augusto
Giacometti and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, joined the artistic circle around Pablo Picasso
and Jean Cocteau in Paris at the age of 20. In the two following years, 1929-1930, he
developed a comparatively extensive body of work. However, tragically in 1930, Walser
took an overdose and died at 21 years of age. Part of his estate ended up in Switzerland
and it was not until 1981 that it was discovered in Paris. Doppelportrait (1928) (estimate
SFr. 70,000 - 90,000) was originally part of that discovered collection. In Doppelportrait
Walser’s face is fractured. The style is reminiscent to the Cubists of 1920, where works
showed several perspectives visible at the same time.

The classics
The sale offers several wood cuts and drawings as well as four important paintings by the
Paris based Swiss artist, Félix Vallotton (1865-1925). Quai de Berville (1918) (estimate
SFr. 600,00-800,000) was executed when he visited Berville accompanied by the Swedish
collector Axel Ullern.

The five Cuno Amiet works on offer span from

landscapes as Föhnstimmung (Zürichsee) (1943) (estimated
SFr. 100,000-150,000) to Japanischer Maler, Ingres kopierend
(1933) (estimate SFr. 150,000 - 200,000) – which is a ‘l’art
pour l’art’ painting full of allusions. The painter dressed in a
white frock is featured copying Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres’ important painting, Une Odalisque. This act of
copying, which takes place in the Louvre, is reinterpreted
by Amiet and addresses the subject of the morals of copying on the one hand as well as
the theme of the artist painting a painting within a painting.

And finally, Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918). From a Swiss private

collection comes Hodler’s portrait of Josef Müller (1887-1977), one
of Hodler’s key supporters. Josef Müller (1887-1977) grew up in a
middle-class family from Solothurn and acquired his first Hodler
paintings at the early age of 20, when he was a student. In the
following decades Müller became one of the most important patrons
and collectors of Ferdinand Hodler, and so did his sisters Margrit,
Emma and Gertrud. Bildnis Josef Müller (circa 1916, estimate SFr. 250,000-350,000) was
purchased by the sister of the portrayed in July 1916 directly in the studio of the artist.
E-catalogue
The e-catalogue for the Swiss art sale can be found at:
http://www.christies.com/eCatalogues/index.aspx?id=2DB9952FDCB3B858852578010
03AEC43

Images are available upon request.

Best wishes,
Stephanie Manstein, Christie’s Press Office, T +44 20 7389 2962,
smanstein@christies.com
Michèle Sandoz, Christie’s Zurich, T +41 (0)44 268 10 29, msandoz@christies.com

***
Preview Swiss Art sale - Kunsthaus Zürich (grand auditorium)
Friday, 18 March 2011, 2 - 6 p.m.
Saturday, 19 March 2001, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday, 20 March 2011, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Supported by

Auction Swiss Art - Kunsthaus Zürich (grand auditorium)

Monday, 21 March 2011, 6 p.m.

CHRISTIE'S Zürich, Steinwiesplatz. 8032 Zürich

T +41 (0)44 268 10 10

***
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