Christie's

Lot Description Diego Rivera (Mexican 1886-1957) Returning from the Market (also known as Hombre cargando un petate) signed and dated 'Diego Rivera. 34' (lower left) watercolor and crayon on rice paper 15 x 11 in. (38 x 28 cm.) Executed in Chalchicomula in 1934. Provenance Dr. Alfred Sollinger, Mexico City (1934). Mrs. Florence Harrison, Hancock, Maine. James W. Holmbom, Hancock, Maine. David Rockefeller collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1973). Donated by David Rockefeller. Pre-Lot Text AMERICAS SOCIETY VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENT ENDOWMENT BENEFIT ART AUCTION Literature B. Wolfe, Portrait of Mexico, New York, Civici, Friede, Inc., 1937, no. 72 (illustrated). L. de la Torriente, Memoria y razón de Diego Rivera, Mexico City, 1959, Volume I, p. 121 (illustrated). J. Barnitz et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection, Volume II Art of the Western Hemisphere, New York, 1988, p. 238-39, no. 147 (illustrated). Diego Rivera: Catálogo general de obra de caballete, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, 1989, p. 147, no. 1107 (illustrated). View Lot Notes > Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo returned to Mexico in the late Spring of 1934, after the controversial termination of Rivera's work on the monumental mural,Man at the Crossroads, that was to adorn the lobby wall of the principal building in John D. Rockefeller, Junior's Rockefeller Center project in New York. The two year sojourn in the United States had been difficult and painful for both Kahlo, who suffered a miscarriage, and for Rivera, whose unique modernist style and Communist political sympathies had been savaged both in Detroit and New York. Rivera recovered by returning to his roots in paintings that recalled the powerful murals he had painted for the Ministry of Education in Mexico City in the 1920s. The artist prepared a series of drawings and paintings of popular types from different regions of Mexico, based on earlier sketches and related to themes he had executed in those earlier murals. He had sketched and painted similar types during his trips through Mexico in the 1920s and early 30s, but in this series there is more emphasis on heavy toil and the compositions are more compact. Returning from the Market represents a scene from Chalchicomula and is similar in style to other watercolors, such as Woman with Bundle of the same year (B.Wolfe and D. Rivera, 1937, pl. 73) and The Yellow Horse (Wolfe and Rivera, 1937, pl. 15), another Chalchicomula scene that is also similar in color. In the present work, the homeward-bound man is bent under the heavy load of his large woven-reed mat, which he had spread out on the ground at the market in order to display his wares. He clutches a bundle containing the remnants of his wares and other belongings. Another figure is visible in the background. The dismantled pickax-shaped stands, from which blankets and other objects are hung at the open air markets, contrast sharply with the diagonal of the bent figure, which suggests Christ bearing his cross. The enormous rolled-up mat, bundle, and diagonals that compress and enclose the figure dramatize the subject's oppressed condition. A comparable theme appears in another watercolor, Building Laborer (1937), which shows a man bearing a heavy rope-bound crate on his back (B. Wolfe, Diego Rivera: His Life and Times, New York, 1939, pl.159). Rivera's simplification of forms within shallow, closed space and the dynamic diagonals of the composition in Returning from the Market come closest to Jos Clemente Orozco's style of the late 1920s and early 30s. Even on this small scale, the sparseness of the background emphasizes the monumentality of the central figure. The spiraling design of the mat leads the eye from its dark center to the man's bent back. His yellow hat and white clothing, the ocher reed mat, brown socks and sandals, and the gray and greenish tones of the background that suggests a time late in the day have the chalky quality of fresco. In this work, Rivera used a procedure similar to that he employed in fresco, establishing the outlines and shadows with black paint and then painting over the drawing with small, thin dabs of color. Here he has used crayon for outlines and shadows, then filled in the colors over the crayon, probably adding touches of crayon again at the end. Jacqueline Barnitz Adapted from Jacqueline Barnitz, et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection: Art of the Western Hemisphere (New York: privately printed, 1988), Vol. II, p. 238-239. Reprinted with permission from the author.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Domination signed and inscribed with title 'A Rodin' (lower right) pencil and watercolour on paper 33 x 25 cm., unframed PROPERTY FROM A SWISS PRIVATE COLLECTION The drawing will be included in the catalogue raisonné des dessins et peintures d'Auguste Rodin established by Christina Buley-Uribe (reference no. 90201).

A wall hanging after a design by Maria Iakunchikova (1870-1902) woven and applied in cotton, linen and wool, depicting a young girl gathering mushrooms in the woods and a wood goblin with berry bushes and mushrooms in the foreground 111¼ x 140 3/8 in. (282.5 x 356.5 cm.) Executed in 1899 The family of the artist. By descent to the present owner. PROPERTY FROM THE FAMILY OF MARIA IAKUNCHIKOVA L. Weber-Bauler, 'Maria Yakountchikova Weber', De Russie en Occident, Geneva, 1942, p. 215. M. Kiselev, Maria Iakunchikova, Moscow, 1979, illustrated p. 136, listed p. 187, no. 69, p. 174 (measurements incorrect). M. Kiselev, Maria Iakunchikova, Moscow, 2005, illustrated pp. 132-133, listed p. 145 (measurements incorrect). L. Weber-Bauler, 'Maria Yakountchikova Weber', De Russie en Occident, Geneva, 2005, illustrated p. 12. M. Kiselev, Maria Iakountchikova, Geneva, 2008, illustrated p. 143, listed p. 154 (measurements incorrect). Paris, L'Exposition Universelle de 1900 à Paris, 15 April-12 November 1900. The present work was embroidered by local peasant girls from Tambov (L. Weber-Bauler, 'Maria Yakountchikova Weber', De Russie en Occident, Geneva, 1942, p. 215).

Lot Description Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) Oiseaux (projet pour Jean-Michel Frank) signé et titré 'Projet pour J.M. Frank Giacometti' (en bas à droite) huile et traces de mine de plomb sur papier 31.7 x 24.5 cm. (12½ x 9 5/8 in.) Exécuté vers 1932-33 Provenance Collection particulière, Paris. Pre-Lot Text COLLECTION D'UN AMATEUR Post-Lot Text 'Oiseaux (project for Jean-Michel Frank)'; signed and titled lower right; oil and traces of pencil on paper; executed circa 1932-33. View Lot Notes > Base de données de la Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, no. AGD 2275. Base de données de l'Association Alberto et Annette Giacometti, no. P-2013-2.

Lionel Dalhousie Robertson Edwards, R.I., R.C.A. (1878-1966) Newmarket, The Start - 2000 Guineas signed 'BY LIONEL EDWARDS' (lower right) pencil, watercolour and bodycolour 5 x 10¼ in. (12.7 x 26 cm.) FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE LORD MATTHEWS The following pictures come from the collection of the late Baron Matthews, who was elevated to the peerage in 1980. Victor Matthews (1919-1995) was chief executive officer of Trafalgar House plc., which owned both the Cunard Steam Ship Company and the Ritz Hotel in London. He later became chairman of Fleet Publishing International Holdings which owned the Express group of newspapers. One of his greatest enthusiasms was the turf, as the following pictures testify. He also owned a notable group of Victorian pictures, which will be offered in the sale of Victorian & British Impressionist Art at King Street on 11 July 2013. The group includes Millais's Sisters, a masterpiece depicting the artist's three daughters, which will be offered with an estimate of £2,000,000-3,000,000.