Gallery overview

Exhibition "Berrocal. Exposition de sculptures" Gal. Kriegel, Paris 1962 Literature "Cimaise" Art et architceture actuels, present day art and architecture, Paris 1962, p. 80 reprod.
"Berrocal" Annette Michelson, Gal. Kriegel, Paris 1962, exhibition cat., reprod.
"Berrocal" Denys Chevalier, Gal. Kriegel, Paris 1965, reprod.
"La Sculpture de Berrocal" Giuseppe Marchiori, La Connaissance, Brussels 1973, p. 52 reprod.
"Berrocal Catalogo General / Obras Recientes 1974" Miguel Berrocal, 1974, p. 68 reprod.
"Antologica Berrocal (1955-1984)" Ministero de Cultura, Madrid 1984, exhibition cat., p. 118 and p. 439 reprod.
"Retrospective Berrocal (1955-1985)" Centre Culturel de la Communauté Française Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels 1985, p. 26 reprod.
"Berrocal. 25 Ans de Sculptures editées 1964-1989" Miguel Berrocal, Artcurial, Paris 1989, p. 24 reprod.
"Berrocal" Jean Louis Ferrier, Éd. de la Différence, 1989, p. 129 reprod.


We would like to thank the Berrocal Foundation for their assistence with the cataloging of this lot. Provenance coll. Louis Bogaerts, Brussels ca. 1965-1995



For the majority of his iconographic works, Berrocal chose themes from the classical antiquity without losing sight of other sources of inspiration. His topics are male torsos, women figures, heads and portraits. In general it's about the stylized, reconstructed, maimed parts of the human body. These anthropomorphic themes are apt to the most imaginative metamorphoses and have been a source of infinitive variation in art for thousands of years through the ages and for all art forms. If one studies objectively the artistic evolution of torsos, one can determine that after early baroque, during which the physical appearance is in contrast with the inner complexity and the abstraction, follows a more anatomical morphology "in which the organization of structures tend more towards the essence, the joints become more functional and the technical performances of the composition are concentrated on organic tensions" (Jean Dypréau, Brussels, 1983).

Provenance acquired directly from Mrs. Huguette Chale by the current owner's family

Literature "George Grard. Monografie/Oeuvre-Catalogus"
Stichting George Grard, Uitg. Stichting Kunstboek
1995, cf. cat. nr. 105

Literature "L'Atelier du Maître du Fils Prodigue" Georges Marlier, Jaarboek KMSK Antwerpen 1961, p. 109 nr. 10 (mention of this work) Provenance Auction Van Herck, Antwerp 15 March 1954, auction nr. 77 cat. nr. 24 reprod. (mentioned as identified by Max Friedländer as a work of this Master)

Exhibition "Exposition d'oeuvres récentes de Théo Van Rysselberghe" Gal. Georges Giroux, Brussels 10-21.04.1926, nrs. 13 to 24 (12 works of this series were exhibited there)
"Retrospectieve Théo Van Rysselberghe" MSK, Ghent 1962, cat. nr. 159 (here with title "Fontaine aux statues") Literature "Théo Van Rysselberghe. Catalogue raisonné" Ronald Feltkamp, Les Éditions de l'amateur/ Éditions Racine, Brussels 2003, nr. P-061, p. 454 reprod.
"Mons & Coeur du Hainaut: Guide d'architecture moderne et contemporaine 1885-2015" Ed. Mardaga, Brussels 2015, p. 268-269 (ivm 'Le Pachy')
We thank Mr. Olivier Bertrand for the information he has kindly provided for this work and it will be included in the catalogue raisonné Provenance coll. Léon Guinotte (1870-1950), industrialist, lawyer and politician
coll. Max Boël - Anna Guinotte, Brussels
auction Palais Galliéra, Paris 15/06/1965, lot 157
auction Campo nr. 79, Antwerp 19/10/1969, lot 562




Théo Van Rysselberghe - A touch of Côte d’Azur in Mariemont

The south of Europe, in particular the Provence, had completely taken over Théo Van Rysselberghe’s artist's heart. He was enthused by the warm colours, the Mediterranean light and the enchanting environments. It is in this region that he will reside for a large part of his career. In 1917, when he was commissioned by the Brussels industrial and philanthropist Léon Guinotte (1870-1950) to paint 17 works for his villa Le Pachy in Mariemont, Van Rysselberghe was inspired by the poetry he found in the idyllic garden views of which the Côte d'Azur offers a great wealth. "Fontaine aux statues à Mazargues" proposes a view of the park and the water features around the Villa Magalone in Mazargues, Marseille. Le Corbusier will later build his famous "Cité Radieuse" on a part of this domain.

The series for Le Pachy was part of a larger-scale renovation project led by Théo's brother and Art Nouveau architect Octave Van Rysselberghe, who also designed Théo's villa in Saint-Clair. The paintings were realized between 1920 and 1924. Van Rysselberghe, being a brother of two architects and friend of Henry Van de Velde, had a desire to create grandly arranged, harmonious ensembles for domestic interiors, such as the Villa Nocard in Neuilly. Other artists of his generation, such as Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard, also connected to this trend. According to them, the fundamental task of the artist lies in various aspects of life and their talent is not just limited to an easel.

In those years Van Rysselberghe abandoned the rigorous pointillism, his palette yet without losing its intensity. The touch is freer and more varied, the colors are more nuanced and blend into one another. The delicate pink, green and blue shades shine in the Mediterranean light. The shadow of the afternoon sun, Van Rysselberghes beloved moment to paint, offers some cooling. The peaceful garden is disturbed only by the rippling of the water surface, which is suggested by ingeniously applied brush strokes. An ideal image where the residents of Le Pachy can dream away, or as Emile Verhaeren states:

«Cet art plonge non point dance le rêve ou l’extase mais dance une sorte de vie choisie qu'il montre sous ses aspects de santé et beauté. The bonheur frais y circule sans qu’on songe aux idylles des anciens poètes, ni au paradis classique. La donnée n’en est en rien littéraire. Ce ne sont que de belles chairs, heureuses de se déployer, nues et claires, parmi les caresses de l’eau et du soleil. »
("This art plunges not dream dance or ecstasy but dance a kind of chosen life which it shows in its aspects of health and beauty. Fresh happiness circulates without one thinking of the idylls of ancient poets or of classical paradise. The subject is in no way literary. These are only beautiful skins, happy to unfold, naked and clear, among the caresses of water and sun. ")

Exhibition "Exposition de l'oeuvre de Constantin Meunier" KUL, Louvain 1909, cf. nr. 14
"Constantin Meunier" Chicago 1913-14, cf. nr. 11
"Ausstellung Alter und Neuer Belgischer Kunst" Kunstmuseum und Kunsthalle, Bern 1926, cf. nr. 158
"Exposition Constantin Meunier" Gal. Breckpot, Brussels 1927, cf. nr. 3 Literature "Hommage à Constantin Meunier" Sura Levine & Françoise Urban, Gal. Maurice Tzwern, Brussels 1998 Ed. Pandora 1998, cf. cat. nr. 19 reprod.
"Constantin Meunier. Sa vie, son oeuvre" Micheline Jerome-Schotsmans, Olivier Bertrand Éditions, 2012, cf. nr. 112 reprod.

Exhibition Ghent 1945, nr. 54
London 1961, nr. 17
"Frits Van den Berghe" MSK, Ghent 1983, cat. nr. 141 reprod.
Museum Elsene 2012, p. 124 reprod. Literature "Frits Van den Berghe" Piet Boyens, with catalogue raisonné by Patrick Derom & Gilles Marquenie, Pandora, Antwerp 1999, cat. nr. 778 Provenance coll. Alex Salkin, New York
Grosvenor Galleries, London

Literature "George Minne en de kunst rond 1900" M.S.K., Ghent 1982, exhibition cat., cf. nr. 155 (similar copy)
"George Minne" Leo van Puyvelde, Collection Les Contemporains, Brussels 1930, cf. Pl. 51 (reproduction of another copy)

Literature "Jean Brusselmans" Robert-L. Delevoy, Catalogue Raisonné établi par G. Brys-Schatan, Ed. Laconti Brussels 1972, nr. 135 reprod. Provenance coll. Dr. André Sierens, Aalst

Exhibition "Thierry De Cordier. Tekeningen (1983-1999)" SMAK, Ghent 1999, exhibition cat., p. 46 reprod. Literature "Thierry De Cordier. De wijnjaren/Fugues (1982-2002)" Ed. Ludion, Ghent 2002, p. 100 reprod. Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Provenance private coll. Düsseldorf

Literature "Jan Fabre. Kijkdozen en denkmodellen 1977-2005" Vision Publishers 2006, p. 144-147 reprod.

Provenance Gal. Marika Malacorda, Geneva
auction Christie's, Paris 27 May 2009, lot 169
auction Christie's, London 15 September 2017, lot 102

Provenance Gal. I8, Reykjavik Iceland

Provenance coll. Robert Farin, Brussels

Literature "Jean Dufy. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre" Jacques Bailly, vol. I, Ed. Jacques Bailly, Paris 2002, cat. nr. J.502 reprod. Provenance Hammer Gal., New York
The Marble Arch Gal., New York

Exhibition "Arnaldo Pomodoro" Galerie Semiha Huber, Zürich 1996
"Arnaldo Pomodoro" Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco 1998
"Arnaldo Pomodoro" Venice Design Art Gallery, Venice 1998
"Arnaldo Pomodoro. Sculptures 1990-2000" Marlborough Monaco, Monte-Carlo 2001, cf. reprod.
"Arnaldo Pomodoro alla Torre Guevara di Ischia" Torre Guevara, Ischia 2003, cf. p. 33 reprod. Literature "Arnaldo Pomodoro. Catalogo ragionato della scultura. Tomo I+II" Flaminio Gualdoni, Ed. Skira, Milan 2007, cf. cat. nr. 933, p. 723 reprod.

Provenance Berengo Fine Arts, Murano, acquired there by the present owner

Literature "Maurice Wyckaert. L'oeuvre peint 1947-1996" Tentative de Catalogue Raisonné, G. Berréby & D. Orhan, Éd. Allia, Paris 2012, nr. 124 reprod.

Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Provenance Gal. GKM, Malmö

Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Provenance Gal. Willy D'Huyser, Brussels (acquired by the present owner)

Literature "Gust. De Smet. Kroniek, Kunsthistorische analyse" Piet Boyens, Antwerp 1989, cf. cat. nr. 81 (reprod. of a similar composition)
The authenticty of this work was confirmed to us by Mr. Piet Boyens.

Exhibition "Léon Spilliaert - Onbekende werken" Casino, Knokke 2000, cat. nr. 107, p. 185 reprod.
"Léon Spilliaert. Florilège" Musée des Beax-Arts, Mons 2001, cat. nr. 21 Literature To be included in the catalogue raisonné in preparation by Mrs. Anne Adriaens-Pannier

Provenance Guy Pieters Gal., Knokke, acquired by the present owner in 2011




Delvoye’s pathetic pretzel

"Instead of fighting popular culture, we should accept it and chew it."

As in many Flemish households, mother Delvoye also adorned hers with a crucifix. The artist modeled projects such as Pretzel after this simple and unpretentious object. He hauls the recognizable religious iconography of the Christ figure through a computer-controlled mangle to achieve a visually astonishing effect. The twisted and elongated bodies refer to a Gothic aesthetic, where images were also mannered to serve an architectural or decorative visual language.

Stretched out, twisted and distorted: the manipulation emphasizes the suffering of Christ. The loop of bodies forms a crown of thorns, symbol of pathos. Or one could see an ordinary ball of barbed wire. Or even the knot shaped pastry called pretzel. Through this grotesque transformation of a recognizable formal language, the artist provokes a shift from the domain of the sacred to that of the profane, and beyond, to that of the trivial.

He plays with the visible contradiction between the old and the contemporary, the beautiful and the repulsive. This also reminds of his “Saw blade” (lot 515), the saw painted with Delft motifs. Delvoye's creations are quirky and bizarre, but delightfully beautiful and fascinatingly poetic.

Literature "Amédée Cortier. De abstracte werken 1961-1975" Eric Pil, Ludion/Cera 2007, nr. 126, p. 157 reprod.
"Amédée Cortier" Ronny Van de Velde 2018, p. 62-63 reprod.

Literature "Jan Fabre au Louvre. L'ange de la métamorphose" Marie-Laure Bernadac e.a., Gallimard/Musée du Louvre Éd., Paris 2008, cf. p. 162-169 reprod. Provenance Berengo Studio, Murano