Lot 121: SIGISMOND KOLOS-VARI 1952 MID CENTURY

Exceptional, Rare Mid Century 1952 Sigismond Kolos-Vari (1899-1983) color etching with softground and aquatint titled "Nets". Signed and numbered in pencil, by the artist. A limited edition of only 100 were made. From the collection of noted American sculptor Marshall M. Fredericks. On heavy tooth, antique-white wove paper, stamped in verso, "Guilde De la Gravure", Guilde de la Gravure (blindstamp, lower left margin). Museum mounted in custom Walnut Frame with Ebony Splints, museum glass and archival acid free mat. Measures 11 3/4 x 15 9/16" platemark, In Frame 24"x21"x1". Weight 8 pds. Sigismond Kolos-Vary finished his studies at the high school for the decorative arts in Budapest in 1925. In 1926, a period of travel and study led him to Italy. Here he was very much influenced by Uccello's linear construction of space. He then went to Switzerland, and later to Paris where he settled. He also visited Spain. In 1941 he was interned in a concentration camp, but escaped to Switzerland in 1943, where he remained until 1946 before returning to France. Kolos-Vary moved to pure abstraction in the 1950’s, as a direct progression of his exploration of the sub-conscious fantastic imagery into which he had become immersed in at Atelier 17. “Nets” is a good example of this period, dominated by vibrant ethereal forms. His writings explain that these wonderfully harmonious compositions are strictly linked to nature through a new spatial interpretation, having found the perceived world too limited. These evocative works brought the artist international recognition, and exhibitions in New York 1959; London, 1961; Japan, 1961; and elsewhere including Geneva, Basel, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan. Solo exhibitions include: Paris (1928, 1935, 1948, 1958, 1963, 1965); Basel (1955);, La Chaux-de-Fonds (1959, 1962, 1966); Rotterdam (1962); municipal gallery of Rosenheim, Germany (1968). Collective exhibitions, mainly in Paris, include: Salon d'Automne and Salon des Indépendants (from 1928); exhibition of Hungarian painters, organised by Jean Cassou, Musée National d'Art Moderne de Paris (1946); Salon de Mai (after World War II for over 10 years); Salon des Réalités Nouvelles (1956 to 1961); exhibition of the school of Paris in Japan (1961). PROVENANCE: The descendents of Marshall M. Fredericks.

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