Lot 195: Sonia Sekula (Swiss/American, 1918-1963) Abstract 1947 Oil Painting

Name: Sonia Sekula (Swiss/American, 1918-1963) Abstract 1947 Oil Painting
Brand: Myers Fine Art
SKU: b554583aee
Price: 2000 USD

Est: $4,000 USD - $6,000 USDSold:

Myers Fine ArtSt. Petersburg, FL, USFebruary 17, 2019

Item Overview

Description

Sonia Sekula (Swiss/American, 1918-1963) Oil Painting. Les Dernier Chateau (The Last Castle). Oil painting on canvas. Signed and titled lower right S. Sekula ’47 Les Dernier Chateau (The Last Castle). Painting is numbered in pencil on back of canvas, #90. Stretcher is numbered and titled with a Leo Rehfeld framers label, NY. In trapezium shape, painting measures 24 inches high,12.5 inches wide at top and 16 inches at the bottom. Framed with a flat wooden strip and faced with aluminum trim. In good condition with three small pinholes. Small professionally repaired 3 inch slit lower right. Painting is from a Southold, New York estate.

From Sept. 20, 1996 NY Times article by Grace Glueck : If ever an artist started out right, it was Sonja Sekula (1918-1963). Born in Switzerland, the only child of well-to-do parents, she moved to New York City with them in 1936, and in the family's Park Avenue apartment met a wide range of European artists and writers exiled by the war. Thus launched in cultural circles, Sekula -- an ethereal, ''poetic'' young woman who studied art at Sarah Lawrence College and at the Art Students League -- became, in the 1940's, a sort of golden girl of the Surrealists and Abstract Expressionists; a lovely butterfly bathed in the aura of such friends and sometime collaborators as Andre Breton, Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell. She was much influenced by their work and by the Surrealist concept of automatic writing, which played a key role in the development of Abstract Expressionism. She showed at two of Manhattan's hottest spaces at the time, the Peggy Guggenheim and the Betty Parsons galleries; published a text in the Surrealist magazine VVV and got to know the composers Morton Feldman and John Cage and the choreographer Merce Cunningham (for whom she designed costumes). ''She was unusually gifted; her work had conviction, an authenticity that made you wonder who this person is and what is going to happen to all this talent,'' Feldman said in a 1971 interview. What did happen is a poignant story. Emotionally fragile, Sekula had her first psychotic breakdown at the age of 21, and for the rest of her life was in and out of mental institutions. Nagged by doubts about her work, she was unable to produce for long periods. The financial strain of her illness forced the family back to Switzerland, where she had to live with her parents. Finally, at the age of 45, cut off from the New York art world, her friendships and her resources worn thin, she hanged herself in her studio. Now, neglected even in feminist annals, Sekula's work has undergone something of a revival in her native country. The exhibition now at the Swiss Institute New York is an abridgement of a retrospective organized earlier this summer at the Kunstmuseum in Winterthur, Switzerland by the museum's director, Dieter Schwarz. It is the first Sekula show in the United States since a 1971 exhibition at the Finch College Art Gallery in Manhattan. Turning away, like others of her circle, from the cliches of French Cubism, Sekula relied heavily on automatic writing, a kind of doodling in which the pen or brush, guided by the subconscious, is allowed to roam freely over the surface, making marks theoretically liberated from prevailing modes. From this, her work took on a strong linear structure. ''African Moonsun'' (1945), the earliest canvas in the show, in subdued ''night'' colors of blue, brown and black, is a vigorous, intense synthesis of biomorphic and tree- or boat-shaped forms, accented, outlined and tied together with an irregular network of white lines. Another potent influence was American Indian culture, especially that of the Northwest coast. You can see it in ''Le Bon Dieu (the Prophet)'' (1947-48), a thinly colored totemic painting that echoes tribal images.These influences were filtered through the work of other artists, among them the Chilean-born Roberto Matta, in whose spacey metaphysical canvases biomorphic forms seem to float in infinity; Wifredo Lam, a Cuban whose paintings were based on African sculpture and primitive mythology, and Mark Tobey, an American noted for his linear calligraphy, or ''white writing.'' Close to their concepts are such Sekula paintings as ''Mechanics, With Sentiments'' (1948) and ''Under the Bridges'' (1949), each a composition of intricately drawn linear verticals climbing through space, accented by small painted passages in pale colors. Unlike the Abstract Expressionist stars she knew, Sekula never really developed a big ''signature'' style of her own. But if her work is derivative, she absorbed the lessons well. And her best paintings -- of the late 1940's and early 50's -- have a vibrancy and elegance all their own. They are distinguished by overall calligraphic markings and incidents on painted grounds, as in ''Silence'' (1951), a large canvas in misty grays. Thin white lines course down the surface like gentle rain; delicate black scribbles and symbols march over them like random graffiti. A particularly beautiful smaller work on paper is ''Grace'' (1952), a Klee-like drawing that incorporates fragments of writing along with disk and crescent shapes in white on red and black grounds. ''Premonition'' (1956), another arresting work on paper, deploys overtly religious symbolism, white crosses and steeples drawn on a black ground with patches of blue. As her world diminished, Sekula's work became more modest in scope, less publicly oriented and more inward-looking. Of no small interest here are the collages, sketchbooks, haiku and poem-drawings of her last years, as she shook off the art world and entered into a vivid dialogue with herself.

Artist or Maker

Sonia Sekula

Payment & Shipping

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All shipping arrangements and costs are the sole responsibility of the buyer. We are happy to assist in the transfer of merchandise to a shipper of your choice. Buyers should request a shipping quote prior to bidding. There are reliable shipping companies to use, and they include:

1) Raman of Family Pak and Ship, 2822 54th Ave. S., St. Petersburg, FL 33712 (727) 865-2320
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(2) The UPS Store: Alan Baer 740 4th Street North St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 592-5400
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(3) The UPS Store: Sue Wieden 5447 Haines Rd N, St. Petersburg, FL 33714. (727) 528-7777
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(4) The UPS Store: Gina Farnsworth 204 37th Ave N. Saint Petersburg, FL 33704. (727) 822-5823

(5) The UPS Store: 200 2nd Ave South Saint Petersburg, FL 33701. (727) 826-6075

LARGER ITEMS SHIPPING SUGGESTIONS for items too large for standard shipping, such as furniture:

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(2) All Directions Moving - Specialist in moving furniture from FL to NY. Website: Alldirectionsmoving.com Email: service@alldirectionsmoving.com Telephone: 941 758-3800

(3) Craters & Freighters, Email Tampa@cratersandfreighters.com Telephone: 813-889-9008/877-448-7447 (U.S. & International).

(4) Orbit Packaging & Crating, Website: Orbitppc.com Telephone: 727 507-7447 (U.S.). & International

(5) Eastern Express - Owner Jeff Bills makes regular trips up and down the east coast. Email: jb101263@yahoo.com Telephone: 843-557-6633

(6) Bernie Arsenault - Owner Bernie makes trips from Florida to Canada. Email: bsarsernault@gmail.com Telephone: 905-376-6223

(7) Wintersteen Trucking, Inc. Owner Edgar Wintersteen makes trips to to the west coast and throughout the US. Telephone: 800 253-0617

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There are many other local and national shippers available in our area that we can refer you to. We are not responsible for any delays on the part of this third party shipper, should there be any. We recommend shipping all items insured. Should any damage occur to items transported by a third party, we are not held responsible. In the event that an item is approved for a return, shipping is not refundable.

Auction Details

20th Century Decorative Arts - February 17, 2019

Myers Fine Art

February 17, 2019, 11:00 AM EST

1600 4th Street North, St. Petersburg, FL, 33704, US

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Terms

Buyer's Premium

20.0%

Bidding Increments

From:	To:	Increment:
$0	$99	$10
$100	$499	$25
$500	$999	$50
$1,000	$2,499	$100
$2,500	$4,999	$250
$5,000	$9,999	$250
$10,000	$14,999	$1,000
$15,000	$49,999	$2,500
$50,000	$99,999	$5,000
$100,000+		$10,000

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11. All shipping arrangements and costs are the sole responsibility of the buyer. We are happy to assist in the transfer of merchandise to a shipper of your choice. Buyers should request a shipping quote prior to bidding. There are reliable shipping companies to use, and they include:

1) Raman of Family Pak and Ship, 2822 54th Ave. S., St. Petersburg, FL 33712 (727) 865-2320
raman@familypakandship.com website: www.familypakandship.com

(2) The UPS Store: Alan Baer 740 4th Street North St. Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 592-5400
store6886@theupsstore.com and website: www.theupsstore.com/6886

(3) The UPS Store: Sue Wieden 5447 Haines Rd N, St. Petersburg, FL 33714. (727) 528-7777
store6173@theuspsstore.com www.theupsstorelocal.com/6173

(4) The UPS Store: Gina Farnsworth 204 37th Ave N. Saint Petersburg, FL 33704. (727) 822-5823

(5) The UPS Store: 200 2nd Ave South Saint Petersburg, FL 33701. (727) 826-6075

LARGER ITEMS SHIPPING SUGGESTIONS for items too large for standard shipping, such as furniture:

(1) Plycon - Furniture Transportation Specialists. Email: lisa@plycongroup.com Telephone: 954-978-2000
Website http://www.plycongroup.com. You must submit request on-line by clicking the " Furniture Quote" link.

(2) All Directions Moving - Specialist in moving furniture from FL to NY. Website: Alldirectionsmoving.com Email: service@alldirectionsmoving.com Telephone: 941 758-3800

(3) Craters & Freighters, Email Tampa@cratersandfreighters.com Telephone: 813-889-9008/877-448-7447 (U.S. & International).

(4) Orbit Packaging & Crating, Website: Orbitppc.com Telephone: 727 507-7447 (U.S.). & International

(5) Eastern Express - Owner Jeff Bills makes regular trips up and down the east coast. Email: jb101263@yahoo.com Telephone: 843-557-6633

(6) Bernie Arsenault - Owner Bernie makes trips from Florida to Canada. Email: bsarsernault@gmail.com Telephone: 905-376-6223

(7) Wintersteen Trucking, Inc. Owner Edgar Wintersteen makes trips to to the west coast and throughout the US. Telephone: 800 253-0617

(8) Steve Auger Inc. Makes trips up and down the east coast and to California Email: steveauger52@gmail.com Telephone 540 835-3794

There are many other local and national shippers available in our area that we can refer you to. We are not responsible for any delays on the part of this third party shipper, should there be any. We recommend shipping all items insured. Should any damage occur to items transported by a third party, we are not held responsible. In the event that an item is approved for a return, shipping is not refundable.

12. If we are prevented by fire, theft, or any other reason whatsoever from delivery of any property to the purchaser, our liability shall be limited to the sum actually paid by the purchaser.

Bid Increment Table Minimum Value Maximum Value Expected Bid Increment

from US $ 0 to US $ 100 US $ 10
from US $ 101 to US $ 500 US $ 25
from US $ 501 to US $ 1000 US $ 50
from US $ 1001 to US $ 2500 US $ 100
from US $ 2501 to US $ 5000 US $ 250
from US $ 5001 to US $ 10000 US $ 500
from US $ 10001 to US $ 15000 US $ 1000
from US $ 15001 to US $ 50000 US $ 2500
from US $ 50001 to US $ 100000 US $ 5000
from US $ 100001 and above $1000000 $10000 US

ALL PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS.

ALL SALES ARE FINAL.

AN 20% PREMIUM WILL BE PAID BY THE
PURCHASER AS PART OF THE PURCHASE PRICE

(1) Sue Wieden of The UPS Store located at 5447 Haines Rd N, St. Petersburg, FL 33714. (727) 528-7777. Sue also ships larger items, her email address store6173@theuspsstore.com and website: http://www.theupsstorelocal.com/6173

(2) Thad Deye at PKG's Shipping located at 5506 Haines Road Saint Petersburg, FL 33714 (727)-644-4780

(3) Gina Farnsworth of The UPS Store located at 204 37th Ave N. Saint Petersburg, FL 33704. (727)-822-5823

(4) The UPS Store located 200 2nd Ave South Saint Petersburg, FL 33701. (727) 826-6075

LARGER ITEMS SHIPPING SUGGESTIONS for items too large for standard shipping, such as furniture:

(1) Plycon - Furniture Transportation Specialists. Email: lisa@plycongroup.com Telephone: 954-978-2000 (U.S. only) Website http://www.plyconvanlines.com. You must submit request on-line.

(2) All Directions Moving - Specialist in moving furniture from FL to NY. Email: alldirections@comcast.net Telephone: 866-660-8440

(3) Craters & Freighters, Email Tampa@cratersandfreighters.com Telephone: 813-889-9008/877-448-7447 (U.S. & International).

(4) Westbrook Moving LLC - Makes regular trips up and down the east coast. Email westbrookdeliveries@gmail.com Telephone: 404-877-2870

(5) Antique Transport Co. Make regular trips up and down the east coast. Email antiquetransport@cs.com Telephone: 888-434-3922

(6) Eastern Express - Owner Jeff Bills makes regular trips up and down the east coast. Email: jb101263@yahoo.com Telephone: 843-557-6633

(7) Bernie Arsenault - Owner Bernie makes trips from Florida to Canada. Email: bsarsernault@gmail.com Telephone: 905-376-6223

There are many other local and national shippers available in our area that we can

Shipping Terms

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