A card from Salvador Dali’s Universal Tarot | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Salvador Dali’s Universal Tarot, the 78 custom deck of tarot cards that the great surrealist created, has an absurd story to tell. It was Hollywood producer Albert Broccoli who first commissioned the artist to create the deck used as a prop for the 1973 James Bond film. live and let die, Although the contract did not last, the artwork gained posterity, and rightly so. Some works from Deck’s limited series will now go under the hammer at Estaguru’s upcoming International Prestigious Auction, which showcases a special period of works by iconic global artists, such as Renoir, Picasso, Matisse and Chagall to name a few. The collection is a solid roadmap in the history of Western art, while the auction is a “remarkable milestone” in AstaGuru’s own history.
The cover lot is over a century old and comes from an iconic masterpiece by the pioneering Impressionist artist Pierre Auguste-Renoir. The work, titled Bignews Assis or Seated Bather (1915), was once in the collection of the prominent novelist Somerset Maugham. Offering a panoramic view of Henri Matisse’s famous Themes et Variations sequence of paintings would be Femme et Bouquets (1940), characterized by simple, unshaded lines.
“The starting point for curation was to ensure that we offer the work of artists who are revered around the world and have carved an important place in the history of Western art,” says Siddhant Shetty, vice president of business strategy and operations. “For example, Pierre Auguste-Renoir, whose work is the cover lot of the catalogue, was an iconic figure of the Impressionist movement which marked a poignant turning point in the development of modern art. Pablo Picasso was credited with leading the Cubist movement in the mid-20th century. Credit is given.”
An artwork from Andy Warhol’s Poinsettia series | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Adding to the revered list are Pop Art giants such as Andy Warhol and Robert Indiana. Works by prominent contemporary artists such as Damier Hirst, Fernando Botero and Jeff Koons are also part of the showcase.
A 1969 canvas that depicts Picasso’s use of wax crayons on paper is also part of the auction, in consideration of Picasso’s 20th death anniversary in 2023. Marc Chagall’s recurring motif, the violin, would also appear in Violinist au Village Anneige, which would go under the hammer. The 1983 canvas by Warhol is a deviation from his usual work commenting on the culture of consumerism: one of 20 paintings he created in the 1980s featuring poinsettias, reflecting the joys of Christmas.
Beigneuse Asisse (1915) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Siddhant says experienced collectors in India are always keen to diversify their art collection. When it comes to the international art world, he is interested in exploring artists who pioneered important art movements because it enables him to gain a piece of artistic history from a Western perspective, he says. “Artists who were instrumental in establishing the idiom of modern art in the 20th century, such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, are highly sought after by art collectors. When it comes to the Pop Art movement, artist Andy Warhol is an iconic name whose work can make any collection special,” he says.
The International Iconic will be held from 28 November, 10 am to 29 November, 8 pm. All bidding will be on www.astaguru.com.