?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
BELISARIO CONTRERAS Two paintings.
Floral Patterns I, oil and enamel on paper mounted on wood panel, 1967. 585x915 mm; 23x36 inches. Signed and dated in ink, verso * Primavera (Spring) No. 11, oil on wood panel, 1977. 910x610 mm; 36x24 inches. Signed, dated and titled in ink, verso.
With—Double Frontal Portrait, Ravenna, watercolor with color pencils on cream wove paper, 1984. Signed, titled and dated in blue and black ink, lower left recto * Luxor Egypt, watercolor with pen and ink on cream wove paper, 1986. Signed, titled, and dated in ink, lower right recto * Untitled, watercolor with pen and ink and pastel with paper collage elements on wove paper. Various sizes and conditions.
Provenance: Acquired by Francis V. O'Connor (1937-2017), New York-based art historian, poet, artist and co-editor of the Jackson Pollock catalogue raisonné (published in 1978); gifted by bequest to the current owner.
Contreras (1916-1990) came with his mother to the United States from Chile at the age of four. During World War II Contreras was part of the Ghost Army, a group of artists whose job was to create deceptive theatrical productions of military strength, fooling Axis troops into believing that they were fighting against a larger force. Artists were usually recruited from art schools and advertising agencies, with artists such as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer and Art Kane, selected for their creativity and artistry.
