Oct 22, 2015 - Sale 2394

Sale 2394 - Lot 376

Price Realized: $ 7,020
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
MOMA EXHIBITION CATALOGUE PRINTING INSTRUCTIONS MATISSE, HENRI. Group of 4 items, each to MoMA Director of Exhibitions and Publications Monroe Wheeler: 3 Typed Letters Signed * L'art sacré: Vence, 11-12, Juillet-Août 1951. Signed and Inscribed, on the front cover. The letters, "HMatisse" or "Sincerely yours / HMatisse," in French, primarily concerned with production of the cover art for Alfred H. Barr's exhibition catalogue. Together 4 pages, 4to, written on rectos only; folds. One with the original envelope. The book, "To Mr. Wheeler / cordially / HMatisse." 30 pages, 4to, printed wrappers, stapled binding. Paris: Éitions du Cerf, 1951. Vp, 1951-54

Additional Details

18 September 1951: ". . . [M]y son, Pierre, . . . is taking the plane tomorrow, to give . . . you the two covers that you asked me to compose.
"I must first of all ask you to excuse me for not having composed the cover of the catalog in only three colors. That was not possible for me. . . .
"Here are a few observation regarding its printing. 1. To help the printer find the absolutely exact colors for the printing, I am attaching the composition samples [not present]. . . . 2. The black of the eyes must be the same as that of the black band. . . .
"As you will see from the list of work that I am loaning you, I do not have a portrait of Schoukine at my disposal. Instead, I am loaning you my last composition for a stained glass window. . . ."
30 September 1951: If there is still time, there is reason to make the following correction in the catalog of my exhibition at your museum.
"It is not a drawing for the Crucifixion that I am sending you but a copy in bronze of Christ on the Cross, the same as exists at the Chapel of Vence. . . ."
22 June 1954: ". . . If my health permits me, I will be very happy to receive Mr. d'Harnoncourt when he is in Nice and show him my work and facilitate his visit of the Chapel of Vence . . . ."
For the exhibition of Matisse's works at the Museum of Modern Art, held between November 13, 1951 and January 13, 1952, 75 paintings, 31 sculptures, and numerous drawings, prints, and illustrated books were shown, including items from Matisse's private collection. The 6-color cover of the exhibition catalogue, Matisse: His Art and His Public, 1951, was designed for the occasion by Matisse himself.
From the Estate of Anatole Pohorilenko, a close friend and companion of Wheeler. Pohorilenko was born in Lübeck, Germany to Ukrainian and German parents and lived in the Displaced Persons Camp in Burgdorf until 1947, when he relocated to Brazil before emigrating to the U.S., where he became a distinguished anthropologist and archaeologist.