The Bird
1940
engraved plaster plaque
signed G.B. to the lower right hand portion of the plaque

9.5" ht. x 12.5" wd. (plaque size)
13.25" ht. x 20.75" wd. (framed)

EXHIBITED

Georges Braque, A Retrospective Exhibition, Cleveland Art Museum, January 26-March 13, 1949

Georges Braque, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York, March 29-June 12, 1949 (See photograph on website)

LITERATURE

Georges Braque, The Museum of Modern Art, New York: In collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art. Distributed by Simon and Schuster, New York, Henry R. Hope., Page 162

ESSAY

Accompanying the lot is the original receipt from Theodore Schema & Co., 149 East 72 St., New York City. The letter reads...

"Oct. 29, 1951

Sold to Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Friedlander, 15 Reilly Road, Cincinnati, OH. An original painted (black) and engraved plaque entitled "The Bird" by Georges Braque ------------ $1,600.00 executed 1940. Exhibited in the Braque exhibition, 1949, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art, no. 108 of the catalogue, purchased from the artist, 1951."

This particular plaster work by Braque was selected by the artist from his own collection for his major retrospective exhibitions in 1949 held at both the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. A photograph of the work can be seen from the MOMA exhibition in the MOMA archives IN403.14, photograph by Soichi Sunami (see catalogue images).

This is a premium lot. Caza Sikes reserves the right to decline any online bids in excess of $300,000. If you intend to bid on items that exceed that total, we strongly suggest you contact Caza Sikes to arrange a phone or absentee bid. Credit references may be required to bid on certain items - please read item descriptions clearly.

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Caza Sikes is excited to present The Friedlander Collection, amassed by multiple generations of a keen and enthusiastic collecting family.

The collection was assembled in two phases, spanning the better half of a century: first by Jane and Alfred Friedlander, with purchase history for individual works dating to the early 20th Century, and continued by Susan and William Friedlander, with works collected as recently as the 2000s.

Notably, Jane and Alfred Friedlander collected important works from a group of respected and celebrated dealers in the 1950s and 60s. These include Theodore Schempp (1904-1988), a graduate of Oberlin College, personal friend of Georges Braque, and expatriate dealer who navigated many works to Midwestern collectors during the middle of the 20th century. Original receipts of purchase on Schempp letterhead, as well as other correspondence, remain with the Collection related to included original works by Paul Klee and Georges Braque. Other important dealers are the famed Knoedler and Co. in New York, and Gimpel Fils Ltd., a seminal European gallery which dealt in top modernists of the 20th century.

Susan and William Friedlander continued the trend of collecting modernist work, primarily via noted Cincinnati modern dealer Carl Solway. Led by a Tom Wesselman original still life as a highlight and a Saul Steinberg original mixed media work featured on the May 19, 1962 cover of The New Yorker, there are many works on paper by top 20th century artists assembled by the Friedlanders, including Magritte, Albers, Giacometti, among others. Additional works by well-known artists such as Pablo Picasso and Maria Helena Vieira da Silva round out the sale.

Many of the works in the Collection were heavily exhibited at institutions. This provenance is well documented, and in most instances exhibiting a clear and unbroken lineage to current day. In some extraordinary cases, such as the Braque, works were purchased directly from the artist.