LEONOR FINI, (1907-1996)
Portraits de famille (Pale Sphinx: Winter)
Portraits de famille (Pale Sphinx: Winter)
signed 'Leonor Fini' (lower right)
decalcomania, watercolour, wash and pen and India ink on paper
32.3 x 25.6cm (12 11/16 x 10 1/16in).
Executed in 1949-1950
The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Mr. Richard Overstreet.
Provenance
Edward James Collection; his sale, Christie's, New York, 6 October 1988, lot 43.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
Literature
M. Brion, Léonor Fini et son œuvre, Paris, 1955 (illustrated).
C. Jelenski, Leonor Fini, Milan, 1963 (illustrated).
R. Overstreet & N. Zukerman, Leonor Fini, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Zurich, 2021 (illustrated p. 72).
Portraits de famille (Pale Sphinx: Winter) belonged to one of Surrealism's most revered private collectors, Edward James. Born to a wealthy family, James used his inheritance to support the arts and literature, and is famously known for his patronage to Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. He met Leonor Fini in 1936 at a gathering hosted by Dalí, which was later followed by a visit from Fini to his West Dean estate in Sussex in 1948. The present work is part of a series of four works (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn) which Fini designed for her illustrated book Portraits de famille in 1950. James most likely acquired the group directly from the artist, and the works remained in the West Dean collection up until his death in 1984. The group eventually split up when they were offered at James' estate sale in 1988, where Pale Sphinx was acquired by the present owner.
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Portraits de famille (Pale Sphinx: Winter)
Portraits de famille (Pale Sphinx: Winter)
signed 'Leonor Fini' (lower right)
decalcomania, watercolour, wash and pen and India ink on paper
32.3 x 25.6cm (12 11/16 x 10 1/16in).
Executed in 1949-1950
The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Mr. Richard Overstreet.
Provenance
Edward James Collection; his sale, Christie's, New York, 6 October 1988, lot 43.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
Literature
M. Brion, Léonor Fini et son œuvre, Paris, 1955 (illustrated).
C. Jelenski, Leonor Fini, Milan, 1963 (illustrated).
R. Overstreet & N. Zukerman, Leonor Fini, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Zurich, 2021 (illustrated p. 72).
Portraits de famille (Pale Sphinx: Winter) belonged to one of Surrealism's most revered private collectors, Edward James. Born to a wealthy family, James used his inheritance to support the arts and literature, and is famously known for his patronage to Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. He met Leonor Fini in 1936 at a gathering hosted by Dalí, which was later followed by a visit from Fini to his West Dean estate in Sussex in 1948. The present work is part of a series of four works (Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn) which Fini designed for her illustrated book Portraits de famille in 1950. James most likely acquired the group directly from the artist, and the works remained in the West Dean collection up until his death in 1984. The group eventually split up when they were offered at James' estate sale in 1988, where Pale Sphinx was acquired by the present owner.
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