Lot No. 530 #


Leonor Fini *


Leonor Fini * - Modern Art

(Buenos Aires 1908–1996 Paris)
‘Jeux de Dames - Pari de Zobeide’, 1975, signed Leonor Fini, on the stretcher titled and inscribed ‘Leonor FINI Jeux des dames’ and inscribed ‘Sympathie pour Mme De Wijt Leonor Fini’, oil on canvas, 54.5 x 73 cm, framed, (PS)

Photo certificate
Richard Overstreed, Head of the Estate of Leonor Fini, Paris 16.01.2014

The present work will be included in the catalogue raisonné of paintings by Leonor Fini currently being compiled under the archive number 0809.

The painter Leonor Fini, who dropped the final ‘a’ in her name in order to achieve an effect of androgyny, was born in Buenos Aires in 1918 and died in Paris in 1996. She moved to Paris in 1936 and became acquainted with Max Ernst, René Magritte and Victor Brauner.
Fini studied Mannerist and Renaissance painting in Milan, and repeatedly portrayed herself in her works – ranging from paintings to book illustrations and photographic self-portraits – in different costumes and disguises.

The present painting, with the ambiguous title ‘Jeux de Dames – Pari de Zobeïde’, tells a story with multiple meanings. The title itself contains an allusion to a narrative from the Thousand and One Nights and is interpreted as an oriental dream sequence. Before a reduced background decorated with shimmering Arab tiles and suggestively clad in an oriental headdress, Princess Zobeïde (Zubaida) sits to the right of a chessboard, facing her spouse, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, on the left side. Both are tricked into believing that their partner’s cherished servant is dead, and are convinced by their advisors’ trusted words that their own servant is still alive. The graceful Zubaida, who is reluctant to be persuaded by her husband, stands up with a feminine gesture. Certain of her victory, she bets the paintings in her palace against her husband’s heavenly garden.
The boyishly veiled figure of the Caliph seems to fall back. In a squatting position and with little concern for topoi of power, he reaches for a chess piece, pondering the next move.
The image is arranged according to central perspective but is disrupted by the shift of its centre: this impedes the usual direction of reading, plays with gender identities and lays bare a subtle, mutual dialogue between activity and passivity, superiority and submission, strategy and fate.

The works of female Surrealist painters question the artist’s own mirror image and express the search for a model of female identity. Along with Meret Oppenheim, Dorothea Tanning, Toyen and Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini was one of the young women who belonged to the Surrealist entourage centred on Breton whilst at the same time keeping a distance and defending an independent position.

Specialist: Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers

petra.schaepers@dorotheum.de

25.11.2014 - 18:00

Realized price: **
EUR 79,754.-
Estimate:
EUR 60,000.- to EUR 70,000.-

Leonor Fini *


(Buenos Aires 1908–1996 Paris)
‘Jeux de Dames - Pari de Zobeide’, 1975, signed Leonor Fini, on the stretcher titled and inscribed ‘Leonor FINI Jeux des dames’ and inscribed ‘Sympathie pour Mme De Wijt Leonor Fini’, oil on canvas, 54.5 x 73 cm, framed, (PS)

Photo certificate
Richard Overstreed, Head of the Estate of Leonor Fini, Paris 16.01.2014

The present work will be included in the catalogue raisonné of paintings by Leonor Fini currently being compiled under the archive number 0809.

The painter Leonor Fini, who dropped the final ‘a’ in her name in order to achieve an effect of androgyny, was born in Buenos Aires in 1918 and died in Paris in 1996. She moved to Paris in 1936 and became acquainted with Max Ernst, René Magritte and Victor Brauner.
Fini studied Mannerist and Renaissance painting in Milan, and repeatedly portrayed herself in her works – ranging from paintings to book illustrations and photographic self-portraits – in different costumes and disguises.

The present painting, with the ambiguous title ‘Jeux de Dames – Pari de Zobeïde’, tells a story with multiple meanings. The title itself contains an allusion to a narrative from the Thousand and One Nights and is interpreted as an oriental dream sequence. Before a reduced background decorated with shimmering Arab tiles and suggestively clad in an oriental headdress, Princess Zobeïde (Zubaida) sits to the right of a chessboard, facing her spouse, Caliph Harun al-Rashid, on the left side. Both are tricked into believing that their partner’s cherished servant is dead, and are convinced by their advisors’ trusted words that their own servant is still alive. The graceful Zubaida, who is reluctant to be persuaded by her husband, stands up with a feminine gesture. Certain of her victory, she bets the paintings in her palace against her husband’s heavenly garden.
The boyishly veiled figure of the Caliph seems to fall back. In a squatting position and with little concern for topoi of power, he reaches for a chess piece, pondering the next move.
The image is arranged according to central perspective but is disrupted by the shift of its centre: this impedes the usual direction of reading, plays with gender identities and lays bare a subtle, mutual dialogue between activity and passivity, superiority and submission, strategy and fate.

The works of female Surrealist painters question the artist’s own mirror image and express the search for a model of female identity. Along with Meret Oppenheim, Dorothea Tanning, Toyen and Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini was one of the young women who belonged to the Surrealist entourage centred on Breton whilst at the same time keeping a distance and defending an independent position.

Specialist: Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers

petra.schaepers@dorotheum.de


Buyers hotline Mon.-Fri.: 10.00am - 5.00pm
kundendienst@dorotheum.at

+43 1 515 60 200
Auction: Modern Art
Auction type: Saleroom auction
Date: 25.11.2014 - 18:00
Location: Vienna | Palais Dorotheum
Exhibition: 15.11. - 25.11.2014


** Purchase price incl. charges and taxes(Country of delivery: Austria)

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