Fernand Léger/Frank Elgar : resonances


Publish by Gazette Drouot International

This 1958 bronze by Marie-Thérèse Pinto and another, Astral colloquium, from 1962 (€300/500), close the sale of this collection.
Born in Chile, Marie-Thérèse Pinto studied sculpture in Italy and above all in Paris; under Constantin Brancusi and then Henri Laurens. During the Second World War, she explored pre-Columbian art in Mexico. On her return to Paris in 1950 she took part in various salons and received several State commissions. "With its elegance, pure forms, rigorous construction and firm structures, her art commands admiration for its secret warmth and palpable, contained passion," wrote the critic Frank Elgar, born Roger Lesbats, whose collection is now heading for the auction room.
Also the author of books on Picasso, Braque, Mondrian, Cézanne and Miró, he developed a deep friendship with Fernand Léger, "that primitive of modern times". So it is hardly surprising that the artist lays a prominent role here. No fewer than ten ceramic pieces, drawings and paintings are on offer, led by a vibrant Still Life with Three Fruits, 1939 (€600,000/800,000), and a Portrait of Marguerite Lesbats. A man who deeply loved art and literature, the journalist assembled not only a library, but also African, Oceanic and pre-Columbian objects. He was interested in painters of his times like the American Expressionist Janice Biala (estimates range from €300 to €1,500). Baltasar Lobo (1910-1993) was also an artist he liked. His bronze with a black patina, Young Woman in Contemplation, is expected to make between €12,000 and €18,000.