20th Century Art 
1 October 2020
20th Century Art 
101

Auguste Rodin 1840–1917

Carmen

c. 1906-1908
graphite, watercolor and gouache on paper 12¾ h × 10 w in (32 × 25 cm)
estimate: $30,000–50,000
result: $37,500
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Signed and inscribed to lower right 'Rodin. À Monsieur Dorville / en amitié'. Titled to lower left 'Carmen'.

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist’s drawings currently being prepared by Christina Buley-Uribe (catalog no. 201001). Sold with a certificate of authenticity from Christina Buley-Uribe and a digital copy of the bill of sale from Morris Gallery.
provenance: Gift from the artist to Noël Dorville, circa 1908 | André Schoeller, Paris | Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Collection of André Schoeller, 14-16 May 1956, Lot 19 | Alain Chenon, Comte de Lèche, Paris | Edwin Bachman, Paris | Rolly-Michaux Gallery, New York | Private Collection | Morris Gallery, Toronto | Acquired from the previous in 1990, Collection of David and Vivian Campbell, Toronto | Thence by descent, Barry Campbell
literature: Collection André Schoeller (vente après décès): Tableaux et sculptures modernes, dessins et aquarelles, Hôtel Drouot, no. 19

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David & Vivian Campbell

20th Century Collectors and Philanthropists

David and Vivian Campbell were prominent philanthropists of the arts in Canada and collectors of early modern masters. Over the course of half a century, David and Vivian built a collection around intimate and dazzling works by giants of early 20th century art—Picasso, Matisse, Gris, Gauguin, Munch and Rodin among them—as well as later 20th century artists such as Will Barnet, Saul Steinberg and David Hockney, who grew out of the traditions of earlier masters, with a reverence for landscape and portraiture.

The scope of the century, along with the Campbells' distinct tastes within its vastness, are presented in the selection offered here; a landscape study of Le Pont Neuf by Paul Signac from 1895, the earliest work in the sale, shares the same musicality of color as Andy Warhol's screenprint of Beethoven from nearly one hundred years later. Portraits by Matisse and Hockney, done forty years apart, both present subjects that are quirky and grounded, executed with an economy and confidence of line. Irving Penn photographs Igor Stravinsky with the same adulatory nod seen in a portrait by André Kertész of his predecessor, Brassaï. An exuberant collage by Picasso celebrates the birth of his son, while Old Man's Afternoon by Will Barnet meditates on loss and aging. A thread evident throughout the selection is the ability for the art that we love to reflect the life that we live.

David and Vivian Campbell in their home in Toronto, 1997,
with Picasso's Jacqueline tricottant. Image: Jeff Goode.
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