THE LANDSCAPE OF A MIND: A PRIVATE COLLECTOR'S SURREAL VISION
Yves Tanguy (1900-1955)

L’Extinction des espèces II

Price realised GBP 3,131,250
Estimate
GBP 2,500,000 – GBP 4,000,000
Estimates do not reflect the final hammer price and do not include buyer's premium, and applicable taxes or artist's resale right. Please see Section D of the Conditions of Sale for full details.
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Yves Tanguy (1900-1955)

L’Extinction des espèces II

Price realised GBP 3,131,250
Closed: 18 Jun 2019
Price realised GBP 3,131,250
Closed: 18 Jun 2019
Details
Yves Tanguy (1900-1955)
L’Extinction des espèces II
signed and dated ‘YVES TANGUY 38’ (lower right); dated and inscribed 'L’Extinction des especes 1938' (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
36 ¼ x 28 ¾ in. (92 x 73 cm.)
Painted in 1938
Provenance
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York (no. ST. 999), by 1940.
Patricia K. Matisse, New York, between 1955 and 1963.
Pierre Matisse, New York, by descent from the above, in 1972.
Maria-Gaetana 'Tana' Matisse, by descent from the above, in 1989 until 2001.
The Pierre & Tana Matisse Foundation Collection, New York, by descent from the above.
Blain Di Donna, New York.
Acquired from the above, on 6 December 2012.
Literature
P. Matisse & K. Sage, eds., Yves Tanguy: Un Recueil de ses oeuvres/A Summary of his Works, New York, 1963, no. 215, p. 108 (illustrated; illustrated again n.p.).
D. Marchesseau, Yves Tanguy, Paris, 1973, p. 24 (illustrated).
E.M. Maurer, In Quest of the Myth: An Investigation of the Relationships Between Surrealism and Primitivism, Pennsylvania, 1974, p. 310 (illustrated p. 510).
P. Waldberg, Yves Tanguy, Brussels, 1977, p. 178 (illustrated p. 177).
S. Gassert, 'Die sichtbare Endzeit', in Basler Zeitung, Basel, 25 October 1982.
V. Baumeister, 'Das Universum der Reste, Plize und Pasten', in Badische Zeitung, Baden-Baden 26 October 1982.
H.J. Muller, 'Ausstellung in Baden-Baden: Yves Tanguy Flocken, Wolken, Gewolle und Gewurm', in Die Zeit, Hamburg, 29 October 1982.
D. Bauerle, 'Yves Tanguy: 1900-1955, Baden-Baden', in Die Kunst und das schöne Heim, no. 94, vol. 12, Munich, December 1982, p. 830.
G. Onslow Ford, Yves Tanguy and Automatism, Inverness, 1983, p. 18 (detail illustrated).
S. Nessen, 'Yves Tanguy’s Otherworld: Reflections on a Celtic Past and a Surrealist Sensibility', in Arts Magazine, vol. 62, no. 5, 1988, pp. 28-29 (illustrated).
G. Durozoi, Histoire du movement surréaliste, Paris, 1997, p. 707.
R. Le Bihan, R. Mabin & M. Sawin, Yves Tanguy: Embannadurioù An Here, Paris, 2001, no. 65, p. 116 (illustrated p. 117).
Exhibited
New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Yves Tanguy: Paintings, Gouaches, Drawings, December 1939 (ex. cat.); this exhibition later travelled to Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, January 1940; Chicago, Arts Club, February 1940; Seattle, Henry Art Gallery, March 1940; and San Francisco, Museum of Art, May - June 1940.
New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Contemporary Art: Painting & Sculpture, June 1950, no. 17, n.p..
Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, Yves Tanguy, Kay Sage, August - September 1954, no. 12, n.p..
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Yves Tanguy, September - October 1955, p. 40 (illustrated).
Sarasota, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, René Magritte et Yves Tanguy, November - December 1961, no. 29; this exhibition later travelled to Georgia, Mercer University, January 1962; Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, February - March 1962; Toronto, Art Gallery, March - April 1962; Denver, Denver Art Museum, May - June 1962; Manchester, Currier Gallery of Art, August - September 1962; and Pennsylvania, Allentown Art Museum, September - October 1962 (no cat.).
Bordeaux, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Surréalisme, May - September 1971, no. 219, p. 115 (illustrated n.p.).
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Der Surrealismus 1922 - 1942, March - May 1972, no. 435, n.p. (illustrated n.p.); this exhibition later travelled to Paris, Musée des arts décoratifs, June - August 1972, no. 420 (illustrated).
Cologne, Messenhallen, Westkunst. Zeitgenössische Kunst seit 1939, May - August 1981, no. 6, p. 337 (illustrated; illustrated again p. 32).
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Yves Tanguy: Rétrospective, 1925-1955, June - September 1982, no. 71, p. 118 (illustrated p. 119); this exhibition later travelled to Baden-Baden, Staatliche Kunsthalle, October 1982 - January 1983; and New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, January - February 1983, no. 71, p. 18.
Venice, XLII Esposizione internazionale d'arte, La Biennale di Venezia, 1986, no. 2, p. 94 (illustrated p. 100).
Dusseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, “…und nicht die leiseste Spur einer Vorschrift” - Positionen unabhängiger Kunst in Europa um 1937, December 1987 - January 1988, no. 93, p. 171 (illustrated p. 88).
Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts, El universo surrealista, June - September 2007, no. 166, p. 164 (illustrated p. 165); this exhibition later travelled to Barcelona, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, October 2007 - January 2008.
New York, L & M Arts, Tanguy Calder: Between Surrealism and Abstraction, April - June 2010, pp. 50, 168 (illustrated p. 51).
New York, Di Donna, Fields of Dream: The Surrealist Landscape, October - December 2015, n.p. (illustrated; illustrated again pl. 47).
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

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