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Auction Overview: Larry Saphire, a Yale graduate and former student at the Sorbonne, pursued a lifelong passion for both art and writing. A rare figure in the art world, he was an art scholar, publisher, collector, and dealer with a focus on French modernism and surrealism. Under his imprint, The Blue Moon Press, he wrote and published several books, including the acclaimed catalogue raisonnés of Fernand Léger and André Masson, edited and translated into French by his first wife, Marie-Madeleine Saphire. He also published Judgements by Matta and two illustrated poetry books—one by Masson and another, Sea Bird Saga, by Wallace Putnam. Larry maintained close friendships with artists like Masson, Dalí, Miró, Nadia Léger (Fernand Leger’s wife), and Matta, and represented American artists such as Putnam and photographer Consuelo Kanaga, while promoting artists like Hank Laventhol, Rita Simon, and Murray Tinkelman. A respected authority on 20th-century European art, he was a trusted advisor to collectors, dealers, museums, and auction houses. This auction reflects the shared belief of Larry and Marie-Madeleine that art is the soul of civilization.
Session Time
Session 1*: Lots: 31001-31098: 11:00 AM CT, Tuesday, September 9
* No Floor or Phone Bidding
Featured Items
André Masson Portrait de l'artiste II, 1946, printed 1972
André Gustave Beaudin Untitled (Atelier Mourlot), 1967
Kurt Seligmann Untitled, 1947
Fernand Léger Pages 49 and 50, from Cirque (two works, one sheet), 1950
Paul Strand Possible Self-Portrait, 1913
Valentine Hugo Profile of Paul Eluard
Georges Braque One Work, from La Théogonie D'Hèsiode, 1955
Jacques Villon Prométhée délivré, circa 1961
Raoul Dufy Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1930
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