The Kaplan-Makovskis Collection: An Iconic Couple of French New Wave Cinema

Nelly Kaplan, born in Argentina in 1931 to a Jewish family who fled the pogroms in Ukraine, defined herself as a mix of the mad spirits of South America, Europe and the Steppes. In 1964, when she met Claude Makovski, a Parisian director and screenwriter five years her junior, she had already lived in France for eleven years and was well established among Abel Gance and the Surrealists . Together, Claude and Nelly founded a company, Cythère Film, in 1967. They formed a couple both in public and behind the camera, co-producing most of their films. The creators of a quirky, libertarian cinema, they lived surrounded by poets and painters. Last year, they died a few weeks apart in Geneva, leaving a collection imbued with Surrealism, eroticism and feminism.   Marcel Gromaire (1892-1971), Les Pêcheurs ( The Fishermen ), 1961, Indian ink, watercolor and gouache, 31.5 x 42.5 cm/12.4 x 16.7 in. Estimate:€2,000/3,000 Lady N., the Rebel Nicknamed "Lady N." by the writer André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Nelly Kaplan had a proud spirit that subjugated poets and artists, starting with French director Abel Gance. She discovered his films in Buenos…