Sam Szafran (1934-2019)

The Jewish artist of Polish origin died on September 14 at his home in the Parisian suburb of Malakoff. His work, consisting largely of pastels and watercolours depicting foliage or staircases whose inextricable nature created a sense of claustrophobia in the spectator, is currently on show at the Paris Biennale.

This fall Musée de l'Orangerie will present the first retrospective of the artist, who died in 2019, whose unique oeuvre marked figurative painting of the second half of the 20th century. In parallel, the DIL Gallery will pay tribute to him from September 7 to October 30, with 24 paintings and a set of photographs.

Unlike most sales connected with this collecting couple, this one does not feature Sam Szafran's portraits of Lilette among the philodendrons, but their collection of African, Oceanic and American art.

Considered one of his generation’s most outstanding artists, Sam Szafran died on 14 September. A large 1958 painting in Saint-Valery-en-Caux, Normandy, revealed the earliest years of his rich career.

Two works by famous artists achieved the highest bids: Jean Royère’s polar bear sofa and Auguste Rodin’s Saint John the Baptist.

A master in the art of sublimating the female body, Sam Haskins (1926-2009) constantly experimented with and renewed the photographic nude in the 1960s and 1970s.

The American abstract painter’s 1964 Red Up features two main themes in his work: space and light.

Sam Stourdzé, 49, has been director of the French Academy in Rome since September 2020. The photography and cinema specialist talks about his determination to make the Academy a place open to both contemporary creation and a revisited history of art.

The painter sadly died on June 25, reportedly of kidney failure according to his galleries, Pace and David Kordansky. In 1972 Gilliam was the 1st Black artist to show at the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He was known for groundbreaking drape paintings on unstretched canvases which are hung loosely on the wall. 

The artist, born in 1987 in Switzerland, whose work is presented as part of the Lyon Biennial, until December 31 - will receive an endowment of €20,000. His project, Stone Speaker, will be presented in 2024 at the Palais de Tokyo.