rare enamel by le corbusier from utzon’s art collection
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Le Corbusier: "20 heures, arrivée à Chandigarh", 1951-1959.
2016-10-03 14:19 CEST
Rare Enamel by Le Corbusier from Utzon’sArt Collection
Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers is pleased to announce that another importantwork by Le Corbusier from the private collection of the world-famous Danisharchitect Jørn Utzon will be auctioned off in the beginning of December. The workcomes from Utzon’s private home in Hellebæk about 50 kilometres north ofCopenhagen. It was made while Utzon and Corbusier collaborated on the interiorof the Sydney Opera House during the 1950s.
“It is the second time we offer important art pieces from Utzon’s privatecollection. In June 2015 we broke a world record, when we auctioned off amonumental tapestry ”Les dés sont jetés” by Le Corbusier, which was purchased
by the Sydney Opera. At that occasion we also sold two enamels by Corbusier.The one coming up for sale in December was made for Jørn Utzon personally, asan example for the Sydney project. It has never been exhibited in public noroffered for sale before and has been in the ownership of the Utzon family untiltoday” says Frederik Bruun Rasmussen, director of international sales at BruunRasmussen Auctioneers.
The collaboration between Utzon and Corbusier is well documented in anumber of letters between the two – dated between 1958-60. In a letter from31 March 1960 Jørn Utzon writes to Le Corbusier: “Your paintings are everyday a great inspiration to me here on our walls – I am looking very muchforward to the Tapisserie”. On the back of the enamel up for auction there isa reference to a sketch by Le Corbusier, which describes how this type ofartwork could be hung in the Sydney Opera House.
Utzon and the Opera House
Jørn Utzon (1918-2008) graduated as an architect in 1942. His careergathered momentum, when he in 1957 won the international architecturalcompetition for the Sydney Opera House. The next several years he workedon the century's most famous building, and everything went according toplan until the change of government in Australia in 1965, which forced Utzonto leave the construction process of the building.
The opera house's exterior was finished, and Jørn Utzon was about to beginwork on the interior. He had plans to decorate the interior of the opera withtapestries and enamels by Le Corbusier. But the new governing party in theAustralian parliament wanted the building finished quickly and inexpensively.Therefore, they suspended the payments to Jørn Utzon, who withdrew fromthe construction in 1966. Australian architects completed the construction,and the Sydney Opera House was completed in 1973 without Utzon's stampon the interior design and the planned decorations by Le Corbusier.
The Pritzker Architecture Prize
In 2003 Jørn Utzon received, as the first Dane ever, the Nobel Prize forarchitecture, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In the statement accompanyingthe award the president of the jury, Lord Rothschild, referenced Utzon'stalent in general and the Sydney Opera House in particular. The building wasincluded on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2007 - the year before Utzon
died at the age of 90.
International auction
Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers, Bredgade 33, Copenhagen
Preview: 24-28 November
Auction: 6 December
Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers is one of Scandinavia’s leading internationalauction houses, and one of Denmark’s oldest. It all started on 6 October 1948,when Arne Bruun Rasmussen conducted the first traditional auction in thesaleroom at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen. Today, Jesper Bruun Rasmussen standsat the helm of the family-run business together with the company’s CEO JakobDupont.
In 2004, the first online auction was launched, and today the auction house hasexpanded to include departments in Copenhagen and Aarhus and representationsin Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Thailand and the US. About 100,000 lots areauctioned off each year at the eight traditional auctions and the daily onlineauctions. Here you can bid on everything from art, antiques, modern design andjewellery to books, coins, stamps, wine and weapons.
Kontaktpersoner
Anne Busk [email protected]+45 8818 1065