Olympia Auctions is to sell twenty-eight works by Viennese Jewish emigré artist Marie-Louise von Motesiczky later today.
Marie-Louise rarely sold her artworks during her lifetime, as she liked to keep them for herself. This is therefore an exciting opportunity to obtain works by this revered artist via Olympia Auctions in a specialist estate sale titled: From the Studio: Works from 15 Artists’ Estates on 20th March 20, 2024.
Frances Carey, Chair of the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust:
“Marie-Louise Motesiczky found it difficult to let go of her ‘children’ as she saw her paintings, so most of her work passed after her death in 1996 to the charitable trust she had set up shortly beforehand. After organising a centenary exhibition in 2006-07 and overseeing the publication of a biography in 2007 and a catalogue raisonné in 2009, the Charity has been intent on making the work available for acquisition, principally by public collections and by private owners as well.”
Marie-Louise completed more than three hundred paintings over seven decades and was particularly interested in painting portraits and still lives, subject matter that is especially well presented in the upcoming auction. Through the efforts of the artist’s Trust Marie-Louise’s work is now well represented in leading cultural institutions around the world, ranging from the British Museum and Tate in London (which also holds her archive), to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh. On the Continent her work is in the collections of the Albertina, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, the Leopold Museum and the Museum Wien in Vienna, as well as major institutions in the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland.
Commenting on the wonderfully rich and diverse selection of works by Marie-Louise, Olympia Auctions art expert, Adrian Biddell, said:
“I am very pleased to be offering this wonderful group of works. I have been dealing with Marie-Louise’s paintings since the Trust first started offering them for sale at auction four years ago and I am delighted to be presenting another tranche of works from the artists’ estate. All her compositions carry a strength of character and charm that can’t fail to stir the viewer. As an artist Marie-Louise von Motesiczky was endlessly curious, whether starting a still life, capturing the local landscape on her travels, or embarking on a portrait.
“Humour, chance and quirks were elements that she also celebrated in her still lives. She loved flowers, which she tended lovingly in her garden – roses, rhododendrons, orchids, dahlias, daffodils and narcissi as lots in the present sale attest. Flowers in her paintings play a vital role in her paintings as sources of wonder and vitality that give energy to adjacent static forms…”
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