Press article : Jan Lebenstein in great demand - La Gazette Drouot

Jan Lebenstein 1930-1999
"Lupus sum", 1989

Paintings, drawings and lithographs - nineteen works by Jan Lebenstein - formed the core of the sale. From the same private collection - they belonged to a friend of the artist - five of them, paintings, had been loaned to the Zacheta National Art Gallery in Warsaw as part of the "Jan Lebenstein" exhibition, from 22 April to 22 May 1992. Already reproduced on page 88 of Gazette 2024 no. 46, the 1971 oil and acrylic on canvas "Longchamps" fetched 58420€, almost the double of its high estimate of 30000€.

Jan Lebenstein (1930-1999)

Lupus Sum, 1989

Oil on canvas, signed, countersigned, titled and dated, 90 x 130 cm.

Sold for : 39370€

Representative of Lebenstein's early Paris period, his canvases Figure axiale n° 39, 1959 (179 x 68 cm), and Figure axiale n° 140, 1962 (80.5 x 80.5 cm), went for 53340€ and 40000€ respectively. A later work in a very different Lupus Sum, with its brushwork reminiscent of Leonor Fini, fetched 39370€. Covering a vast creative period - from 1955 for the earliest, to 1989 for the most recent - the works testify to the stylistic evolution of the Polish artist, winner in 1959 of the first Paris Biennial, which revealed him to the public. Initially painting gouaches of grotesque figures when he was in Poland, he later rejected this scenic and theatrical side of the figures when he arrived in Paris in 1959. He then favoured more dramatic, crucified human figures in his axial figures. At the beginning of the 1960s, he populated his canvases with a fantastic and monstrous bestiary, whose effects of light and materials were always highly studied.

This trend was confirmed in the 1970s and 1980s, with his interest in the fantastic marked in large landscapes with dark figures against surrealist backgrounds. The pastel "Ève et le serpent" by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, featured in Zoom regions on page 37 of the same Gazette No. 46, remained unsold. In the sculpture category, an "Autoportrait en vert" in bronze with a brown patina, signed César and numbered 4/8 (62 x 28 x 15 cm), went for 22225€.

CANNES, DECEMBER MONDAY 30. BESCH CANNES AUCTION OVV

LA GAZETTE DROUOT N° 1 OF JANUARY 10, 2025 page 88