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LEONOR FINI (1908-1996)

 
LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in. LEONOR FINI - Portrait of Pao Ying - oil on panel - 15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in.
Portrait of Pao Yingc. 196015 1/2 x 10 1/4 in.(39.37 x 26.04 cm) oil on panel
Provenance
Pao Ying, Milan (acquired directly from the artist)
Private Collection
Heather James Fine Art, acquired from the above
Exhibition
Milan, Galleria Tommaso Calabro, Leonor Fini. Italian Fury. As dreamed by Francesco Vezzoli, 1 April – 25 June 2022
Literature
R. Overstreet and N. Zuckerman, Leonor Fini Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Vol. II, Zurich, 2021, no. 623, p. 394 (illustrated in colour)
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“I am convinced that in any creativity there exists this element of revolt.” – Leonor Fini

History

Portraiture, for Leonor Fini, proved to be the staple of her oeuvre that she never tired of pursuing. When she was 17, the painting she exhibited in Trieste garnered so much attention that she was flooded with commissions from local dignitaries. And when you consider the list of people she collaborated with, or who came into her circle of intimates over the following decades, it is a remarkable list. Her persona was one of drama, mystery, and intrigue, and she pulled others into her sphere. 

For twenty years, during the 1950s and 60s, every August 30, the day of her birthday, Fini would organize a sumptuous party at the old monastery at the convent of Saint-Francois di Nonza, a village set in a stunning clifftop location on the west coast of Cap Corse, Corsica. Among the invitees were Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning, Meret Oppenheim, Jacques Audiberti, Ernst Fuchs (among many others), and none other than the very attractive and talented Pao Ying Wang. Born in 1923, she was a talented jewelry artist with Surrealist inclinations. Pao was also an engaging interlocutor. The list of suitors vying for her attention included Ezra Pound, who was said to be madly in love with her. But the love of Pao Ying Wang’s life proved to be her life partner for thirty-five years, the great Milanese architect Ignazio Gardella. Leonor Fini’s intentions for this portrait of Pao seem clear. Fini painted her good friend directly and with a commanding sense of permanence. Above all, Leonora wanted to create a lasting impression. She wanted you to know that not only was Pao a woman worth knowing, but one worth never forgetting.

The painting remained with Pao Ying Wang throughout her long life. She passed away in 2016.

“Paintings, like dreams, have a life of their own and I have always painted very much the way I dream.” – Leonor Fini

Top Results at Auction

Oil on canvas, 31 5/8 x 23 1/2 in. Sold at Sotheby's New York: 12 May 2021.

"Autoportrait au scorpion" (1938) sold for $2,319,000.

Oil on canvas, 31 5/8 x 23 1/2 in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 12 May 2021.
Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 32 in. Sold at Sotheby's New York: 29 June 2020.

"Figures on a Terrace" (1938) sold for $980,000.

Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 32 in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 29 June 2020.
Oil on canvas, 28 7/8 x 45 5/8 in. Sold at Sotheby's New York: 16 November 2021.

"Les Aveugles" (1968) sold for $867,000.

Oil on canvas, 28 7/8 x 45 5/8 in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 16 November 2021.

Comparable Paintings Sold at Auction

Oil on canvas, 45 3/4 x 31 7/8 in. Sold at Sotheby's New York: 05 November 2014.

"Portrait surréaliste d'Adriana" (1957-1958) sold for $425,000.

Oil on canvas, 45 3/4 x 31 7/8 in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 05 November 2014.
Oil on canvas, 10 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. Sold at Digard Auction Paris: 30 November 2021.

"L'Inondation" (1939) sold for $352,000.

Oil on canvas, 10 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. Sold at Digard Auction Paris: 30 November 2021.
Oil on canvas, 35 7/8 x 23 1/4 in. Sold at Sotheby's New York: 18 May 2022.

"Portrait de María Félix I or Reina del fuego" (c. 1954) sold for $352,800.

Oil on canvas, 35 7/8 x 23 1/4 in. Sold at Sotheby’s New York: 18 May 2022.

Paintings in Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

“Mrs. Ambrose Chambers” (c. 1940), oil on canvas, 21 7/8 x 18 1/4 in.

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

“Portrait d’enfant” (1935), oil on canvas, 25 1/2 x 18 1/8 in.

The Musée de Grenoble

“Mandoliniste” (1933), oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 25 1/2 in.

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

“Portrait de jeune fille” (c. 1955), oil on canvas, 16 1/8 x 13 in.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy

“The Shepherdess of the Sphinxes” (1941), oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 15 in.

The Centre Pompidou, Paris

“Femme travestie” (1931) oil on canvas, 25 ½ x 18 1/8 in.

Art Institute of Chicago

“The Sphinx” (n.d.), black gouache and brush and gray brown oil wash on off-white wove paper, 46 5/16 × 30 3/8 in.

The Tate, London

“Little Hermit Sphinx” (1948), oil on canvas, 16 1/8 x 9 1/2 in.
“A painting is something like a spectacle, a theater piece in which each figure lives out her part.” – Leonor Fini

Image Gallery

Additional Resources

Vogue Italia

See more of Leonor Fini’s Surrealist vacations in Nonza, Corsica highlighted in this article from Vogue Italia.

Forbes

Read Forbes’ review of Heather James Fine Art’s 2019 exhibition of Female Surrealists.

Vulture

Vulture takes a look at the Surrealist legacy of Leonor Fini.

Authentication

The catalogue raisonné of Leonor Fini’s oil paintings, authored by Richard Overstreet and Neil Zukerman, was published in 2021. Portrait of Pao Ying is listed on page 394 as painting number 625.

View Catalogue Raisonné

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