[ARTIFICIALIA] - Lot 270

[ARTIFICIALIA] Mario PRASSINOS (1916–1985) "FUNERAL PORTRAIT OF BESSIE SMITH," 1963 Oil on canvas, signed lower right 130 x 97 cm Provenance: - Collection of Mr. Philippe Le Burgue, Paris - Galerie de France, Paris Bibliography: Reproduced in the catalog of the 1963 exhibition at the Galerie de France "Mario Prassinos – Bessie Smith" In his series dedicated to “Bessie Smith,” Mario Prassinos goes beyond the simple exercise of portraiture. He seeks not so much to recreate the features of the famous blues singer as to evoke a presence, a memory—almost an apparition. The figure emerges from a dense, dark, and vibrant mass, where the face seems to alternately reveal itself and dissolve. This tension between presence and disappearance lends the work an almost hypnotic power. With its strangeness, evocative power, and spectral quality, this series naturally finds its place in a “cabinet of curiosities”: no longer merely as a portrait, but as a memory-image—fascinating and mysterious, halfway between reality and apparition.

Estimate:£8,371.86

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