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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF CARL GEMZELL, STOCKHOLM, SOLD TO BENEFIT THE MEDEVI BRUNNS FOUNDATION Carl Gemzell, retired Professor Emeritus in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Uppsala University, Sweden, was a warm, creative and humourous man whose groundbreaking and internationally acclaimed work in the field of reproductive research changed, and indeed created, millions of families around the world. After inventing the first reliable pregnancy test in the 1950s, Professor Gemzell developed 'the Gemzell Method' of treating infertility in women through hormone therapy, which is the basis of all infertility treatments used today including in vitro fertilisation. In 1960 Professor Gemzell delivered healthy quadruplets, the first of many babies conceived using this method. The seeds of Carl Gemzells prestigious collection of modern and contemporary masterpieces were sown in the 1930s when as a young medical student he started purchasing works from Stockholm galleries including Färg och Form, Svenska-Franska, Galerie Blanche, and Samlaren, many of which allowed the young man to pay for many of the works in installments. With time, his research took him abroad to live in the United States and Puerto Rico for many years, where he further extended his collection of paintings, works on paper and sculpture. Professor Gemzell wanted to live surrounded by his art, and the small and exquisite works he favoured were easy to move - he took pride in being able to pack his collection in a few suitcases. Carl Gemzells collection was exhibited at the Moderna Museum in Stockholm in 1996. Professor Gemzell was a great supporter of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, to which he donated seven paintings by Paul Klee in 2004, one of the most significant donations to the museum in a generation and in particular to the development of its collection of early modernism. Some of these carefully-collected and long-loved works are now on the market for the first time in over seventy years, and are being sold to benefit Stiftelsen Medevi Brunns Framtid, the charitable foundation of which Carl Gemzell, like his father and grandfather before him, was a lifelong supporter.

Josef Albers (1888-1976)

Study for Homage to the Square: Silent Presence

Details

Josef Albers (1888-1976)
Study for Homage to the Square: Silent Presence
signed with the artist's monogram and dated 'A60' (lower right); signed, titled and dated 'Study for Homage to the Square: "Silent Presence" Albers 1960' (on the reverse)
oil on masonite
24 x 24in. (61 x 61cm.)
Painted in 1960

Provenance

Sidney Janis Gallery, New York.
Galerie Burén, Stockholm.

Exhibited

Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Carl Gemzell's Collection, 1996.

Special Notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale Room Notice

This work will be included in the forthcoming Josef Albers Catalogue Raisonné being prepared by the Anni and Josef Foundation and is registered as number 1960.1.11.

Lot Essay

This work will be included in the forthcoming Josef Albers Catalogue Raisonné being prepared by the Anni and Josef Albers Foundation and is registered as number 1960.1.11.

Study for Homage to the Square: Silent Presence

Lot Essay

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