Lot Essay
Rolf Alfred Stein Collection (Lot 396, 566-568)
Arrived in Paris from Germany in 1933, Rolf Alfred Stein settled in the Montparnasse district where the vibrant cultural scene gathered at that time. Found of Chinese culture, he met Sanyu during these years before he had to leave for Indochina during the Second World War (1939-1945). It is most probably between 1933 and 1938 that he acquired this very unique collection of Sanyu artworks (Lot 396, 566, 567 and 568), who was then a young artist, exhilarated by his artistic experiences and discoveries. When Alfred Stein came back to Paris in 1947, he got back to his former friends and neighbours with among them Sanyu and Man Ray and built a carrier as a recognized sinologist specialized in Tibet at the Collège de France.
Arrived in Paris from Germany in 1933, Rolf Alfred Stein settled in the Montparnasse district where the vibrant cultural scene gathered at that time. Found of Chinese culture, he met Sanyu during these years before he had to leave for Indochina during the Second World War (1939-1945). It is most probably between 1933 and 1938 that he acquired this very unique collection of Sanyu artworks (Lot 396, 566, 567 and 568), who was then a young artist, exhilarated by his artistic experiences and discoveries. When Alfred Stein came back to Paris in 1947, he got back to his former friends and neighbours with among them Sanyu and Man Ray and built a carrier as a recognized sinologist specialized in Tibet at the Collège de France.