(i) SAILING BY THE LIGHTHOUSE (ii) BUOY AT DUSK (iii) ON FOOT ACROSS THE PLAIN
each signed Jean Hugo lower right
gouache on paper
each: 7.8 x 4.6cm; 3 1/4 x 1 3/4in
55.5 x 23.5cm; 21 3/4 x 9 1/4in (three framed as one)

Property from the Estate of Alexander Iolas

see note to previous lot

Works from the Estate of Alexander Iolas by Jean Hugo and Nikki de Saint Phalle (lots 44-52)

Introduction
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Alexander Iolas (1908-1987) was a renowned art dealer, gallerist and collector of both classical and modern art whose extraordinary influence made a seismic impact on the New York art scene and internationally between the 1950s and 1980s.

As a young man Iolas defied family expectations of following in the path of his father to become a cotton dealer, instead he travelled widely throughout Europe pursuing a career in ballet before turning his attention to the arts. In 1935 he arrived in New York and launched himself into the city’s growing art scene as the manager of Hugo Gallery on East 55th Street. Founded by Elizabeth Arden alongside Robert Rothschild, the gallery gained a reputation for Surrealist art after Iolas staged a pivotal exhibition of new work by Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning and René Magritte in 1947.

Five years later Iolas mounted the landmark show of the yet undiscovered artist Andy Warhol, staging his artistic debut Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote in 1952 and propelling the young American artist to stardom. Iolas and Warhol subsequently worked extensively together, with Iolas credited for commissioning one of Warhol’s final print epics Last Supper of 1986. Iolas also introduced the work of Ed Ruscha to the gallery, shepherding both his reputation and his market. In 1955, in partnership with Brooks Jackson, Iolas established his own independent gallery franchise across Paris, Milan, Rome, Geneva, Madrid and Athens.

Famous for his bombastic claims and often amusing opinions (once dismissing Balthus and Cy Twombly as terrible painters in the same breath), Iolas’ professional achievements are often interchangeable with extraordinary stories of a legend formed in part of his own making. His eye was informed by intuition rather than institution, his theatrical nature inextricably linked to his professional undertakings. Speaking to art historian Maurice Rheims in 1965, Iolas stated: 'I don’t consider a gallery as a commercial occupation. It’s purely artistic… it’s a show in which the audience members are the dancers, and the scenery is made by the painter.