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an image of a painting on a black background with a dark backgroundan old wooden frame with writing on it sitting on a purple surfacean oil painting of a group of people sitting under a treean image of a close up of a piece of cloth with writing on ita close up of a piece of cloth with writing on ita person holding a piece of paper on a piece of wood
Premium Trianon Enchères

270 - B - [ARTIFICIALIA]
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Estimate €10,000 - €15,000
Sale commission
Description
[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 catalogue of the 1963 exhibition at the Galerie de France “Mario Prassinos – Bessie Smith” In his series devoted to “Bessie Smith”, Mario Prassinos goes beyond the mere 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 in turn to reveal itself and dissolve. This tension between presence and disappearance lends the work an almost hypnotic power. Through its strangeness, its evocative power and its spectral nature, 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.
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About the sale Shadows and Wonders: Trianon’s mysterious cabinet of curiosities
Auction location
Auction time 10/31/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures modified on 10/23/2026 at 4:42 PM
Lot description modified on 10/23/2026 at 4:42 PM
Pictures credits:
François Mallet & Trianon Auctions
See original version (French)
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