Daughter of the celebrated and visionary gallery-owner Pierre Loeb, the Parisian dealer of the greatest modern artists of the inter-war period, including Picasso, Miró and Giacometti, Florence Loeb inherited her father’s passion for distant cultures and his gift for forging special affinities with the most fascinating artistic personalities of his generation.

In part this came from a life changing meeting in 1946, when Florence, aged only 16, first encountered the playwright, poet, actor and theatre director Antonin Artaud. A seminal moment, she spent the rest of her life fulfilling the quest he set for her, the search for the “thunderbolt of second life”, travelling the world and punctuating her voyages with conferences that she entitled “Celebration of Life”. The finest ensemble of books and drawings by Antonin Artaud, including the legendary Autoportrait of 1946, a portrait of Pierre Loeb by Alberto Giacometti and a selection of works from Africa, Oceania and the Americas from the collection of Pierre Loeb represent the highlights of this sale, which Sotheby’s is honoured to present in homage to Florence Loeb.