$3.8M Gauguin

Press, 18 May 1984, Page 1

$3.8M Gauguin

A painting by Paul Gauguin, “Mata Mua” (“In Olden Times”), which fetched SUS3.B million at an art auction at Sotheby Parke Bernet, in New York, is displayed in a catalogue held by Sir Ronald Scott, the managing director of Peter Small, Ltd. The catalogue, which was sent to him from Sotheby’s,

displays 12 impressionist paintings from the estates of Ema Wolf Drefuss and Julius Wolf.

The painting by Gauguin, which was bought by Baron von Thyssen, a Swiss director of Sotheby’s, broke the

record for the artist set four years ago at 5U52.9 million.

Works by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Degas, and other artists fetched a record 5U539.28 million at the sale, which featured the paintings

from the little-known collection.

Julius Wolf, a Swiss cotton trader, and his wife, Erna, started collecting art after they were married in 1923. After Mr Wolf’s death in 1944, Mrs Wolf remarried and continued to acquire paintings, drawings and sculptures until her death last year.