Word: maughams
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...morality of the biographical novel as practiced by Somerset Maugham (Gauguin is called Strickland) and Irving Stone (Van Gogh is called Van Gogh) is shaky but probably defensible; the gross offense of distorting a man's life can be justified to some extent if it helps the novelist to capture the quality of the man's spirit. But there is no literary or historical justification for the cynical trespass Herman Wouk has committed in Youngblood Hawke. It is not merely a distortion; it is an act of violence...
...name of Novelist Somerset Maugham, whose collection of impressionist and postimpressionist paintings was on the block at the great London auction house of Sotheby's, undoubtedly accounted for the record turnout of 2,500. But in a larger sense, the star of the evening was, as always, Sotheby's chairman and chief auctioneer, Peter Cecil Wilson, 49. Wilson has sold 28,000 paintings in his career, and last week he went about his work with the same persuasive urbanity that has made Sotheby's the biggest art auction house in the world. Wilson does not joke...
...Charming Man." Wilson knew that Maugham was considering selling his collection a year and a half ago, but when he visited Maugham's Riviera villa, he tactfully avoided even mentioning the fact. Sure enough, when the novelist finally made up his mind, he sent for Wilson to visit him again. "Wilson is a charming man," says Maugham's longtime secretary, Alan Searle. After only two days of quiet negotiating, Maugham himself declared: "I wouldn't trust my pictures with anyone else...
...sale, Wilson pored over the catalogue, noting in his private code bids already phoned in and the reserve price below which Maugham would not sell. From his opening announcement-"Lot No. 1. Roderick O'Conor's Still Life with Vegetables"-he presided over the sale without a flicker of nervousness, apart from shooting a cuff now and then. The 35 paintings went for $1,466,864, including $244,000-the highest price ever paid at auction for a living artist-for a Picasso curiosity that showed The Death of Harlequin on one side and Woman Seated...
...recovery also confirmed the motive for the recent rash of French art thefts, which was the major reason Riviera Resident Somerset Maugham sold his collection (see col. 1). In the Colombe d'Or case, Francis Roux had privately paid out a reported $20,000 to get his paintings back. In the Cézanne affair, insurance companies paid out a reported...