But the auction also marks an uncharacteristically public dismantling of an extraordinarily private life.
For decades, until her death in September at the age of 89, de Mazia had shunned the public eye, declined interviews, and seemed the very embodiment of everything mysterious about the Barnes Foundation, founded by Albert C. Barnes, the multimillionaire inventor of Argyrol, a widely used antiseptic.
Barnes created his foundation in 1922, when his paintings by Cezanne, Matisse, van Gogh, Picasso and other impressionists and post-impressionists had not yet achieved their status as modern masterpieces. Throughout his lifetime, de Mazia was Barnes' loyal assistant as he quarreled, provoked and publicly insulted most of the more traditional Philadelphia art institutions, and refused admittance to anyone he chose - most notably art scholars, critics and collectors.
After his death in 1951, de Mazia continued to enforce many of his restrictive policies that kept the foundation isolated from the art world.
Never married and with no immediate survivors, de Mazia left a will dictating that her estate be used to create the Violette de Mazia Trust, which will provide scholarships to Barnes students. In death as in life, she had dedicated her entire being to the work of Barnes and his foundation.
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Much about the origin of de Mazia remains a mystery. She arrived in Philadelphia from Europe in the 1920s, engaged to teach French at the Barnes Foundation. She enrolled in the art classes, according to the foundation, and two years later Barnes made her an instructor and began collaborations with her that yielded four books.
