antiquesandartireland.com

The Potato Diggers by Paul Henry at Adams. Click on image to enlarge.

The catalogue cover for Adams sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on May 29 features Paul Henry’s The Potato Diggers.  The 1911 work has been in the same family collection since the 1930′s.  It was last seen in public more than 20 years ago at the Hugh Lane Gallery “Irish Art and Modernism” exhibition.  Described by Dr. S.B. Kennedy as “his masterpiece” the painting is estimated at 250,000-350,000.

The auction catalogue features 179 carefully chosen lots including a second, classical work by Paul Henry of Thatched Cottages with Lake and Mountains beyond. It is estimated at 120,000-160,000.

Different strands of Modernism from artists across Europe are represented in the Branco Weiss collection to be offered at Sotheby’s in London on June 19.  Artists including Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró and Alexander Calder are included in a collection to be offered as a stand alone sale preceding the Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale.  Thirty works will be offered.  Further examples from the collection will come up at the Impressionist and Modern Art day sale, the Contemporary Art day sale, the Swiss Art Sale in Zurich, Sotheby’s Russian art sale and 20th century British art sale in London and the Contemporary Art sale in Paris.

The collection is expected to reach a combined total of around £12 million.  Proceeds will beneft the Branco Weiss Fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.  Weiss was a renowned high tech entrepreneur who established several international high tech companies.  His collection was assembled over 25 years from 1975.

Kandinsky, Wassily., Ineinander, 1928, (£600,000–800,000). Click to enlarge.

Calder, Alexander., Untitled (Tuning Forks), 1939, (£300,000-400,000). Click to enlarge.

Magritte, René – La Bonne Aventure, 1937, (£1 – 1.5 million). (Click on image to enlarge).

A re-discovered seascape by Roderic O’Conor, a painting by Paul Henry last seen in 1973, John Butler Yeats’ portrait of his son William Butler Yeats and a tapestry by Louis le Brocquy are among 30 Irish artworks estimated to bring in around one million euro at Sotheby’s in London on May 23. Here they are.  (Click on any image to enlarge).

Red Rocks and Sea by Roderic O’Conor (£200,000-300,000).

John Butler Yeats (1829-1922) – Portrait of William Butler Yeats 1907 (£40,000-60,000).

Paul Henry (1876-1958) Achill Woman £70,000-100,000).

Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) – Allegory (£60,000-80,000).

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)
Number 19, 1948, sold for $58,363,750. Image courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2013.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) – Dustheads sold for $48,843,750. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2013.

Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art auction in New York last night achieved  $495,021,500.  This is the highest total in auction history. The top lot was Number 19, 1948 by Jackson Pollock which was chased by four telephone bidders and sold for $58,363,750. It was last at auction in 1993 when it sold for $2.4 million, and had changed hands since.

Lichtenstein’s Woman with a Flowered Hat made $56,123, 750 and Basquiat’s Dustheads made $48.8 million. All but four of the 70 lots on offer sold.

The auction was notable for the number of bidders willing to climb above $20 million. Jussi Pylkkanen, who was the auctioneer on the evening, commented afterwards that we are in a new era in the art market.

Barnett Newman’s Onement VI sold for $43,845,000. (Click on image to enlarge).

Records were set for Barnett Newman, Gerhard Richter, Nate Lowman, Dan Colen and a sculpture by Yves Klein at Sotheby’s $294 million contemporary evening art sale in New York last night.  The sale was led by Barnett Newman’s Onement VI which sold for $43,845,000 after competition from five bidders. This doubled a world record price set last May at Christie’s. 

Richter’s Domplatz Mailand (Cathedral Square, Milan) sold for $37,125,000 – a record for Richter and for any living artist at auction.  The global nature of the art market was underlined in a sale with collectors from 35 countries registered to bid, 20% of them new to either Sotheby’s or the category.  Works by Francis Bacon and Jeff Koons were among 11 of the 64 works on offer which failed to sell.

The auction featured eight works donated by artists and foundations to raise money for the Whitney Museum’s new building at the High Line.  They made $11,806,000, nearly double the high estimate of $6.6 million.  

A sculpture by Yves Klein made with sea sponges drenched in his trademark blue pigment sold for $22 million.  Nate Lowman’s “Black Escalade” made $665,000 over a high estimate of $450,000.  The artist was born in 1979, as was Dan Colen, whose 53rd and 3rd sold for $1,085,000.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for April 2 and April 20, 2013).