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    • Archive for June, 2015

    CAPTIVATING KLIMT PORTRAIT AT SOTHEBY’S

    Thursday, June 4th, 2015
    Property from the Fels?ványi Collection Gustav Klimt Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Fels?ványi) / (Portrait of Gertrud Loew -Gertha Fels?ványi) signed Gustav Klimt and dated 1902 (upper left)

    Gustav Klimt
    Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsoványi)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £24.8 MILLION

    Gustav Klimt’s captivating portrait Bildnis Gertrud Loew comes up at Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern evening sale in London on June 24.  This follows a settlement between the Felsöványi family and The Klimt Foundation. Dating from 1902 it is estimated at £12-18 million.  It depicts Gertrud Loew, later known by her married name Gertha Felsöványi, a member of fin-de-siècle Viennese society, wreathed in diaphanous folds of gossamer fabric.

    Helena Newman, Sotheby’s Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide said: “Bildnis Gertrud Loew, from a crucial period in the artist’s career, is one his finest portraits to appear at auction in over twenty years.”

    Gertrud Felsöványi’s granddaughter on behalf of family heirs, said: “This portrait portrays the brave and determined nature of my grandmother. Her strength of character and beauty lives on in this visual embodiment. My father, Anthony Felsöványi, last saw this painting in June 1938 when he left the family home for the last time to depart for America. At that time my grandmother had been advised to leave her family home to live in a less grand home to try to avoid the attention of the Nazis, given her Jewish ancestry. Eventually, under duress, in 1939 she left Vienna altogether to join my father in America, having left all of her belongings behind – including this painting. Her home had been taken over as a Nazi headquarters and she had left her valuable belongings with friends and acquaintances. After the war, she never returned to Vienna. Only my father’s sister did, with the hope of retrieving some of their belongings, but to no avail. My father said that my grandmother never again mentioned the painting or the valuable belongings she had left behind”.

     

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £24.8 MILLION.  The sale followed a ten minute bidding battle. It was the second highest price paid for a Klimt portrait at auction.

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    MONET, PICASSO, MARC AT CHRISTIE’S LONDON SALE

    Thursday, June 4th, 2015

    A total of 52 covetable works to inspire collectors worldwide come up at  Christie’s Impressionist and Modern  Art evening sale in London on June 23.  Estimates range from £250,000 to £9 million for works by Monet, Picasso, Sisley, Rodin,  van Dongen, Marc, Signac, Magritte and Miro.  Franz Marc’s Gemsen from 1911 is at auction for the very first time with an estimate of £1.8-2.5 million. The artist sought to create an image of the world in harmony which led to increasingly abstracted elements in his art from 1911, the year he founded Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) with Kandinsky.  The top lot in the sale is Iris Mauves by Claude Monet which dates from 1914-1917. It is estimated at £6-9 million.  Here is a small selection:

    Franz Marc (1880-1916) Gemsen (£1.8-2.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Franz Marc (1880-1916)
    Gemsen (£1.8-2.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Tête (£4.8-6.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
    Tête (£4.8-6.5 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Claude Monet (1840-1926) Iris mauves (£6-9 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    Claude Monet (1840-1926) Iris mauves (£6-9 MILLION) © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    THE PROPERTY OF THE MUSÉE RODIN, PARIS Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Aphrodite, grand modèle (£600,000-800,000). © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

    THE PROPERTY OF THE MUSÉE RODIN, PARIS
    Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) Aphrodite, grand modèle (£600,000-800,000). © Christie’s Images Limited 2015

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    LEINSTER HOUSE CABINETS AT APTER-FREDERICKS

    Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015
    One of the Leinster House cabinets.

    One of the Leinster House cabinets.

    A pair of corner cabinets designed for Leinster House have surfaced with leading London dealers Apter-Fredericks with a price tag of £250,000 plus.  The exceptionally fine c1775 cabinets, known as encoigneurs, were made for William FitzGerald, 2nd Duke of Leinster.

    Apter-Fredericks say they have only recently come to light, having been in the possession of the FitzGerald family since the late 18th century. They are listed in the firm’s latest catalogue.

    Following the sale of Leinster House to the RDS in 1815 the cabinets were removed to Carton House, home to the Dukes of Leinster until 1949. They are recorded in the ante-room at Carton circa 1887. After Carton they went to Kilkea Castle in Co. Kildare and finally to Ramsden in Oxfordshire.

    Leinster House – home to the Irish Parliament or Houses of the Oireachtas since 1922 –  was built in 1745. By the 1770’s, when it was owned by the 2nd Duke, only the great first floor gallery remained to be completed.  So William FitzGerald commissioned renowned neo-classical architect and designer James Wyatt – who had previously worked with his uncle the 3rd Duke of Richmond – to design the gallery. Wyatt’s designs for the entire room do not exist.  The Penrose Album in the National Library of Ireland contains a watercolour showing an end wall in the gallery.

    A detail of the cabinet.

    A detail of the cabinet.

    Almost all the decorative elements in the room – winged sphinxes, scrolled acanthus and urns – are echoed in the decoration of the corner commodes.   The furniture would have worked together with the door cases and chimney pieces to create a sophisticated neo-classical space.  This reflected the 2nd Duke of Leinster’s interest in the antique art and decoration he had seen while on his Grand Tour in Italy between 1766 and 1768.
    Apter-Fredericks describe the commodes as: A magnificent, museum quality pair of corner cabinets or encoigneurs in satinwood, with purple heart and tulip wood bandings, and inlaid neo-classical designs to the most exceptionally high standard. Furniture of this quality could only have been made by one of a small handful of cabinet makers from this period, namely Mayhew and Ince and Thomas Chippendale.  Apter-Fredericks, Important English Furniture, is at Fulham Road, London SW3.

    A detail.

    A detail.

    A view of the top.

    A view of the top.

    A detail.

    A detail.

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    MOST VALUABLE JEWELLERY AUCTION EVER HELD IN ASIA

    Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015
    This Burmese ruby and diamond necklace by Etcetera made US$13,006,656.

    This Burmese ruby and diamond necklace by Etcetera made US$13,006,656, a world auction record price for a ruby necklace.

    The most valuable jewellery auction ever held in Asia brought in US$117,892,395 at Christie’s. The top lot in the Hong Kong magnificent jewels sale was a Burmese ruby and diamond necklace of 120 carats, by Etcetera.  It made US$13,006,656.

    “Christie’s Hong Kong established a new record for the most valuable jewellery auction ever held in Asia. The family collection of K’ung Hsiang-Hsi sold for US$14.6 m, 7 times its low estimate. More records were achieved for a ruby necklace, a Kashmir sapphire and a jadeite cabochon and collectors were mesmerized all through the day bidding in any increment and as long as it took to try and acquire anything at the sale,” said Vickie Sek, Director of Christie’s Asia Jewellery Department.

    A circular cut Kashmir sapphire of 10.33 carats sold for US$2,483,136, a world record per carat price of US$240,381. A jadeite cabochon pendant sold for US$5,676,480, a world auction record for a single jadeite cabochon.

    UPDATE:  Christie’s Hong Kong auction series achieved US$417.6 million and established 60 auction records across various categories. Buyers from mainland China continued to be active, and were joined this year by collectors from Singapore and Taiwan, who competed for 5 days in 16 auctions.

     

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    MANET’S Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015
    ÉDOUARD MANET (1832 – 1883) LE BAR AUX FOLIES BERGÈRE

    ÉDOUARD MANET (1832 – 1883)
    LE BAR AUX FOLIES BERGÈRE  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £16.9 MILLION

    Manet’s first version of The Bar at the Folies Bergere comes up at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale in London on June 24.  Depicting one of his most iconic subjects Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère of 1881 by Édouard Manet is estimated at £15-20 million.  The painting remained in the artist’s personal collection up until his death, after which it went to his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. It  was shown to the public in 1905 in the now legendary exhibition at the Grafton Galleries, London, which introduced the British public to Impressionism. Since then the work has been exhibited extensively internationally and most recently featured as one of the highlights of the National Gallery’s blockbuster exhibition in London Inventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art Market.

    The second and final version of the work is at The Courtauld Institute in London.

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £16.9 MILLION.  The same work made £4.4 million when sold at Sotheby’s in 1994.

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    FOUR EGGS ON A PLATE FROM FREUD TO DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE

    Monday, June 1st, 2015
    Lucian Freud, Four Eggs on a Plate, 2002. Copyright Sotheby's

    Lucian Freud, Four Eggs on a Plate, 2002. Copyright Sotheby’s  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £989,000

    The late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, a frequent visitor to the family estate in Lismore, Co. Waterford, always brought eggs to Lucian Freud when she went to London.  In return Freud gave Four Eggs on a Plate as a gift to the Duchess in 2002.   Their enduring friendship is highlighted by the sale of the painting at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction  in London on July 1. It is estimated at £100,000-150,000.

    Deborah was youngest of the six Mitford sisters who captivated British society in the 1940s and 50s – marrying Andrew Cavendish in 1941. Cavendish became the 11th Duke of Devonshire in 1950 and she dedicated her life to the running of Chatsworth. The Duchess was famed for a somewhat eccentric pursuit for a society beauty: a passion for chickens. Freud’s gift is a tender memento of a lifelong bond between the great artist and the larger-than-life duchess.

    Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Senior International Specialist in Contemporary Art said: “We’re incredibly excited to be offering a work of such personal significance to both Lucian Freud and the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. This small, exquisitely beautiful painting was a treasured gift and today it stands as a token of their enduring friendship. Four Eggs on a Plate is a painting like no other. We see Freud’s tremendous virtuosity as a painter, transforming a simple subject into a work of extraordinary power – and we see the portrait of a friendship between an artist and a duchess.” Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, died aged 94, in September 2014.

    UPDATE: This work sold for £989,000 after a bidding battle by seven bidders.

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