THE global series of 20th century auctions at Christie’s in March brought in a combined total of £361,428,211. The auction house reports that the season saw registered bidders from 69 countries. The depth of bidding across platforms, time zones and geographies demonstrates global market is active and expansive according to the auction house. New registrants accounted for 24% of registered bidders in March. Tens of millions of viewers tuned in to watch and participate in the March sale series, through Facebook, You Tube, We Chat, Weibo, Artron, ArtPro, Yitao, Christies.com and Christie’s Live™
The underbidder on Banksy’s Game Changer placed a final bid of £14,300,000, the highest bid to date on Christie’s LIVE™. No less than 30 artists records were set.
Picasso’s Femme nue couchée au collier (Marie-Thérèse), 1932 sold for £14,582,500
The 150 lot Irish art auction at de Veres next Tuesday on March 30 offers opportunities for collectors in the €1,000-€10,000 bracket with major Irish art names. There is work by William Crozier, Letitia Hamilton, Gerard Dillon, Peter Collis, Liam Belton, Tony O’Malley, Evie Hone, Patrick Scott, Hughie O’Donoghue, Barrie Cooke, Ciaran Lennon, Neil Shawcross and many other artists. The catalogue is online.
Anthony Scott RUA, b.1968 FOAL (bronze, edition 1/9) (3,000-5,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
This George III ormolu mounted white marble and biscuit porcelain clock by royal clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy was made around 1791. One of the richest and most sophisticated examples of Vulliamy’s known work is described by Christie’s as a tour de force of English Neo-Classical design. From the collection of Mrs. Henry Ford II, who died aged 80 last year, it comes up at Christie’s in New York on March 30. The porcelain figures are by John Deare, the pedestal by Thomas Brownley and it is estimated at $250,000-$400,000. The collection of Kathleen Ford is to be offered at two sales in New York and London. Contents from the Palm Beach home come up in New York while contents from her mansion flat at Eaton Square, London and residence at Turville Grange in Oxfordshire come to auction on April 15. She married Henry Ford II (1917-1987) in 1980 and was his third wife while he was her second husband.
UPDATE: The New York sale totalled $4.7 million. The top lot was a pair of c1770 lacquer cabinets attributed to Joseph Baumhauer which made $846,000 over a top estimate of $600,000. The clock was unsold.
This portrait of Matthew Parker (1504-1575), the Archbishop of Canterbury, by a follower of Hans Holbein the Younger soared to £189,000, more than 75 times its estimate of £2,000-3,000 at Sotheby’s sale of the family collection of Patricia Mountbatten. Over 1,400 participants from 55 countries drove the total to £5,620,798 over three times the pre-sale estimate with 98% of lots sold. The eldest daughter of Britain’s last Viceroy of India Louis Mountbatten, Patricia Knatchbull was the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, great niece of Russia’s last Tsarina and first cousin to Prince Philip. A Jaguar 420 commissioned by Lord Mountbatten in 1967 made £126,000 over an too estimate of £20,000; a group of four pieces of mourning jewellery belonging to Queen Victoria made a combined total of £100,800, more than doubling their estimates; a c1905 Lacloche Frères pig-shaped evening bag sold for £109,620 over a top estimate of £3,000; a rare pale celadon jade teapot, Qing Dynasty sold for £176,400, eighteen times its estimate; The Banks Diamond, a late 18th century brooch with a cushion-shaped yellow diamond given to explorer and botanist Joseph Banks by his eccentric sister Sarah around the time of his marriage in 1779 sold for £138,600 and a Fabergé gold-mounted cigarette case and Imperial enamel timepiece bought by the last Tsar and Tsarina as gifts for the parents of Louis Mountbatten, both soared above their estimates, selling for £47,880 and £81,900 respectively.
THIS c1905 Lacloche Frères pig-shaped evening bag sold for £109,620
UPDATE: THE BASQUIAT WARRIOR SOLD FOR £30,265,619. PICASSO’S Femme assise dans un fauteuil noir (Jacqueline) sold for £9,659,000
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Warrior (on the right above) will launch the Christie’s 20th Century Art sale from Hong Kong today. Picasso’s Femme assise dans un fauteuil noir (Jacqueline) (1962) on the left above is one of two Picasso portraits in the sale. The live stream of the 20th Century Art evening sale and The Art of the Surreal from London begins at 9pm Hong Kong / 1pm London / 9am New York on Tuesday March 23.
UPDATE: THE auction realised £198,716,619, selling 93% by lot, 97% by value and 128% hammer above low estimate. The series of consecutive sales was launched from Hong Kong with Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Warrior (1982), which set a new record, becoming the most expensive western artwork ever sold in Asia at HK$323,600,000. Warrior saw competition from bidders in London, New York and Hong Kong, before ultimately selling to an Asian buyer on the phone in Hong Kong. Banksy’s painting Game Changer (2020), a tribute to international frontline workers during the global pandemic, achieved a world auction record following 14 minutes of bidding. Proceeds of more than £16,000,000 from the sale of the artwork will be used to support the wellbeing of University Hospital Southampton staff and patients as well as benefitting associated health organisations and charities across the UK
Lemons by Georges Braque (1882-1963). UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,200 AT HAMMER
This etching with aquatint by Georges Braque dates to 1929 and is No. 3 from an edition of 50. It comes up at Whyte’s online sale of Irish and International Art this evening with an estimate of 2,000-3,000. The virtual auction of 153 lots features work by sculptors John Behan and Rowan Gillespie, paintings by Jack B. Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Paul Henry, Patrick Scott, Camille Souter, William Crozier, James Humbert Craig, Gladys Maccabe, Dan O’Neill and international artists Tracey Emin, Bob Dylan and Damien Hirst.
Harry Clarke (1889-1931) Bluebeard’s last wife. UPDATE: THIS MADE 165,000 AT HAMMER
A lost lamented old Cork public interior and a tour de force of Irish stained glass artistry are among the lots on offer at the online James Adam evening sale of important Irish art on March 24. Harry Clarke’s intricate depiction of Bluebeard’s Last Wife is the catalogue cover lot. When she discovered the bodies of his previous wives Bluebeard’s last wife orchestrated his downfall. The vivid miniature in an inlaid cabinet by James Hicks – made up of two glass panels intricately worked together to provide a scene of astounding detail and gruesome foreboding – is estimated at €80,000-€120,000. A large 1852 watercolour by James Mahony offers a fascinating interior view of the Benson building on Albert Quay where Cork City Hall now stands. The National Exhibition of the Arts, Manufactures and Products of Ireland was officially opened here on June 10, 1852 by the Lord Lieutenant Archilbald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton. Mahony depicts a long line of eminent citizens waiting to be introduced in a detailed work estimated at €6,000-€10,000. The semi circular wood trusses and large skylights depicted were designed by engineer John Benson, architect for the exhibition. The much loved building was dismantled and re-erected in Emmet Place where it was used for lectures and exhibitions and known as The Atheneum. It was re-named the Cork Opera House in 1877. Among Benson’s other buildings in Cork are the Firkin Crane, the English Market and St. Patrick’s Bridge. Because they were made of wood nearly all his Cork buildings have been destroyed or lost their original roof trusses. Survivors include the tower over the main door of the North Cathedral and the old waterworks on the Lee Road. The Belle of Chinatown, a 1943 oil by Jack B. Yeats, is estimated at €120,000-€160,000 while Serving Dinner, an 1890 work by Katherine MacCausland has an estimate of €25,000-€35,000. There is art by Walter Osborne and Sir John Lavery, Louis le Brocquy and Anne Madden, Hughie O’Donoghue, Michael Farrell and Patrick Collins among 138 lots on offer.
James Mahony (1810-1879) The official opening of the National Exhibition of the Art, Manufacturers and Products of Ireland, Cork 1852. UPDATE: THIS MADE 13,000 AT HAMMER
Jack B. Yeats, Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy, John Shinnors and Donald Teskey are among the artists represented at Whyte’s evening sale of Irish and International Art online from Dublin on March 22. Among the other artists in the auction are John Behan, Michael Canning, James Humbert Craig, William Crozier, Bob Dylan, Tracey Emin, Rowan Gillespie, Damien Hirst, Graham Knuttel, Arthur Maderson, Gladys Maccabe, Dan O’Neill, Liam O’Neill, Thomas Ryan, Cecil French Salkeld, Patrick Scott and Camille Souter. The catalogue is online and bidding is open.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 14, 2021)
Paul Henry (1876-1958) – Spring in Wicklow UPDATE: THIS MADE 150,000 AT HAMMER
In anticipation of a new era for the art world Christie’s will offer major auctions of “20th Century Art” and “21st Century Art” in New York in May. These sales on May 11 (1880-1980) and May 13 (1980’s into the future) will replace the Impressionist and Modern and Post-War and Contemporary sales. According to Christie’s the new format will underscore the radical nature of the Modern Masters and their lasting impact on the art being created today, it will emphasise the electricity and relevance of the art created over the past 40 years, and make plenty room for the new – both physical and digital. (Last week the auction house sold a digital non fungible token art collage by Beeple for a record $69 million).
Alexander Rotter, chairman of 20th & 21st Century Art remarked: ‘This time of upheaval has had an enormous impact on the art world. It has impacted the nature of art that is being created today and has altered our understanding on the art of the past. This new format allows us to bring our new found perspective forward to the market in an exciting and dynamic way. We are looking forward to what the future has to bring.’
By removing art from the context of its assigned movements, Christie’s seeks to make new stylistic connections, approach topics such as race and revolution from a new lens, and create space to amplify voices that have been historically overlooked and undervalued. The sales will create a new platform to elevate masterworks and discover new and extraordinary works.
Claude Monet – Waterloo Bridge, effet de brouillard courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. 2021
Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, effet de brouillard, (estimate in the region of $35 million, will be joined by Andy Warhol’s Nine Multicolored Marilyns (Reversal Series), 1979-1986 (estimate in the region of $7 million) in the 20th Century Evening Sale. One of the most influential sculptural works of the last 35 years Martin Kippenberger’s Martin, ab in die Ecke und schäm Dich (Martin, Into the Corner, You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself) from 1989 is a highlight of the May 13 sale. It is estimated at $10-15 million.
Martin Kippenberger – Martin, ab in die Ecke und schäm Dich (Martin, Into the Corner, You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself) courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2021. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $9,520,000
AN oil on canvas by Colin Middleton, Sundown, Canalridge, No. 2 sold for a hammer price of £13,000 over a top estimate of £5,000 at Dreweatts in Newbury, Berkshire today. Dated January 1960 it was from a private collection of Irish art including in a sale of Modern and Contemporary Art by the English auctioneers. Kitty Wilmer O’Brien’s Boathaven, Old Head, Louisburg, Co. Mayo made £3,700 at hammer over a top estimate of £1,500, a Markey Robinson of Shawlies in the Village made £2,800 over a top estimate of £2,000, Gallery Visitors by Gladys Maccabe made £1,800 over a top estimate of £1,500 and works by Henry Healy and Sean McSweeney also exceeded the top estimates.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for March 13, 2021 and February 16, 2021)
