Pablo Picasso – Femme nue couchée SOLD FOR $67,541,000
Picasso’s Femme nue couchée was the top lot at Sotheby’s Modern evening auction in New York last night. It made $67.5 million in a sale which realised $408.5 million. This was the third highest total for an auction at Sotheby’s. Monet’s view of the Grand Canal in Venice with Santa Maria della Salute made $56.6 million and The Glade by Paul Cezanne made $41.6 million. There were artists records for Milton Avery’s The Letter ($6.1 million) Leonora Carrington’s The Garden of Paracelsus ($3.3 million) and Jared French’s The Double ($1.1 million) and Robert Motherwell’s Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 59($1.2 million) set an auction record for a work on paper by the artist.
Mark Rothko – Untitled (signed and dated 1960) made $48 million
The sale of 30 lots from the Macklowe Collection achieved $246.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York last night. When added to the results of the November auction the total comes to $922.2 million, making this the most valuable collection ever sold at auction. Highlights last night included Mark Rothko’s Untitled, which made $48 million, Gerhard Richter’s Seestuck (Seascape) which made $30.2 million, Andy Warhol’s Self Portrait which made $18.7 million, and Willem de Kooning’s Untitled which sold for $17.8 million.
Harry Kernoff, R.H.A. – Sunday Evening – Place du Combat, Paris – sold for 94,500
A 1937 oil by Harry Kernoff – Sunday Evening, Place du Combat, Paris – sold for €94,500 over a top estimate of €60,000 at Sotheby’s Ireland / France : Art and Literature sale in Paris today. Roderic O’Conor’s Rocks and Foam, St. Guénolé sold for €352,800; Pieta by Mainie Jellett made €88,200 over a top estimate of €25,000; A Sandhill near Tralee Bay by Jack B Yeats made €50,400 as did Bottle Still Life by William Scott and The Newly Married Man by Sean Keating made €44,100. The sale total was €928,116.
Paul Cezanne – Clairiere (The Glade) at Sotheby’s in New York next Tuesday. UPDATE: THIS MADE $41,688,500
THE big game hunters of the global art world are out in force right now. There are rich pickings for the super rich in a stellar round of May sales in New York sales showcasing major artistic movements of the 20th and 21st centuries. At Christie’s last Monday evening Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn from the collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann of Zurich sold for a record $195 million (€184,421,250). The 40 square inch canvas became the most expensive 20th century artwork ever sold. In 1964 Warhol developed a time intensive new process and used it to create a limited number of portraits – including Shot Sage Blue Marilyn – before abandoning the technique. The painting has been exhibited at galleries including the Guggenheim, New York, the Pompidou in Paris and Tate Modern in London. The 36 works from this collection realised $317.8 million (€300,610,198), All proceeds will directly benefit the Ammann Foundation’s global efforts to create healthcare and education programmes for children.
With everyone from Monet and Degas to Balthus and Wayne Thibaud Christie’s delivered in style this week. At this stage the running total for their Marquee Week spring sales is $1.36 billion. The Post War and Contemporary art day sale yesterday achieved $97 million.
Next it is the turn of Sotheby’s. Their six sales with 800 lots carry a combined estimate of over $1 billion (€950,800,000) on a level with their record setting season last November. Then the Macklowe Collection of 35 artworks made $676 million (€642.9 million) after real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his wife Linda were ordered by a judge to sell their collection and split the proceeds during their 2018 divorce trial. Another 30 works from their collection come up next Monday evening with artists like Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, Sigmar Polke, Donald Judd, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons, Anselm Kiefer, Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Andy Warhol.
The Modern evening auction on Tuesday is the most expensively estimated in the category at Sotheby’s for 15 years. It will feature one of Monet’s finest Venetian works, a 1932 portrait of Marie Therese Walter by Picasso and The Glade by Paul Cezanne. These three works alone are expected to bring in around $150 million (€142.6 million).
On Thursday the Now evening auction and the Contemporary evening auction will bring this months series of marquee evening auctions to a close. The Now sale will open the evening with ten consecutive works by women artists including Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Christina Quarles, Jennifer Packer and Tracey Emin. Highlights of the Contemporary evening auction are Study for Red Pope 1962, 2nd version 1971 by Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly’s large scale Untitled from 1969, a silkscreen of Elvis by Andy Warhol and Cold Beer Beautiful Girls, a quintessential text painting by Ed Ruscha. Who could ask for anything more?
Francis Bacon Study of Red Pope 1962, 2nd version, 1971 at Sotheby’s, New York next Thursday evening. UPDATE: THIS MADE $46,284,500.
CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926) – Le Parlement, soleil couchant made $75.9 million
THE final evening sales at Christie’s in New York last night achieved $843.7 bringing the running total for the Spring 2022 Marquee Week sales to $1.26 Billion. The collection of Anne H. Bass made $363.1 million, the 20th century evening sale made $468.2 million and The Raptor sold for $12.4 million. The collection of Anne H. Bass was 100% sold, and 149% sold above the low estimate. There was a new record for Edgar Degas’s Petite danseuse de quatorze ans which soared over its high estimate of $30 million to sell for $41.6 million, breaking his record for the first time in almost 15 years. Monet’s Parlement was the top lot of the sale and made $75.9 Million.
Bonnie Brennan, President of Christie’s Americas, commented, “We were honored to sell the exquisite collection of Anne H. Bass. The twelve masterpieces, beautifully chosen, reflect the unique perspective of a female collector.”
The 20th Century evening sale sold 98% by lot and 99% by value. The Sugar Shack by Ernie Barnes set a new record at $15.2 Million, 76 times its high estimate. In Barnes’ first appearance in an evening sale, the work had competition from 22 bidders. It sold to a buyer in the room after more than ten and a half minutes of bidding. Another artist record was established by Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware, which sold for $45 million. The work had hung in the White House for multiple presidencies. Thirteen works in the sale achieved more than $10 million. The top lot of the sale was Number 31, an iconic drip painting by Jackson Pollock which made $54.2 million.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for April 19, April 22 and May 3, 2022)
PABLO PICASSO – TETE DE FEMME (FERNANDE) SOLD FOR $48,480,000
Jack B. Yeats- Market Day, Mayo / The Long Car Executed in 1920 Exhibited Paris, Galeries Barbazanges, l’Exposition d’Art Irlandais, 1922,
This Yeats painting is again on show in Paris this week. Sotheby’s has included it in their exhibition and viewing of lots for Ireland / France: Art and Literature sale which is open online for bidding until May 16. The sale includes a strong group of paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures by Ireland’s leading artists from the 19th century to the present day, including Roderic O’Conor, John Lavery, Jack B. Yeats, Mainie Jellett, William Scott and Rowan Gillespie. In addition are a select group of books by Ireland’s celebrated writers including Joyce, Beckett and Yeats.
The auction coincides with the centenary anniversary of the 1922 World Congress of the Irish Race – a significant event in modern Irish history in which the newly founded Irish State participated in a week-long international conference in Paris to promote the country’s national identity. In attendance were Irish politicians, diaspora delegates, writers, artists and musicians. It is on view in Paris until May 14.
Georgina Hilton selling Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild
Christie’s say that results from their 21st Century evening sale in New York last night demonstrate a clear demand from collectors globally and growing confidence in the market for emerging contemporary artists. The auction was led by the monumental canvas by Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1994 which made $36.5 Million. The auction was 114% sold above the low estimate with strong depth of bidding, averaging six bidders per lot.
The opening lot – Summertime by Anna Weyant achieved $1.5 Million – more than seven times its low estimate of $200,000 – after eight minutes of competitive bidding. Shara Hughes’s Spins from Swiss also established a new record, achieving $2.94 Million against a low estimate of $500,000. The monumental canvas Green Room by Matthew Wong set a record of $5.34 million, doubling its high estimate. Portrait of a Lady (After Louis Leopold Boilly) by Ewa Juszkiewicz made a record $1.56 Million (estimate: $200,000-300,000), benefitting POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. An NFT by Refik Anadol, Living Architecture: Casa Batlló made $1.38 Million.
Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn made $195 million to become the most expensive 20th century artwork ever sold at Christie’s in New York last night. The painting was the final lot of the single-owner Thomas and Doris Ammann Collection which featured 36 lots and totalled $317.8 million.
Proceeds from the entire sale of this Zurich collection will benefit charities providing urgent medical and educational services to children. The buyer of Warhol’s Marilyn has been invited to partner with the Ammann Foundation and play an active role in fulfilling its global mission for children’s aid, with the opportunity to nominate the charities to which 20% of the work’s proceeds will be allocated, subject to the Foundation’s final approval.
Warhol’s colourful reproductions of Monroe’s photo portrait — originally a publicity still from her 1953 movie “Niagara” — are among his most recognisable works. Warhol first began creating silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe following her death in August 1962. He would create reproductions of her visage multiple times in bright colours, often with the features somewhat askew. In 1964, he developed a more refined and time-intensive screen printing technique, antithetical to the mass production he was best known for, and created a limited number of portraits of the Hollywood legend of which Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one. This technique was so difficult that he never returned to it again.
Bloomberg is reporting that it was bought by the art dealer Larry Gagosian. The previous record price for a piece of American artwork was $110.5m for a skull painting created in 1982 by Jean-Michael Basquiat. The previous record for a 20th Century work of art was set in 2015 when a 1955 painting by Pablo Picasso – Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O) – sold for $179.4m, including fees.
Irish William IV Mahogany Three Pod Dining Table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,800 AT HAMMER
This 20 foot long Irish William IV dining table is among the top lots at Matthews original country house clearance auction on May 10. The executors sale of the estate of the late Trevor Fitzherbert of Rockfield, Athboy Road, Kells, Co. Meath offers a total of 950 lots and is on view at the property. The dining table is lot 348 and is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. The catalogue is online.
Roderic O’Conor – Rocks and Foam, St. Guenole, 1893. UPDATE: THIS MADE 352,800
A May celebration of Ireland by Sotheby’s in Paris will introduce Irish art to new European audiences and mark an important centenary. Bidding on Ireland / France: Art and Literature opens May 9. The online sale runs until May 16 and will be on view in the French capital from May 11 until May 14. The newly founded Irish state took part in a week long international conference in Paris in 1922 titled The World Congress of the Irish Race. Irish politicians, diaspora delegates, writers, artists and musicians all turned up with the intention of promoting Ireland on the world stage and highlighting our artistic and cultural uniqueness. The auction this month – staged in addition to the annual sale of Irish Art by Sotheby’s to be held in London next November – coincides with the centenary of that congress.
In 1922 the then capital of the art world was witness to a major, month long Irish art exhibition of three hundred works at Galeries Barbazanges.Sotheby’s will avail of the viewing to exhibit three works on loan from private collections. Two of them, The Rosary by Grace Henry and Market Day Mayo / The Long Car by Jack B Yeats, painted respectively in 1910 and 1920, were exhibited at l’Exposition d’Art Irlandais at Galeries Barbazanges. The third, The Bridge at the River Grez, was painted by John Lavery in 1883. Among the literary offerings are copies of Ulysses (first published in Paris in 1922) and Dubliners by James Joyce; Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnameable by Samuel Beckett and Stories of Red Hanrahan by William Butler Yeats. There is a death mask of James Joyce by Victor McCaughan.
William Scott – Bottle Still Life, 1958. UPDATE: THIS MADE 50,400
Irish art on offer at this auction spans different generations and styles. There are paintings by Jack B Yeats and Louis le Brocquy, Sir John Lavery and William Scott. Among our leading contemporary artists there is sculpture by Dorothy Cross, Rowan Gillespie and Patrick O’Reilly with painting by Hughie O’Donoghue and John Noel Smith. Cow up a Tree by the west Cork based Australian artist John Kelly is estimated at €24,000-€35,000. A French cafe scene from 1937 by Harry Kernoff – Sunday Evening, Place du Combat, Paris – is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. Head of a Breton boy by Roderic O’Conor dates to 1883 and is estimated at €60,000-€80,000. Work by Evie Hone, Mainie Jellett, Charles Lamb, Sean Keating, Sean O’Sullivan, Aloysius O’Kelly, Sean O’Sullivan, Sarah Purser, Mary Swanzy, William Orpen and Leo Whelan features too.Among the most expensively estimated lots are Rocks and Foam, St. Guenole, 1883 by Roderic O’Conor (€300,000-€500,000), A Stranger by Sir John Lavery and Quatre Poires by Roderic O’Conor each estimated at €120,000-€180,000 and Statue of the Fragonard, Grasse, 1920’s by William Leech (€30,000-€50,000). There is much here to interest the French, the Irish and members of the Irish diaspora and their descendants located right around the globe.
