antiquesandartireland.com

Signar Polke (1941-2010) – Indian with Eagle (£1.5-2 million).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £5,122,500

An outstanding selection of Post-War and Contemporary Art will come up at Christie’s during Frieze Week  in London next week. The evening auction on October 16 showcases giants of German art, including Gerhard Richter, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke, Martin Kippenberger and Georg Baselitz. Highlights also include Peter Doig’s first tropical landscape painting and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s emotionally charged tribute to his mentor Andy Warhol as well as a major sculptural work by Juan Muñoz. In the spirit of Frieze Week, the evening auction also showcases a new generation of leading contemporary artists who are making their mark on the art world, such as Sterling Ruby, Adrian Ghenie, Mark Bradley, Alex Israel, Brent Wadden, Louis Eisner and Toby Ziegler.

The sales follow the successful series at Christie’s in July – the third highest Post-War & Contemporary Art evening auction ever in Europe, and second highest Post-War & Contemporary Art day auction ever in Europe.

Francis Outred, Christie’s Chairman of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe, commented: “When I first began working in the auction business in 1999, the October series was a mid-season sale with a value of around £2million and an Italian sale of around £5million. This year we’ve surpassed £100million as a low estimate for the season for the very first time.”

de Kooning (1904-1997) – The Big Apple, New York.

The Big Apple, New York by  de Kooning sold for 75,000 euro at the Morgan O’Driscoll online art sale this evening.  It was bought by an Irish bidder acting on behalf of a client.  The seller was also Irish.  The painting had been in a private collection in Co. Wexford.  It attracted around 127 bids and at one stage during the protracted sale there were bidders from 15 countries online.  The underbidder was Norwegian.  Rotterdam born de Kooning was an Abstract Expressionist who was part of the New York School which includes Jackson Pollock,  Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell and Clyfford Still.  There was a large scale retrospective of his work at MoMA in 2011-2012.

This is by a mile the most expensive work sold by Morgan O’Driscoll, who has been running online auctions of Irish art  on a regular basis for several years.  Skibbereen based Mr. O’Driscoll also holds regular sales in Dublin and Cork. Signed on the lower right The Big Apple, New York is an oil on canvas measuring thirsty seven inches by 24 inches.

Mark Rothko
No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange)
signed and dated 1953 on the reverse
Executed in 1951.  UPDATE: IT MADE $45 MILLON

Mark Rothko’s No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange) will highlight the sale of over 90 outstanding works from the Schlumberger Collection at Sotheby’s in New York in November.   The collection of modern and contemporary masterworks has a combined estimate of over $85 million.  Rothko’s canvas dates from 1951 and has been in the collection of Pierre and São Schlumberger for over 40 years.  Other highlights include important Color Field, Abstract Expressionist, Pop, and Surrealist works, reflecting a lifetime of collecting fuelled by a singular vision and relationships with artists forged over decades.

It is reckoned that the Rothko could easily achieve a price in excess of $50 million.  Highlights will be on view in Hong Kong and London before the entire collection will be installed together in Sotheby’s New York headquarters for a special two-day preview exhibition from October 22-24. The Collection will be offered in the evening and day sales of  Impressionist and Modern Art on November 4-5 and Contemporary Art on November 11 and 12.

Liu Xiadong – Disobeying the Rules.

There were nine auction records at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Contemporary Asian Art evening sale which achieved US$78.91 million.  The top lot was Liu Xiadong’s Disobeying the Rules which made US$8.49 million, a world auction record for the artist.  Altogether nine world records were established.

Kevin Ching, Chief Executive Officer of Sotheby’s Asia, said: “Tonight’s Modern and Contemporary Asian Art – Evening Sale was a vibrant success, achieving well in excess of the high estimate.  Sotheby’s worldwide network had sourced appealing works from private European, American and Asian collections, many appearing on the market for the first time, and collectors responded with extraordinary enthusiasm.  Our highly-anticipated offering of works showcasing the rich diversity of Asian art across different periods and regions attracted hundreds of participants, many new to our business, not only in our very crowded saleroom and on the phones, but also online and via absentee bids, which resulted in numerous artist’s records in all categories offered this evening.  Among the many thrilling moments were the bidding wars for Zao Wou-Ki’s Debut d’Octobre (Beginning of October), which had been off the market for nearly 50 years, and for Fang Lijun’s Series 2 No. 4 from the collection of Guy and Myriam Ullens de Schooten, both of which nearly doubled their high estimates”.

Zao Wou-Ki’s Debut d’Octobre sold for US$7.6 million and Lee Man Fong’s Bali Life made US$4.32 million.

Jeff Koons – Balloon Monkey (Orange).  UPDATE: IT MADE $25,925,000.

A year after Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog (Orange) set the world auction record for any living artist Christie’s will offer Balloon Monkey (Orange) in New York in November. The monumental stainless steel sculpture with its impressive scale, fluid line, and immaculate mirror-like surfaces, will be one of  the highlights of the November evening sale of Post War and Contemporary Art on November 12.  New Yorkers are in for a treat as the 20 foot long sculpture will be presented at the entrance to Christie’s at 20 Rockefeller Plaza for six weeks before being sold.  The auction will follow on the heels of the Jeff Koons’ retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art which runs until October 19.  It will re-open in November at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and this will coincide with a display at the Louvre.

Seven years in the  making Koons subjected the idea for this sculpture to years of research modelling, computer rendering, milling, polishing, lacquering and polishing again before the final form was released.  It is one of five balloon monkeys (blue, magenta, orange, red and yellow).  The estimate for the piece is $20-30 million. Last November Balloon Dog Orange sold at Christie’s for $58,405,000, a world auction record for a living artist.

UPDATE: IT MADE $25,925,000.

Seán Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977) Study after The Tipperary Hurler.

Tipp’s loss to Kilkenny at last Sunday’s All Ireland Hurling Final replay did not diminish the enduring appeal of the Tipperary Hurler at Adams last night. Sean Keating’s Study  after the  Tipperary Hurler sold for a hammer price of 9,200 over a top estimate of 5,000 at the James Adam Irish art sale in Dublin.   The original Tipperary Hurler – popular in the United States – was donated to the Municipal Gallery in Dublin (now the Dublin City Gallery the Hugh Lane) in 1957 by Patric Farrell of the Irish Art Rooms in New York. The work was completed for the Amsterdam Olympiad in 1928 and later sent to New York where it was exhibited to acclaim at the Helen Hackett Gallery and the Irish Art Rooms.  Here are some hammer price results from last night’s sale:  (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 26, 2014).

Kathleen Fox (1880-1963) Ruins of the Four Courts (8,000)

George Campbell RHA RUA (1917-1979) Long Ago and Far Away (14,000).

Nathaniel Hone RHA (1831-1917) Driving Cattle Home through the Bend (21,000).

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) A Rose (1936) (44,000).

Oisín Kelly RHA (1915-1981) The Flautist (1972) Bronze on a stone plinth (10,000).

Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901 – 1980) Flight over Mulroy (14,000).

William Conor RHA PRUA OBE (1884-1968) Fun at the Fair (15,000).