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THE only two paintings of Piccadilly Circus ever produced by L.S. Lowry come up at Sotheby’s in March. A stand-alone sale of 15 works by Lowry takes place at Sotheby’s in London on March 25.  The A.J. Thompson Collection is estimated to bring in up to £15 million.  It includes masterpieces from the Tate retrospective of 2013.  The collector, who only every bought work by Lowry, bought his first painting at Sotheby’s in 1982. The collection includes unique Piccadilly Circus paintings.  UPDATE: The collection made £15.2 million.

LAURENCE STEPHEN LOWRY, R.A.
PICCADILLY CIRCUS, LONDON signed and dated 1960 (£4-6 million). UPDATE: THIS MADE £5.1 MILLION

LAURENCE STEPHEN LOWRY, R.A A MARKET PLACE, BERWICK-UPON-TWEED signed and dated 1935. (£600,000-800,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE £578,500.

Pieter Breughel the Younger. Summer: figures eating during the summer harvest, 1600.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $5,250,000

It is Old Masters week in New York.  This work by Pieter Breughel the Younger is a highlight of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings auction on January 30.  Entitled Summer:  figures eating during the summer harvest it is signed and dated 1600.  Sotheby’s say it is one of the most impeccably preserved examples of this subject to emerge in decades.   It is estimated at $2.5-3.5 million.

UPDATE:  Sotheby’s annual Old Masters Week sales achieved $71,768,126. Old Master Painting and Sculpture totaled $51,361,251 with works from the Dutch Golden Age performing particularly well. Multiple bidders entered into a prolonged battle for an important rediscovery by Gerrit van Honthorst, A merry group behind a balustrade with a violin and a lute player, eventually driving the price to $7,557,000, more than double the pre-sale estimate and achieving an artist record at auction. The Annunciation by El Greco sold for $5,877,000 after five bidders fought for the composition previously known to scholars only from photographs.

Zao Wuo-Ki, Foret de Bambou, 1954 sold for $743,590 US.

Foret de Bambou by Zao Wou-Ki was the top lot at Sotheby’s Boundless contemporary art sale in Hong Kong on January 23.  It made $743,590 US.   The sale of Western and Asian contemporary art achieved $4.45 million US and over 65% of lots sold above the high estimate.

The auction house said the market responded enthusiastically to a diverse mix of work ranging from design pieces and light installations to sculpture and paintings.  Western works by Anselm Kiefer, Marc Quinn and Georges Mathieu were well received by collectors in Asia and ranked among the top ten.  Sotheby’s reported that 93.6% of works were sold by lot and  96.1% by value and commented on the rising taste for contemporary western and Asian art in Asia.

The breadth and range of Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist art evening sale on February 4 is characterised in these images.  The highlight of this 90 lot sale is a restituted Pissarro masterpiece Boulevard Montmartre, matinee de printemps.  Sotheby’s describe it as one of the most important impressionist paintings on the market in the last decate (see post on antiquesandartireland.com for December 23, 2013).  On offer are works on paper, paintings and sculpture to appeal to the most discerning of collectors.  There is work from the private collection of legendary gallerist Jan Krugier including examples by Goya, Delacrois, Ingres, Degas, Cezanne, Giacometti and Picasso.  The Magritte pictured here is one of the greatest Surrealist works by the artist ever to come to market and the evening sale is expected to realise more than £93 million.

René Magritte 1898 – 1967 Le Beau Monde Painted in 1962. (£4-6 million)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £7,822,500

HENRI MATISSE
1869 – 1954
BOLÉRO VIOLET
signed Henri Matisse and dated 37 (£6.5-8.5 million)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £9,154,500

ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER 1880 – 1938
WALDINNERES (FOREST INTERIOR) (£800,000-1.2 million).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,482,500

ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER 1880 – 1938
STILLEBEN MIT LAMPE (STILL-LIFE WITH LAMP) (£1.6-2 million). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

CLOSING DOWN – The Liqudation Store at Paul St. shopping centre, Cork, January 17, 2014.

THE retail sector in austerity driven Ireland is hurting so badly that even The Liquidation Store in Cork city centre’s Paul St. shopping complex is closing. So an upcoming Arte Povera auction at Christie’s in London is timely.  The idea that humble everyday material – natural and man made – can be made into powerful, evocative works of art transformed contemporary art in the late 1960’s and ’70’s  and developed into one of the most influential art movements of the past half century.

An important private collection of Arte Povera, assembled over the past 25 years by an Italian couple, will be offered at Christie’s on February 11.  Exploring the roots of the movement it will be on display in a museum quality exhibition at Christie’s from February 5.  The work of post war Italian artists like Alberto  Burri, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Fausto Melotti, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alighero Boetti, Mario Merz, Luciano Fabro, Giulio Paoline, Pino Pascali, Guiseppe Penone and Emilio Prini is featured.  The collection also investigates Arte Povera’s legacy in the work of artists as diverse as Cy Twombly, Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor, Tony Cragg, Rosemarie Trockel and Thomas Schutte.

Mariolina Bassetti, Chairman Christie’s Italy and International Director, Post-War & Contemporary Art said:  “Following our huge success in last October’s Italian Sale, a record for any of these sales in their 15-year history, Christie’s is pleased to be offering this exceptional private collection – the best collection of Italian art I have ever seen come on the market. Never before have we seen a private collection that shows the ‘before and after’ of Arte Povera in such depth – its roots in Burri and its huge legacy to succeeding generations of artists around the world, from Cy Twombly and Anish Kapoor to Thomas Schütte and Olafur Eliasson. It has been assembled with passion and rigour by an Italian couple”.

UPDATE: THE Arte Povera sale realised  £38,427,400 and established records for 13 artists.

ALIGHIERO BOETTI (1940-1994)
Mappa
signed and dated ‘Alighiero e Boetti KABUL AFGHANISTAN 1979’ (£450,000-650,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £866,500

PINO PASCALI (1935-1968)
Torso di negra al bagno (Nascita di Venere)
enamel on canvas, wool, inflatable balloons, wood structure and shaped painted base   (£1.1-1.5 million). Courtesy Christie’s Images   Ltd., 2014.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,538,500