antiquesandartireland.com

Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) sold for $105.4 at Sotheby’s in New York last night. This is a new auction record for a Warhol.  It was the top lot in a contemporary art sale which brought in $394.1 million.  There were 61 lots on offer and 54 were sold, leaving just seven unsold. It brings the total from sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s over the past two nights to over one billion dollars.  While there are new collectors and museums at these stellar levels it has to be said that investors looking to diversify assets are a major force in a contemporary art market which is growing hotter by the month.

A group of paintings from hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen made around $77 million.  The group was headed by an abstract painting by Gerhard Richter  entitled A.B. Courbet which sold for $26.5 million. Steven Cohen’s firm has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to pay $1.8 billion to settle charges of insider trading.

A 24 part work on paper from 1959 entitled Poems to the Sea by Cy Twombly sold for a record $21.7 million; Untitled, Yellow Tar and Feathers by Jean Michel Basquiat made $25,925,000; Warhol’s Liz 1 (Early Coloured Liz) made $20,325,000: By Twos by Barnett Newman made $20,605,000 and Untitled V by Willem de Kooning made $24,805,000.

Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud became the most valuable painting ever sold at auction when it made $142,405,000 at Christie’s in New York last night. There was at least six bidders for the work. Christie’s November sale surpassed its record breaking May result and achieved $691,583,000 – the highest auction total in art market history.  The sell through rate  at the Post War and Contemporary Art evening sale was 98% by value and 91% by lot.  Eleven of 69 lots sold for more than $20 million and only six failed to find buyers.

There were ten world auction records:  Bacon, Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool, Lucio Fontana, Donald Judd, Wade Guyton, Vija Celmins, Ad Reinhardt, Willem de Koning and  Wayne Thiebaud.  Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons sold for $58,405,000 to become the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction.

“We are thrilled to announce an historic total of $691.6 million for this evening’s sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art. It is the second time this year that Christie’s has broken the highest total in auction history,” said Brett Gorvy, Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art.  “Collectors from 42 countries registered tonight with strong bidding from American, European and Asian collectors but also from institutions. The sale was heavily focused on icons and masterworks, achieving an astonishing 10 record prices and breaking the record for any work of art ever sold at auction. Beyond the records, 10,000 art lovers flocked to Christie’s galleries in the last week to engage with and enjoy the remarkable selection of artworks on display.”

Christie’s two-day auction series devoted to Post-War and Contemporary Art achieved a grand total of $ 782,368,375

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for September 10, 2013 and October 10, 2013).

Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego) sold for $50,005,000 to become the top lot at Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York last night. The sale brought in $290 million, the second highest total in the category in Sotheby’s history.  The May 2012 auction in which Edvard Munch’s The Scream set a new world auction record for any work of art at $119.9 million was the highest.  Last night there was record levels of participation from Asia and Latin America.

The sell-through rate of 81.2% by lot marks the fourth consecutive evening sale of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s worldwide with a sell-through rate over 80%.   94.2% of sold works brought prices at or above their estimates. Works by Pablo Picasso brought exceptional prices throughout the night, led by  Tête de femme, his 1935 portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter which made $39,925,000 over a high estimate of $30 million. Mousquetaire à la pipe set a new auction record for a late work by the artist at $30,965,000.

The private collection Futur! Masterworks of the Avant-Garde totaled $64.3 million, led by Italian Futurist Giacomo Balla’s Automobile in corsa which made $11,477,000, a new auction record for the artist. Strong prices for Impressionist works were led by Claude Monet’s Glaçons, effet blanc which made $16,125,000. Records were set for Gustave Courbet, Man Ray, Francis Picabia, Giacomo Balla and Jean Arp. Five works sold for more than $10 million.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 3, 2013)

Now running on a computer near you is  Morgan O’Driscoll‘s online art auction. It will continue until Monday, November 11 at 6.30 p.m.  The catalogue with 267 lots is available everywhere online. Many estimates are reasonable. Here is a small selection:

A selection of 21 Irish lots from Sotheby’s sale of British and Irish Art in London on November 19 will be shown in Belfast and Dublin over the coming week.  It will be headed by Orpen’s portrait of Lady Idina Wallace and will include works by Louis le Brocquy, William Scott,  Walter Osborne, William Leech and William Scott.  The 21 lots, estimated to bring in up to £2.15 million, will be at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on November 5 and 6 and at Sotheby’s, 16 Molesworth St., Dublin on Novewmber 8 and 9.  Here is a small selection, click on any image to enlarge it.  (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 29, 2013).

Art works by Kenneth Webb, Markey Robinson, Sean O’Sullivan, William Conor, Peter Curling, Mark O’Neill and Robert Egginton are among the 199 lots on offer at Dolan’s sale at the Radisson St. Helen’s Hotel, Stillorgan on November 3 at 1 p.m.  As well as art the auction will feature some items of antique furniture such as a pair of late 19th century Savonarola chairs and a 18th century oak chest. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

William Orpen’s portrait of Lady Idina Wallace – characterised as “the Bolter” in three novels by Nancy Mitford – is at Sotheby’s sale of British and Irish Art in London on November 19.  It is the most important full length portrait by the Irish artist to come on the market in ten years. Beautiful, wealthy, well connected and sexually liberated Lady Idina’s third husband was Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll.  Together they became part of the hedonistic elite of British East Africa known as the Happy Valley Set.

Painted in 1915 the portrait was commissioned not by Lady Idina’s husband at the time, but Sir James Harriet Dunn, a married millionaire and industrialist smitten with Idina.  He paid the then exorbitant sum of £750. The resulting picture demonstrates Orpen’s virtuosity at the height of his career. Central to his oeuvre was Orpen’s love of women and this portrait is a celebration of womanhood – Idina’s beauty, intelligence, spirit and individuality has been captured on canvas by an artist who resembled a modern-day Van Dyck.

The painting is one of a series of large portraits of female sitters, a compositional device set in motion by Orpen’s over life size portrait of his lover Mrs. St. George the previous year.  The verticality of these pictures suited the artist’s lithe, slender women in flowing gowns and dark backgrounds.  The painting is estimated at £800,000-1.2 million.  The record for Orpen was established in 2001 when Portrait of Gardenia St. George  with Riding Crop sold for £1,983,000.

UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £962,500