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David Hockney (b. 1937) Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes. Painted in 1963. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: IT MADE  £3,513,250

A landmark Egyptian painting by David Hockney  will feature at  Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary  sale  in London on February 13.   Dating from 1963 Great Pyramid at Giza with Broken Head from Thebes is the only surviving canvas to commemorate the artist’s first trip to Egypt at the age of 26.  In terms of style, scale and composition it marks a watershed in his practice.  It was commissioned by art critic David Sylvester and journalist Mark Boxer at the Sunday Times.  The painting has been in a private collection for 40 years and this is the first time it has come to auction. It is estimated at £2.5-3.5 million.

Francis Outred, Christie’s head of Post War and Contemporary Art said: “The style of the painting is unmistakably Hockney, the artist breaking up the foreground with a piece of piping, forming a stark contrast to the broken Head of Thebes lying buried in the sand. In doing so, the artist was drawing a clear link between ancient and modern, the human and natural landscape.”

Since it was first exhibited in 1963 this painting has featured in major shows including the Calouste Gulbenkian exhibition of important post-war artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon and Jasper Johns at the Tate Gallery, London in 1964, Hockney’s major retrospective at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London in 1970 and in Paris at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre in 1974.

le Brocquy’s Procession with Lilies made 320,000 at James Adam in September. (Click on image to enlarge).

AT James Adam, Ireland’s biggest art auctioneers, the top five artworks of 2012 were by five different artists. This is a welcome change from the days when the Irish art market was dominated by just two artists, Jack B. Yeats and Paul Henry. Adams say that this illustrates the range and diversity of high quality art consigned in 2012.
The top five Irish artists sold at Adams were, in order: Louis le Brocquy (Procession with Lilies, 320,000); William John Leech, Interior of a Cafe, 200,000); Jack B. Yeats, Good Evening Men, 180,000); Paul Henry, The Bog at Evening 160,000) and Richard Moynan, The Travelling Show, 140,000.
James O’Halloran of Adams said that Henry and Yeats had fared consistently well in all sales, demonstrating the demand for blue chip artists in todays market. He remarked that yet again this year virtually everything offered with an estimate even 20 per cent too high tended the struggle. “It is vital to get the estimate right”. The sold rate at Adams remained solid throughout 2012 averaging 80%. This is virtually the same as the last three years. “This is a very comforting statistic for us as it indicates a strong level of demand and purchaser participation in our auctions. The total hammer receipts for Irish Art Sales in 2012 is €4.36m. 2011’s figures were skewed massively upwards by the remarkable €1m paid for Yeats’ A Fair Day, Mayo so when that exceptional figure is stripped out our revenues in this sector are just ahead of the last two years’ figures” he said.
For 2013 Adams remain optimistic about the middle to high end of the Irish art market, but expect that the lower end will continue to struggle.

Botticelli’s Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist at Christie’s. (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: IT MADE $10.4 MILLION, A WORLD RECORD FOR THE ARTIST

Sandro Botticelli’s Madonna and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist is a highlight at Christie’s Renaissance auction in New York on January 30 next. Widely referred to as the Rockefeller Madonna it was acquired by John D. Rockefeller from Lord Duveen in the early 1930’s. It remained with the Rockefellers for about 50 years and has latterly been in a private New York collection.
Intended for private devotional use, the work depicts the Virgin and Child with the young Saint John the Baptist. This was a popular subject in Florence where he was the patron saint of the city. The tender sentiment between mother and child is combined with an allusion to the Resurrection theme, represented by the tomb-like structure, illustrated in a classical relief, just behind the central figures. The diaphanous veil which covers Madonna’s head and shoulders signifies her purity, as this was the traditional head covering of unmarried Florentine women. The landscape is rendered as a bird’s-eye view from the loggia bathed in a gentle sunset light.
The painting has been featured in museum exhibitions including the 2004 exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence entitled Botticelli and Filippino, Passion and Grace in Fifteenth-Century Florentine Painting. It is estimated at $5 – 7 million.

UPDATE: IT MADE $10.4 MILLION, A WORLD RECORD FOR THE ARTIST.

Newly discovered panel by Hans Memling estimated at $1 – 1.5 million. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $4,114,500.

A recently discovered unrecorded Hans Memling devotional panel will feature at Sotheby’s sale of Important Old Master Paintings and Sculpture in New York on January 31. The sale will coincide with Old Masters Week. The panel, entitled Christ Blessing, is estimated at $1 – 1.5 million.

It has been in the same New England collection for over 150 years. It was completely unknown to scholars and collectors alike before it was discovered earlier this year.
After extensive research Sotheby’s and leading Memling experts have confirmed the panel to be by the Flemish master. Memling was one of the most influential and important artists working in Flanders in the late 15th century and was a leading painter of the Northern Renaissance. The panel, thought to have been executed between 1480 and 1485, will be on view in New York from January 25.

UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $4,114,500.

Munch’s The Scream made $119.9, the highest ever price for a work of art at auction.

THE high end of the international art market powered ahead in 2012. Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art sales in London and New York brought in $3.8 billion compared with $3 billion in 2011. Postwar and contemporary art sales were extraordinary, and accounted for $2.3 billion worth of sales.

Louis le Brocquy’s Procession of Lilies sold for 320,000.

Sotheby’s, which has had a good 2012, set the record for the highest ever price for a work of art at auction when Munch’s The Scream sold for $119.9 million in May. Sotheby’s achieved the highest ever price for a drawing with Raphael’s Head of a Young Apostle which sold for £29.7 million in London in December and a new record price for a work by a living artist with Gerhard Richter’s Abstrakts Bild (809-4) which sold for £21.3 million. The second most expensive artwork sold in 2012 was Mark Rothko’s “Orange, Red, Yellow” which made $86.9 million at Christie’s in New York in May.
Recession has been a feature of the market for Irish art. The most expensive Irish work sold in Ireland was Louis le Brocquy’s Procession of Lilies which made 320,000 at James Adam in September. In England a Shakespearean themed work by Cork born Daniel Maclise (1806-1870) – The Wrestling Scene from “As You Like It” – made £337,250 at Christie’s last week. (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for November 28, 2012).