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Mark Rothko No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue), 1954. Sotheby’s Contemporary sale in New York on November 13. ($35-50 million). (Click on image to enlarge).

Pablo Picasso Femme à la fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) 1936. Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale in New York on November 5. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE  $17,218,500

ROTHKO and Picasso will highlight Sotheby’s art selling season in New York. A seminal large scale masterpiece by Mark Rothko – No.1 (Royal Red and Blue) – will be offered on November 13 and an exuberant example of Pablo Picasso’s acclaimed portraits of his lover Marie-Thérèse Walter – Femme à la fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) – will come under the hammer on November 5.
This Rothko work was painted in 1954 and was one of eight he hand picked for a landmark solo show that year at the Art Institute of Chicago. This was his first one man show at a major American museum. No.1 (Royal Red and Blue) is estimated at $35-50 million.
Picasso’s Femme à la fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) was painted in the spring of 1936. The work followed the birth of his daughter Maya the previous autumn with Marie-Thérèse, as well as his separation from his wife Olga and the beginnings of a passionate affair with another important muse, Dora Maar. It is estimated at $15-20 million.

Yeats, Henry, le Brocquy and the corporate collection of Independent News and Media will feature at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on September 26.  The catalogue, which is on-line, features more than 220 lots. Here is a small selection. You can click on any image to enlarge it.  (See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for September 11 and August 21, 2012).

Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) The Boat Builder, 1923 (70,000-100,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 62,000

Paul Henry (1876-1858) In the Wicklow Mountains 1933-4 (60,000-80,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 64,000.

Martin Gale RHA (b.1949) August Storm (5,000-8,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,000

Flora Mitchell (1890-1973) Kennan & Sons, Fishamble Street. Signed and inscribed ‘No. 20 Fishamble St., Dublin, Handel’s “Messiah” produced here 1742’. (500-700).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 850

Patrick Hennessy RHA (1915-1980) Heat (4,000-6,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,400

John Doherty (b.1949) ‘In Passing’ (3,000-4,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000

Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997) Ohne Titel (Untitled) (£2,500,000-3,500,000). Image courtesy of Christies Images Ltd., 2012. (Click to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE £3,117,250

Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997) Ohne Titel (Untitled) c1972. (£30,000-40,000). Image courtesy of Christies Images Ltd., 2012. (Click to enlarge).

AN important collection of Martin Kippenberger (1953-1997) self-portraits, including thirteen works on paper and the seminal oil on canvas, Ohne Titel (Untitled) will feature at Christie’s in London on October 11 and 12.  From the  1992 series Hand-Painted Pictures the Untitled work illustrated on the left is estimated at £2,500,000-3,500,000. It was exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris in 1993, Tate Modern, London in 2006, MoCA, Los Angeles and MoMA, New York in 2009. Charismatic and irreverent, Martin Kippenberger is remembered for his conceptual and expressive transformation of the 1980s and 1990s art scene.  Assembled over the course of a twenty-five year friendship the collection belongs to someone who knew the artist well.

UPDATE: THE  auctions of Post-War & Contemporary Art and The Italian Sale realised a combined total of £41,183,300.  The top price was paid for Martin Kippenberger’s Untitled which made £3,117,25,  a world record price for the artist at auction.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) Untitled, 1981. Acrylic and oilstick on canvas.
Estimate in the region of $20 million.

One of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ultimate masterpieces is poised to make a record for the artist when it comes up at Christie’s Post War and Contemporary sale in New York on November 14.  Untitled, executed in 1981, has been in the same private collection for almost two decades.  Meantime it has featured prominently in every major Basquiat retrospective.  The painting set a record of $110,000 at auction in 1988.  It is now reckoned to break the latest Basquiat record price of $20.1 million achieved at auction in London last June at Christie’s.

Loic Gouzer, International Specialist of Post-War and Contemporary Art, declared: “In contrast to most artists, Basquiat created his best paintings at the beginning of his career. Untitled 1981 unites all the elements of energy, freedom and boldness that one looks for in Basquiat. The market has been waiting a long time for a work of this caliber and freshness, therefore we expect it to set a new record for Basquiat, an artist who is in the process of being recognized as a classic of Post-War American Art alongside Warhol, De Kooning and Pollock.”

The varied selection of Irish art at the next Morgan O’Driscoll auction at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little Island, Cork on September 24 at 6.30 p.m. is evident in these images from the sale.  Around 250 lots are on offer and estimates are reasonable.  The catalogue is on-line. (Click on any image to enlarge).

Markey Robinson (1918-1999) ‘Clown’ gouache on board (700 – 1,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 850.

Shane Johnson (20th/21st Century) ‘Poolbeg Sunshine’, acrylic on canvas (1,000-1,400).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 850.

Colin Middleton RUA RHA (1910-1983) ‘Mural IV”. Commissioned by Noel Campbell for Morelli’s icecream parlour on the promenade, Portstewart, Co. Derry, early 1970’s (20,000 – 30,000). UPDATE: THIS WAS WITHDRAWN AT 17,000 AND SOLD AFTER THE AUCTION FOR 22,000.

Brian Ballard RUA (b.1943) ‘Still Life Daffodils in a Vase’, oil on canvas (800-1,200). UPDATE: THIS MADE 700

William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968) ‘Adoration’ crayon (6,000-8,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,600

Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974) ‘Near Crolly, Co. Donegal’, watercolour (1,000-1,400).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 900.

William Scott OBE RA (1913-1989) ‘Odeon Suite Series’. Limited Edition Print signed & numbered 74/75 (1,750 – 2,500).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500.

The Chelsea interior with Frank Auerbach’s Figure on Bed (1968) estimated at £300,000-500,000 over the mantlepiece.

A group of 56 works by artists including Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, John Craxton and Graham Sutherland from a Chelsea Collection will feature at Sotheby’s in November. It will form part of Sotheby’s Modern and Post-War British Art sales on November 13 and 14. Amassed over 20 years, the collection spans a period of immense stylistic change and includes many fresh to market paintings, drawings, etchings and sculpture that have never been at auction. It is estimated to bring in more than £1.5 million.
Frances Christie, Sotheby’s Head of Modern & Post-War British Art, said: “It was a huge thrill to step across the threshold of the Chelsea house from which these works originated. There, so beautifully displayed in room after room, unfolded a roll-call of many of the great names of Post-War British art, successfully juxtaposed with medieval alabasters and eighteenth century furniture. The sale will offer collectors the chance to acquire some wonderful works which will be making their appearance on the auction market for the first time.” (Click on any image to enlarge it).

Peter Lanyon’s Carthew (1950) is estimated at £70,000-100,000.

John Craxton’s Elegiac Figure (in Memory of Peter Watson) (1957-59) is estimated at £60,000-80,0000. Watson was patron to Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon and founder of the Horizon review of literature and art and the Institute of Contemporary Arts