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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