antiquesandartireland.com

Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) Après le déjeuner. © Christie’s Images Limited 2013. (Click on image to enlarge).

René Magritte (1898-1967) La folie des grandeurs (Megalomania). © Christie’s Images Limited 2013. (Click on image to enlarge).

BERTHE Morisot’s Après le déjeuner became the most expensive work ever by a female artist at auction at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern sale in London last night. Painted in 1881 it had been estimated at £1.5 to £2.5 million. The work was the subject of intense bidding by at least six seriously interested potential buyers before being eventually knocked down for £6,985,250. It was bought by Christie’s New York-based specialist David Kleiweg de Zwaan. He was bidding on behalf of a client on the telephone.
Among the other records was La folie des grandeurs (Megalomania) by René Magritte. It made £1,721,250 over an estimate of £450,000-650,000, a record for a piece of sculpture by the artist. Bronze with brown patina it is signed, dated and numbered ‘Magritte 1967 1/5’ and inscribed with the foundry mark “Fondera Gi Bi Esse, Verona, Italy”.  It was consigned by the Scheringa Museum of Realist art in Spanbroek, Northern Holland.

The scene at Christie’s evening sale on February 6.

Modigliani’s portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne was the top lot at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale on February 6. It made £26,921,250 and is believed to have gone to a Russian buyer. Christie’s Impressionist and Modern and Art of the Surreal evening sales made £136,462,100 over a combined pre-sale estimate of £89.8 to £132.8 million. There were artists records for Berthe Morisot, Renè Magritte (for sculpture), Alberto Magnelli, Kay Sage and Óscar Domínguez. A total of 32 works sold for over £1 million.
Jay Vincze, international director and head of the sale said: “We were very pleased with the strength and depth of bidding tonight which drove this evening’s auction to achieve both the highest total for a February evening sale at Christie’s London, and our highest sell through rate for an evening sale in this category in London.
Jeanne Hébuterne (au chapeau) was painted in 1919, the year before the artist died destitute. Hébuterne, his pregnant lover, committed suicide the following day. Berthe Morisot’s “Apres le dejeuner” made £7 million over an upper estimate of £2.5 million, a record for any woman artist at auction. The market for Impressionist and Modern art is recovering, thanks to a supply of quality new to market work.

(see post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 12, 2013).

The scene at Sotheby’s during the auction. (Click to enlarge).

Picasso’s 1932 portrait of Marie-Thérèse, Femme Assise Près D’Une Fenêtre, made £28,601,250 to become the top lot at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale in London on February 5. The sale brought in £104,404,900. The Surrealist art sale realised £16,670,500 making a combined total of £121,075,400. This is the second highest total for an evening sale in London. It was exceeded only in 2010 when Giacometti’s Walking Man was the star lot.
Egon Schiele’s Lovers – self-portrait with Wally from 1914 made £7,881,250, a record for a work on paper by the artist. It was one of three works by Schiele from the Leopold Museum in Vienna sold to settle a restitution claim. They brought a total of £14,011,750 over an estimate of £9-12 million.
Helena Newman, Chairman, Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art, Europe, commented: “Tonight’s sale – which included museum-quality works and many that have never before appeared at auction, or have been in private collections for many years – drew buyers from across the world. Bidders, both new to the market as well as seasoned buyers, reacted with great enthusiasm, in particular to the selection of Impressionist works that were considered to be the strongest offering in many years.”

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for January 16 and 18, 2013).

Portrait of Ingvild Goetz with Gabriel Orozco’s Invariant Diagram Red (Samurai Tree), 2005 – Photo Thomas Schmidt, Hamburg © Goetz Collection (Click to enlarge)

Urs Fischer (born 1973) Mr. Toobad (£250,000-350,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2013. (Click to enlarge).

A total of 128 works from the collection of Mrs. Ingvild Goetz – who holds Germany’s largest private collection of Post-War & Contemporary Art – are to be offered at Christie’s in London. They will feature at three auctions, two this month and one in April. Mrs. Goetz’s collection includes almost 5,000 objects which date from the late 1950’s to the present.
Proceeds will benefit long-term philanthropic projects. Mrs. Goetz has just completed a project to support children in Nepal and she wants to raise awareness of under represented charitable causes, including support for anorexia and the improvement of conditions for asylum seekers.
The selection to be sold at Christie’s features work by 63 different artists including Christopher Wool, Richard Prince, Urs Fischer and Sherrie Levine. They will be at Christie’s post war and contemporary auctions on February 13 and 14 and at the post war and contemporary sale in South Kensington on April 17.

Affordability is the key to Dolan’s art auction at Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin on Sunday, February 3.  The sale features work by a cross section of Irish artists at very reasonable estimates.  The catalogue, which is on-line, lists 188 lots. Here is a small selection:

Moonlight Cottages by Markey Robinson (1,400-1,600)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400

Howth Harbour by Ivan Sutton (1,500-2,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Figure Standing by John Kingerlee (380-480).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 380

Waterfall I by Henry Morgan (380-450). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Fuschia in Sunlight by Mat Grogan (300-600). UPDATE: THIS MADE 375

Swan and Woman, a black and white print by Pauline Bewick RHA (150-250).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 375

Haycocks near Ballyconneely, Connemara by Rosemary Carr ROI (400-600). UPDATE: THIS MADE 700

Campbell’s Chicken with Rice Soup ($50,000-70,000) © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. (Click to enlarge).

Self-Portrait with Fright Wig ($15,000-20,000) © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Bidding for the first on-line only auction of works by Andy Warhol opens at Christie’s on February 26. For one week only, until Tuesday March 5, collectors around the world can log in and bid online for 125 paintings, drawings, photographs and prints. Even though Andy Warhol is a Pop Art superstar this is a sale with something for everyone: estimates range from $600 to $70,000.
This will offer both seasoned collectors and first time buyers global access to work by Andy Warhol. The timed online format allows clients to browse, bid, receive updates by email or phone, organise shipping and pay from anywhere in the world.
Over the course of 2013 Christie’s will launch additional online-only sales of original works from the Warhol Foundation collection. This auction is the first time Christie’s has offered online-only sales of Post War and Contemporary art. The inaugural Andy Warhol at Christie’s live auctions in New York last November brought in $17 million. Proceeds from these and all subsequent sales benefit Foundation’s grant-making programs which support artists and non-profit arts organisations.

Online Auction Homepage: http://onlineonly.christies.com

Online Viewing: http://www.christies.com/warhol