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A trio of rare masterpieces by Monet, Kandinsky and Brancusi lead  Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale in New York on November 7. Elections and hurricanes notwithstanding the auction is expected to realise more than $250 million. Christie’s say this curated sale of 71 works reflects current collecting trends in the global art market.  There are exceptional examples of Impressionism, German Expressionism, Surrealism, Modernist painting and sculpture.

Claude Monet’s Impressionist masterpiece Nymphéas (The Water Lilies), painted at Giverny in 1905, was gifted to the not-for- profit Hackley School in New York from the estate of Ethel Strong Allen earlier this year and will be sold to benefit the school. It is estimated at $30-50 million. Wassily Kandinsky’s Expressionist tour-de-force Studie für Improvisation 8, is part of the artist’s pioneering series of 1909 and has the potential to set a new record price for any work by the artist at auction. It is estimated at $20-30 million. Constantin Brancusi’s sculptural masterpiece Une Muse is a pivotal work in plaster from 1912 that was among the first sculptures by the artist ever exhibited for American audiences. It is estimated at $10-15 million.

“As we head into our major fall auctions, we continue to see an exuberant market that responds to great art and intelligent pricing. Participation in our evening sales is more global than ever, with buyers from growth markets in South America, Asia, and the Middle East now competing with clients from established collecting markets in North America and Europe,” noted Brooke Lampley, Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s New York. “To answer this growing demand for the finest works from the Impressionist and Modern era, we have assembled an exciting sale that is carefully tailored to what our clients want most right now: rarity, superb quality, impeccable condition, exceptional provenance and exhibition history, and stable long-term value.”

UPDATE: THE sale total, including Buyer’s Premium amounted to  $204,800,000. A diverse audience of clients from around the world participated.  Sell-through rates of 70% by lot and 80% by value were achieved. Of the 69 works offered, 5 lots sold for over $10 million, 10 for over $5 million and 31 for over $1 million.

CLAUDE MONET (1840-1926) Nymphéas signed and dated ‘Claude Monet 1905′. Estimate: $30,000,000-50,000,000. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.  UPDATE: IT MADE $43,762,500

Wassily Kandinsky’s Studie für Improvisation 8, part of the artist’s pioneering series of 1909 is estimated $20-30 million. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.  UPDATE: THIS MADE $23,042,500, a new world record for the artist.

CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI (1867-1957) Une muse plaster Height: 18 in. (45.7 cm.) Executed in 1912 Estimate: $10,000,000-15,000,000. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE $12,402,500

Pablo Picasso’s Femme à la fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) estimated at $15-20 million is one of the main works in the auction postponed to November 8. UPDATE: THIS MADE  $17,218,500

HURRICANE Sandy has impacted on Sotheby’s Impressionist an Evening art sale in New York.  The auction house has postponed the sale scheduled for Monday November 5 to Thursday, November 8 at 7 p.m.  Sotheby’s say the revised timeline will give clients and international staff greater flexibility to view the exhibition and participate. Viewing will open tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. as scheduled.

One of the main works in the postponed sale in Picasso’s Femme à la fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) painted in 1936.  It remained in the artist’s possession until his death in 1973.  The work followed the birth of his daughter Maya the previous fall 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.   The painting has been exhibited in Hong Kong and London prior to the New York auction.

All Sotheby’s other auctions in New York next week remain as scheduled.  The Impressionist and Modern Art day sale takes place on November 7 and the auction of 19th century European Art takes place on November 8.  Viewing for the Contemporary Art sales will open as scheduled on November 9.

UPDATE: The sale realised $163,009,000, bringing the total for Sotheby’s November 2012 auctions of Impressionist and Modern art to $203,115,775.

More than 190 lots of Irish art will come under the hammer at the Dolan’s auction in Limerick on Sunday, November 4.  The sale at Castletroy Park Hotel at 3 p.m. will feature a broad cross section of contemporary middle range Irish art.  The catalogue is on-line. Here is a small selection. You can click on any image to enlarge it:

Maurice Wilks – Currachs by the Shore – (2,500 – 3,500).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,500

Kenneth Webb – Wild Flowers – (1,800 – 2,800).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Mark O’Neill – Window Bouquet – (4,500 – 5,500).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000.

James Cahill – Morning Light – (800 – 1,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.

Val Byrne – Inner Harbour Hookers – (450 – 650).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 400

Portrait of Kate Perugini, Daughter of Charles Dickens by Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896). (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS MADE £241,250

THIS portrait of Kate Perugini, daughter of Charles Dickens, by Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896) comes up at Sotheby’s sale of British and Irish art in London on November 13. Widely exhibited, the work is from the estate of Katherine Mellon. The sale follows its inclusion in the touring V&A exhibition ‘The Cult of Beauty’ in San Francisco. It is estimated at £150,000-200,000.
As the youngest surviving daughter of the most famous writer of his age, Kate Dickens (1839-1929) enjoyed a high profile in society and moved in artistic circles. Millais’ painting depicts the pivotal point in Kate’s life when the occasion of her second marriage to Carlo Eduardo ‘Charles Edward’ Perugini brought her much happiness. The artist was one of only five guests at the 1874 wedding.

Millais encouraged Kate’s painting and she became a successful portrait painter. Kate’s first husband was Charles Collins, brother of the author Wilkie Collins. She was left a widow in 1873 and subsequently married Carlo Eduardo ‘Charles Edward’ Perugini. The portrait of Kate has been compared to John Singer Sargent’s infamous portrait of Madame X of i884; the suggestiveness of the American artist’s picture created a scandal, Millais’ eroticism was more subtle.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 13, 2012).

John Behan, Katherine Boucher Beug, Tom Climent, James English, Mike Fitzharris, Bridget Flannery, Tim Goulding, Eadaoin Harding Kemp, Shane Johnson, Horace Lysaght, Arthur Maderson, James McCarthy, Michael Quane, Victor Richardson, Vivienne Roche, Brian Smyth, Walter Verling, Sarah Walker, and Tom Walsh are among the contemporary Irish artists whose work will be sold at auction in Cork on Friday, November 2. James O’Halloran of Adams in Dublin will act as guest auctioneer at a sale for the Lavit Gallery at the Millennium Hall in Cork City Hall.
The Lavit is the gallery of Cork Arts Society, which celebrates its 50th anniversary next year. It is one of the few remaining private art galleries to survive in Cork in the recession. All the artists have donated work for an auction of 90 lots that will act as a fundraiser to ensure the survival of the gallery. The sale is on on view at the gallery. Below is a small selection. The catalogue is on-line at www.lavitgallery.com

Apples on Apron by James English, an oil on canvas.

Old Cork Places of Worship, mixed media on canvas by Horace Lysaght.

Land Dreaming is the title of this oil on canvas by Jacqueline O’Driscoll.

IRISH paintings due to come under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London on November 13 will be exhibited in Belfast and Dublin next week. Works by artists like Paul Henry, Jack B. Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Harry Clarke, Sean Keating, William Leech, Nathanial Hone, Cecil Maguire, Rose Barton and Patrick Swift are due to come under the hammer at the sale of British and Irish Art. They will be on view at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on October 30 and 31 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on each day and at Sotheby’s, 16 Molesworth St., Dublin from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. on November 2 and from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on November 3.
The London auction will feature a group of 40 works by the British artist Edward Seago from the Ronald Horton / Derek Ancil Collection, which is expected to realise more than half a million pounds. Here is a small selection of Irish pictures in the sale (you can click on any image to enlarge it):

Patrick Swift (1927 – 1983) Interior with Gary Swift (£30,000-50,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE £49,250

William Leech (1881-1968) Midi Landscape (£25,000-35,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE £31,250

Paul Henry (1876 – 1958) Killary Bay, (£40,000-60,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD. ANOTHER PAUL HENRY WORK, STORM IN CONNEMARA, MADE £73,250.

Sean Keating (1899 – 1977) Fear Sorrdha (Man at Ease) from the Collection of the late Peter Langan for Langan’s Restaurants (£50,000-80,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE £91,250