Fra Angelico (c1395-1455) – Saint Dominic and the Stigmatization of Saint Francis UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $4,740,000
Saint Dominic and the Stigmatisation of Saint Francis, recently featured in an exhibition at the Prado in Madrid, comes up at Christie’s sale of Masterworks from the Alana Collection in New York in June. The exceptionally rare small panel by Fra Angelico (c1395-1455) is estimated at $4 million – $6 million. It was originally part of a diptych. The second panel is the Madonna and Child with four angels and is in the Detroit Art Institute. The Alana Collection, owned by Chilean economist billionaire Alvaro Saieh and his wife Ana Guzman, is the most significant collection of Italian Old Master Paintings, Sculpture and Antiquities to be offered in New York in living memory. Other highlights include works by Orazio Gentileschi and El Greco.
Sir John Lavery – The Croquet Party (1890-93). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £2,922,000, A WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR LAVERY
THE Croquet Party by Sir John Lavery comes up at Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale on March 22. The work powerfully showcases Lavery’s abiding interest in modern life, transforming a traditional group portrait into a dynamic composition that revels in the elegant fashions and pastimes of his subjects. It is estimated at £1,200,000-1,800,000. The auction is now online for browsing.
Pablo Picasso’s La fenêtre ouverte (1929) made £16,319,500
The Shanghai to London sale series at Christie’s established a pioneering cultural dialogue between two of the art market’s major hubs and made a total of £249,070,155. Sell-through rates of 90% by lot and 93% by value demonstrated the confidence of the market, building on the successes we witnessed in 2021. Across the three sales, registered bidders from 34 countries and 5 continents reflect the strength of global demand, with 21% of buyers from Americas, 31% APAC and 49% EMEA. Millennial collectors accounted for 28% of registrants.
Shanghai to London led with museum quality paintings by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Franz Marc, and Pablo Picasso: Franz Marc’s The Foxes (Die Füchse) sold for £42,654,500, setting a new world auction record for the artist and the highest price ever achieved in Europe for a restituted work of art. Francis Bacon’s Triptych 1986-7 made £38,459,206 and Lucian Freud’s Girl with Closed Eyes (1986-87) made £15,174,500.
The only Darwin Microscope to have ever been offered at auction made £598,500 at Christie’s in London today. This is a record for a 19th century microscope. It came up at a sale of valuable books and manuscripts. The Gould type microscope by Cary was gifted by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) to his son Leonard Darwin (1850-1943) in 1864. It had since passed by descent through the family for nearly 200 years.
Pablo Picasso – Mousquetaire a la pipe II at Christie’s UPDATE: THIS MADE $34,710,000
In the era of shredded Banksy’s the New York sales over the next two weeks art will be presented in an innovative way that has broken away from traditional sale categories like Impressionism and Contemporary Art. Artists from Banksy and Basquiat to Peter Doig and El Anatsui to Cindy Sherman and Arcadia will kick off the non traditional art sale season in New York at Christie’s 21st century evening sale on November 9. Arcadia is an NFT – non fungible tokens allow people to buy the rights to online art – by contemporary visual artist Andres Reisinger, Grammy award winning musician RAC and poet Arch Hades. Combining music, visual art and poetry this is the first collaborative interdisciplinary NFT to come to auction. RAC, who was born in 1985, is the oldest of the three. UPDATE: Arcadia sold for $525,000.
A year ago few of us had heard of NFT’s – now they are big business. In March US artist Beeple (aka Mike Winklemann born 1981) made worldwide headlines when an NFT of his digital artwork “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” sold for $63.9 million. Beeple is back at Christie’s on November 9 with an NFT called Human One. By September Christie’s had shattered the $100 million dollar barrier for NFT sales. UPDATE: HUMAN ONE SOLD FOR $28,985,000.
Sotheby’s has launched twice yearly sales of NFT’s. The jury is out on whether this is merely a temporary craze or a more permanent feature of the art market. The buyers of NFT’s, including cyber punks and crypto currency gazillionaires, tend towards the non traditional.
Christie’s say their global 20th/21st century auction series reflects evolving market demands and collecting habits. It is also helping to discover new works, physical and digital. The sale on Tuesday offers 39 lots with established contemporaries like Richard Prince and Christopher Wool being sold alongside new market darlings like Nicolas Party, Harold Ancart and Xinyi Cheng.
On November 11 Christie’s will offer The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism. With masterpieces by Caillebotte, Cezanne and Van Gogh this is billed as one of the greatest American collections ever to appear on the market. Dallas based Edwin Cox, who died aged 99 a year ago, spent his career in oil and gas exploration and was ceo of his own investment company. The auction will be followed immediately by the 20th Century evening sale. This ranges from Impressionism in Paris in 1880’s to Pop Art in New York in 1980’s with masterpieces by Picasso and Monet and a Warhol portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat.
Untitled IV by William de Kooning at Sotheby’s in New York on November 15. UPDATE: THIS MADE $18,935,250
On November 15 Sotheby’s will offer the Part One of the Macklowe Collection which they describe as one of the most important collections of any kind ever to appear on the market. The sale will include masterworks by Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. The Macklowes are a spectacularly rich warring New York couple in their ’80’s. A judge has ordered the sale of the collection as part of their protracted divorce proceedings. Sotheby’s Modern evening auction is to take place on November 16 and this will be followed two nights later by an evening auction called Now focusing on art made in the last 20 years.
A Chinese Export black and gilt lacquered kneehole desk or dressing table and a Queen Anne black and gilt dressing mirror. UPDATE: THE DESK MADE £11,250, THE MIRROR MADE £5,625.
On November 10 Christie’s will offer Mackinnon: Fine Furniture and Works of Art in a live auction, marking ten years since the gallery opened in St. James’s, London. The company founded by Charlie Mackinnon is known for fine 18th century and early 19th century furniture by celebrated makers such as Chippendale, Vile & Cobb and Gillows, with an emphasis on distinguished provenance. The sale presents a curated group of 170 lots.
Sir Winston Churchill, TheBridge at Aix en Provence (1948) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,702,500.
The Bridge at Aix en Provence by Sir Winston Churchill will highlight Christie’s Modern British Art evening auction in London on October 20. The painting was originally gifted to the Swiss paint manufacturer Willy Sax who supplied Churchill with his artistic materials and would become a lifelong friend. Churchill had already been using oil paint produced by Sax Farben, a family run paint manufacturer just outside of Zurich, when the pair formed a strong bond after their first meeting in Switzerland in September 1946. The resulting relationship ensued for the rest of their lives. The scene depicted in The Bridge at Aix en Provence would have been especially appealing to Churchill, not only due to his love of painting water, but also because this particular vista was also visited by Paul Cézanne, who inspired Churchill. The painting is estimated at £1,500,000-2,500,000.
The most valuable Einstein manuscript ever offered at auction comes up at the Exceptional Sale at Christie’s in Paris on November 23. The 54-page autograph manuscript written by Albert Einstein and Michele Besso between June 1913 and early 1914 documents a crucial stage in the development of the theory of general relativity. This theory re-shaped modern understanding of how the universe works. It is estimated at €2,000,000-3,000,000).
The manuscript is also a particularly valuable record of Einstein’s relationship with Michele Besso, the Swiss engineer who was his collaborator, confidant, and lifelong friend.
Adrien Legendre, Director of the Books and Manuscripts department, commented: “We are delighted that Christie’s will be able to promote this extraordinary manuscript to its international network of collectors for our Exceptional Sale. Einstein’s autographs from this period, and more generally from before 1919, are extremely rare. As one of only two surviving manuscripts documenting the genesis of the General Theory (along with the so-called Zurich notebook from late 1912/early 1913 – now in the Einstein Archive at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem), it provides a remarkable insight into Einstein’s work and a fascinating dive into the mind of the greatest scientist of the 20th century.
The international art market is increasingly evolving towards the now. Developments happening at breakneck pace are reflected in the annual May New York sales of big league international art, livestreamed of course, and available to view around the world. Christie’s has torn up the rule book to create an entirely new category of turn of the 21st century contemporary art. Established contemporaries like Gerhard Richter and Christopher Wool will be offered alongside newcomer artists like Jordan Casteel.
Two tables with floral pattern by Jonas Wood (born 1977) at Christies. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2021. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $6,510,000
This follows the discovery of a growing appetite for masterpieces by a new generation of artists reported by Christie’s in 2020. The auction house recorded no less than seven new auction records by 21st century artists in the livestreamed Hong Kong to New York evening sale last December. Many of these artists are unknown to those of us familiar with the glorious range of art from Monet to Hockney and beyond. The 21st century evening sale at Christie’s on May 11 will be led by work from artists like Martin Kippenberger, Jordan Casteel and Gerhard Richter. Mark Rothko’s Untitled, painted in 1970 during the final months of his life, will highlight the 20th century evening sale on May 13.
Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) by Pablo Picasso at Christie’s. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2021 (estimate in the region of $55 million). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $103,410,000
Even though there are growing numbers of new kids on the block there will be no shortage of names that are familiar. Sotheby’s Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales will include highlights from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Clyfford Still, Warhol, Hockney, Willem de Kooning, Alexander Calder, Childe Hassan, Degas, Monet, Picasso and more. An exquisite example of Monet’s Waterlilies series will highlight Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Versus Medici will take centre stage at the Contemporary Art evening auction. Both sales will be livestreamed on May 12. Contemporary auctions reflect the response of todays artists to our changing world and offer a fascinating glimpse of the development of abstract and figurative art from the Post-War period to the present day. To further mark the changes Sotheby’s will hold its first auction entirely devoted to women artists across the centuries later this month.
Le Bassin aux nympheas by Claude Monet at Sothebys on May 12. ($40-$60 million). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $70,353,000
The future beckons and it looks exciting. The mix of online and live sales is here to stay. We will not go back to what was there before Covid. If a signpost to the future can be discerned it points in the direction of a more diverse and multicultural art market focused on gender equality, the rights of minorities and masterpieces waiting to be discovered by artists yet largely unknown.
Versus Medici by Jean Michel Basquiat at Sothebys on May 12 ($35-$50 million). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $50,820,000
A Queen Anne Irish silver tankard by Robert Goble, Cork c1700 sold for £21,250 at Christie’s in London today. From the collection of Mrs. Henry Ford II from Eaton Square in London and Turville Grange in Buckinghamshire it had been estimated at £3,000-£5,000.
Also from the Kathleen Ford collection was a set of seven George III silver dishes by Robert Calderwood, Dublin c1760. Complete with the St. Leger arms from Doneraile in Co. Cork these sold for £17,500 over a top estimate of £8,000. The arms are those of St. Ledger with Deane in pretence, for Hayes St. Ledger, 4th Viscount Doneraile (1702-1767), of Doneraile Court, Co. Cork, M.P. for Doneraile, and his wife Elizabeth (d.1768), daughter and heiress of the Rt. Hon Joseph Deane (1575-1715), Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer of Ireland, whom he married in 1722. The large meat dish was at the sale of the property of Mary, Viscountess Doneraile; Sotheby’s, London, at Sotheby’s in London in 1958 and from there it passed into the estate of Henry Ford II. A pair of George II Irish silver counter dishes by John McLoughlin, Dublin c1740 and an Irish silver salver by George Hodder, Cork c1760 sold as one lot for £10,000 over a top estimate of £3,500.
Two paintings by May Guinness RHA, Girl Reading and Autumn Flowers sold for £18,750 and £16,250 over top estimates of £8,000 and £10,000.
The auction achieved £3.98 million and was 96% sold by lot and 93% sold by value. The final total for the combined Ford Collection sales was £22.5 million. Bidders from 35 countries took part.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for February 8, March 27 and April 11, 2021)
A set of seven George III silver dishes by Robert Calderwood
