AMEDEO MODIGLIANI (1884-1920) – Beatrice Hastings (devant une porte) Painted in 1915 Price Realised: $17,565,000
In eight days of art sales in New York Christie’s has so far achieved $2 billion. The 20th Century evening sale and the 21st Century evening sale which ran consecutively at Christie’s in New York last night made $421,976,700. When combined with the results of the Paul Allen collection the total reached an unprecedented $2,044,226,200.
The 20th Century sale made $307,945,300 and was 96% sold by lot and 88% by value. Mark Rothko’s Untitled and Amedeo Modigliani’s Beatrice Hastings each sold for $17,565,000. Additional highlights included works by notable female artists. A massive canvas by Joan Mitchell made $14,130,000, and a rare self-portrait by Frida Kahlo made $8,634,000.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Sugar Ray Robinson, was the top lot at the 21st century sale and made $32,679,000. Results for female artists and artists of colour were strong. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Minjung Kim, Noah Davis and Rashid Johnson all set new records.
UPDATE: The two weeks of sales concluded having achieved $2,170,537,204 over seven live auctions and one online.
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (1887-1986) – White Rose with Larkspur No. 1 sold for $26,725,000
On Thursday, November 10, 2022, Christie’s concluded Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, a landmark philanthropic event. Visionary comprised 155 masterpiece objects spanning 500 years of art history. It was sold over a two-day series of auctions. In total, the collection realised $1,622,249,500, well in excess of the total high estimate. It was 100% sold. The regional breakdown by value was 33% Americas, 28% APAC, and 39% EMEA. There was great strength and depth in bidding across the collection, with an average of 5.6 bidders competing for each lot. Of all the registrants for the sales, nearly 15% were new to Christie’s.
Seven artists records were set in the second part of the sale:
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X – $8,405,000
Joseph Kosuth, ‘Titled (A.A.I.A.I.)’ [text-context] – $289,8000 – for work on paper
PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906) – La montagne Sainte-Victoire Painted in 1888-1899 sold for $137,790,000
The most valuable private-collection sale of all time broke the world-record for a sale just halfway through the bidding at Christie’s in New York last night. The first part of the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen – just 60 lots – made $1,506,386,000. One highlight after another saw five paintings – the most ever in one sale – bringing more than $100 million each, with each one setting a world record.
Three of the lots were among the top lots sold of all time. Georges Seurat’s groundbreaking statement on pointillism, Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) led the evening at $149,240,000. Paul Cezanne’s monumental landscape, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire brought $137,790,000. Vincent van Gogh’s Verger avec cyprès, which captures the artist’s early encounter with the South of France, achieved $117,180,000. Paul Gauguin’s Maternité II from 1899, one of his most important years, made $105,730,000. Gustav Klimt’s evocative depiction of a Birch Forest, made $104,585,000. The number and size of the record prices set was unprecedented. 60 masterpieces were sold and 20 artists records were set.
The auction broke the world-record for a sale just halfway through the bidding when the auctioneer, Jussi Pylkkänen, knocked down Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture, Femme de Venise III, for $25,007,500. The auction was 100% sold, and 122% sold against low estimate. All of the estate’s proceeds from this historic sale will be dedicated to philanthropy, pursuant to Mr. Allen’s wishes. The second part of the sale takes place later today.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for November 2 and August 26, 2022)
RECORDS
Seurat, Les Poseuses Ensemble(Petite version) – $149,240,000
Cézanne, La montagne Sainte-Victoire – $137,790,000
Van Gogh, Verger avec cypres – $117,180,000
Gauguin, Maternite II – $105,730,000
Klimt, Birch Forest – $104,585,000
Freud, Large Interior, W11 (After Watteau) – $86,265,000
Johns, Small False Start – $55,350,000
Signac, Concarneau, calm de matin – $39,320,000
Ernst, Le roi jouant avec la reine – $24,435,000
Wyeth, Day Dream – $23,290,000
Rivera, TheRivals – $14,130,000
Francis, Composition in Blue and Black – $13,557,500
Steichen, The Flatiron – $11,840,000
Cross, Rio San Trovaso, Venise – $9,550,000
Brueghel, The Five Senses – $8,634,000
Hepworth, Elegy III – $8,634,000
Benton, Nashaquitsa – $5,580,000
Sidaner, La Serenade Venise – $2,100,000
Singer Sargent, The Façade of La Salute, Venice – $3,660,000 – for work on paper
Klee, Bunte Landschaft – $4,860,000 – for work on paper
LUCIAN FREUD (1922-2011) – Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) made a record $86,265,000
THE Fortune Pink which sold for US$28.2 million led Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva on November 8. Weighing an auspicious 18.18 carats The Fortune Pink is the largest pear-shaped fancy vivid pink diamond ever to be sold at auction. The sale made a total of $57,340,888 and was 96% sold by value and 87% sold by lot. There wa global participation with registrants from 20 countries, across 4 continents.
Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Christie’s Jewellery remarked: “A historic week of auctions kicked off in Geneva where Christie’s Luxury auctions totalled CHF113,482,763 / $114,244,370, highlighted by the Fortune Pink, Legendary and Unique Watches, as well as the Domaine Ponsot 150th anniversary auction. Geneva Luxury sales offered 572 lots, with collectors from 50 countries active across the live sales. The second half of this momentous week will continue at Rockefeller Plaza in New York, where 150 masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Collection will be offered on Wednesday and Thursday, expected to realise US$1 billion, all of the estate’s proceeds from the sale will be dedicated to philanthropy, pursuant to Mr. Allen’s wishes.”
Willem de Kooning’s Untitled III at Christie’s (estimate in the region of $35 million)
The major November art sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York this November will feature art from the 20th and 21st centuries. A series of sales at Sotheby’s from November 14-17 will showcase the artistic movements from Impressionism to the groundbreaking artists working today. At Christie’s auctions on November 17, 18 and 19 will be led by Jean Michel Basquiat’s Sugar Ray Robinson.
Alberto Giacometti – Caroline at Sotheby’s ($15-$20 million)
JOHN VARDY – A Pair Of George Ii White-Painted and Parcel-Gilt Armchairs c1758. These made $1,033,200
The first in a series of four live sales and six online sales of the Ann and Gordon Getty Collection at Christie’s in New York realised $79,408,900 with 100% of lots sold for 128% hammer above low estimate. There was lively bidding from around the globe and the auction drew nearly 2 million viewers via social media. In the hours leading up to the auction, Christie’s announced the private sale of Venice, the Grand Canal looking East with Santa Maria della Salute by Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, enabled through a generous donation by Diane B. Wilsey.
Mary Cassatt’s Young Lady in a Loge Gazing to Rightwas the top lot, bought by The Pola Museum of Art in Hakone, Japan for $7,489,000, breaking a 15 year-old record. The sale generated strong results across a wide variety of collecting categories, including English furniture and Chinese works of art. A Royal Early George III Mahogany China Cabinet by William Vile made $2,700,000 and a pair of massive Chinese Cloisonné and Champlevé Enamel Crane-Form Censers made $1,620,000, more than 20 times the low estimate.
L.S. Lowry’s Going to the Match sold for £7,846,500
There was a new world auction record for L S Lowry when Going to the Match made £7.8 million at Christie’s in London this evening. It went to the Lowry Gallery in Salford. The painting was offered by The Players Foundation with proceeds being used to allow the organisation to continue its charitable work in, amongst other things, assisting with those who have dementia and relieving poverty amongst current or former professional players. It was painted for an exhibition in 1953, sponsored by The Football Association, where Lowry won first prize.
Frying Pan Still Life by William Scott made £765,000 at the Modern British and Irish art evening auction, which achieved a total of £20,564,100. Bidders from 11 countries across four continents registered for the sale.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 4, 2022)
Christie’s Global President and Auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen selling David Hockney’s Early Morning, Saint-Maxime for £20,899,500
David Hockney’s Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime led Christie’s 20th/21st Century evening sale in London last night. It sold for £20,899,500 in a 47 lots sale that brought in £72.5 million and was 100% sold. Hockney more that doubled the pre-sale estimate of £10 million. Tracey Emin’s Like a Cloud of Blood was sold by the artist to raise funds for her pioneering TKE studio complex in Margate. Setting a record for a painting by Emin, it realised £2,322,000, a new record for the artist.Gerhard Richter, Wolkenstudie (grün-blau) (Study for Clouds (Green-blue)): £11,167,000 / $12,361,869 / €12,719,213 [first time at auction having remained in the same private collection since 1982, it was also the first time on public display]
Study for Clouds (Green-blue) by Gerhard Richter made £11,167,000 and Painting, 1990 by Francis Bacon made £7,102,250. Female artists performed well against the estimate. Praise I by Bridget Riley made £2,202,000 and there was a world record for Sandra Ball whose Untitled (AC16) made £94,500.
A Place with No Name: Works from the Sina Jina Collection was led by Lynette Yiadon-Boakye’s Highpower which made £1,482,000. The combined total of both sales, which attracted bidders from 25 countries, was £75,494,334.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for August 24 and October 1, 2022)
On October 5 – James Bond Day – Christie’s and EON Productions’ two part official charity sale Sixty Years of James Bond concluded with Part I and Part II making a total of £6,874,494 which will benefit over 45 charities. Comprising a total of 61 lots overall, which were 100% sold, spanning the 25 films to date, the sale as a whole featured vehicles, watches, costumes, props, posters, memorabilia and experiences. This result surpasses not only all previous official Christie’s 007 sale totals, but also the combined total of £4,812,525 for all three previous sales. The top lot of the live sale was the No Times to Die Aston Martin Replica DBS stunt car which made £2,922,000. It was sold to benefit The Prince’s Trust; The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund; and three charities supporting serving and former members of the UK Special Forces.
WILLIAM SCOTT, R.A. (1913-1989) – Frying Pan – Still Life, 1947. UPDATE; THIS MADE £756,000
Frying Pan – Still Life by William Scott at Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale in London on October 19 dates to 1947. It is emblematic of Scott’s approach to painting following the Second World War. At first glance, the simple arrangement of culinary objects speaks of the Northern Irish austerity that Scott experienced in his youth. Concurrently, however, the artist’s sophisticated exploration into the arrangement of colour, form and spatial geometry reflects a preoccupation that ensued throughout the artist’s celebrated career. According to the catalogue notes in this work Scott demonstrates a masterful approach to composition – the ovoid shapes that reverberate across the canvas work in harmony with the linear diagonals that permeate the scene. The alignment of the eggs, positioned carefully on the table-top, create a subtle dynamism as they lead the eye towards the frying pan, whose crisp silhouette against the rich yolk-yellow of the background foreshadows the use of the motif as the most recognisable icon of his later work. The estimate is £300,000-£500,000.
The sale will be led by L.S. Lowry’s Going to the Match, which is being offered by The Players Foundation. Estimated at £5,000,000-8,000,000, the painting is poised to set a new world auction record for the artist. The catalogue is online.
LAURENCE STEPHEN LOWRY, R.A. (1887-1976) – Going to the Match. UPDATE: THIS MADE £7,846,500 A NEW WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR LOWRY
