DIEGO RIVERA (1886-1957) La bordadora.UPDATE: This made $4,140,000 and was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
La Bordadora (The Embroiderer), a rediscovered masterpiece by Diego Rivera, comes up at Christie’s in New York on March 11. Painted in 1928 as part of the nation building project that fuelled Rivera’s return to Mexico in the 1920s it pays homage to folk and craft based practices and the role of Indigenous women in preserving these traditions. Known only through black and white photographs taken shortly after it was painted La Bordadora was discovered to have been in the same American family collection since the 1920’s. It is estimated at $700,000-$900,000 (€620,900-€798,535). Last November Frida Kahlo’s Diego y yo (Diego and I) sold in New York for $34.9 million (€30,967,962), a record for a work of Latin American art. The previous record of $9.76 million (€8.65 million) was set by Diego Rivera with whom Kahlo had a decades long tumultuous relationship.
A GEORGE II GILTWOOD OVERMANTEL MIRROR INSET WITH CHINESE EXPORT REVERSE MIRROR PAINTINGS. UPDATE: THIS MADE $600,000 at hammer. The sale totalled $4.88 million
The practice of painting on mirrors developed in China after 1715 when the Jesuit missionary Father Giuseppe Castiglione arrived in Beijing. He found favour with the Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong and was entrusted with the decoration of the Imperial Garden in Beijing. He learned to paint in oil on glass, a technique that was already practiced in Europe but which was unknown in China in 1715. Chinese artists, already expert in painting and calligraphy, took up the practice, tracing the outlines of their designs on the back of the plate and, using a special steel implement, scraping away the mirror backing to reveal glass that could then be painted. Glass paintings were made almost entirely for export, fuelled by the mania in Europe for all things Chinese.
This c1760 mirror in a beautifully drawn giltwood frame following the designs of London’s pre-eminent cabinet-makers such as John Linnell or Thomas Chippendale represents the ingenuity and collaboration between Chinese and British artists of the mid-18th century. From the collection of Pierre Durand it comes up at Christie’s in New York on January 27 with an estimate of $100,000-$200,000. The late philanthropist and collector co-founded The Chinese Porcelain Company. The sale offers a glimpse into a life well lived with objects and art and features the contents of his New York apartment which artistically combined walls of gallery-hung Old Master Drawings with contemporary glass by Yoichi Ohira, and contrasted Chinese paintings by Liu Dan with fine French and English decorative arts.
ALFRED JACOB MILLER (1810-1874) Crow Indians Attacking a Buffalo with the Lance Near the Sweet Water River
This action packed watercolour by Alfred Jacob Miller comes up at Christie’s in New York next month during Americana week. The auction house will introduce a 19th century American Art sale, a curated sale of 69 lots, which takes place on January 19. The week consists of a series of three live and one online auction, starting with 19th century American Art. This will be followed on January 20 by the collection of Peter and Barbara Goodman, Important Americana on January 20-21 and an online sale of Chinese Export Art from January 11-February 2. The watercolour illustrated above is estimated at $80,000-$120,000.
Sales at Christie’s totalled $7.1 billion in 2021, the highest total for five years. The highest value work sold at auction this year, Picasso’s Femme Assise pres d’une fenetre (Marie-Therese), sold at Christie’s in New York last May for $103.4 million. The auction house achieved $150 million for NFT’s and it was a record year for private sales. Results were +54% versus 2020 and +22% versus 2019. Live and online sales accounted for $5.4 billion and private sales came to $1.7 billion.
Guillaume Cerutti, Christie’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased with our 2021 achievements. Beyond our auction and private sales results -which are exceptional, Christie’s has also made a breakthrough in new sales formats and categories, NFTS in particular. They have allowed us to showcase works by new emerging and under-represented artists, and to reach out to a new audience of younger clients. We have also made great progress in other priorities, with important investments in Asia and with our commitments to becoming carbon net zero by 2030, and to building and sustaining a more equitable and diverse profile for our company. Growth, innovation and responsibility remain at the forefront of our objectives for 2022.”
PABLO PICASSO 1881 – 1973 FEMME ASSISE PRÈS D’UNE FENÊTRE (MARIE-THERESE)
Only 16 complete Ming Dragon Carpets are known to exist. At Christie’s Exceptional Sale in Paris last month one of the sold for €6,881,000 nearly double its low estimate. It depicts two five-clawed dragons chasing a flaming pearl with scrolling clouds above and rolling waves beneath. Like all Ming carpets, this example was once a dark imperial red which has now faded to a golden yellow.
Bought by an American couple on their honeymoon in 1920 the carpet would originally have been placed beneath the emperor’s throne in Beijing’s Forbidden City. ‘It is in amazing condition,’ said Christie’s specialist Louise Broadhurst. ‘It’s rare to find one that hasn’t been cut in some way.’
Nile Rodgers 1957 Fender Stratocoaster electric guitar made $150,000
The collection of multi Grammy award winning Nile Rodgers made $1.6 million at Christie’s in New York last night. The 100% sold auction was to benefit the We Are Family Foundation founded by Rodgers and dedicated to the visions of a global family by creating programs that promote cultural diversity. A rare Porsche 911 Slantnose Targa was the top lot of the sale. It made $200,000. It is one of only nine made. A 1957 Fender Stratocoaster solid body electric guitar with gold plated hardware made $150,000. There was competitive bidding from collectors participating from 16 countries via phone, online and in person.
Rodgers pioneered a musical language that generated chart-topping hits like “Le Freak,” (the biggest selling single in the history of Atlantic Records) and sparked the advent of hip-hop with “Good Times”. Nile transcends all styles of music across every generation with a body of work that’s garnered him inductions into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger – The Massacre of the Innocents
The Massacre of the Innocents by Pieter Brueghel the Younger was the top lot at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London this evening. It made £2,422,500 over a top estimate of £1.5 million. The auction launched Christie’s winter edit of Classic Week in London and realised £10.3 million. El Greco’s Portrait of a Gentleman, 1570, one of the earliest surviving portraits by the artist and one of the last to remain in private hands, led three restituted works from the Priester Collection, and made £1,222,500. There were 46 lots offered and 33 were sold.
Banksy’s Sunflowers from Petrol Station from the collection of the British designer Sir Paul Smith will highlight Christie’s 21st Century Art evening sale in New York on November 9. It is estimated at $12,000,000- $18,000,000. It is part of a limited group of Banksy works that belong in the realm of fine art objects as opposed to the street art editions for which he is best known. In this example, the artist presents a painterly and conceptual defacement of the Van Gogh masterpiece, Sunflowers. As well as riffing on the comedy of wilted petrol station flowers – a far cry from Van Gogh’s magnificent blooms – the title implicates the pollution of both nature and culture at the hands of big corporations.
A Yeats from the collection of Barney Eastwood comes up at Christie’s Modern British and Irish art sale in London on October 20. A Sea Town from 1931 is estimated at £200,000-300,000. It is one of several Irish works in an auction with works by Winston Churchill, Elisabeth Frink, L.S. Lowry, Patrick Caulfield and Samuel John Peploe which is now online for browsing.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) – Jean-Michel Basquiat.UPDATE: THIS MADE $40,091,500.
Andy Warhol’s seminal portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat will be a leading highlight at Christie’s 20th Century evening sale in New York in November. It comes to market with an estimate in excess of $20 million. Warhol elevates the young Basquiat to his pantheon of cultural icons which includes Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. The work celebrates the remarkable friendship between the two artists. Thought to be the only example in private hands, this rare and deeply personal work dates from 1982. Warhol’s depiction of Basquiat stands as the only known portrait executed in oxidation form, and one of its sister paintings is housed in the permanent collection of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. This example has been in the collection of Peter Brant for nearly two decades, and has been widely exhibited, most recently at the Whitney Museum’s 2018-2019 Warhol Retrospective, Andy Warhol:From A to B and Back Again.
