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    • Posts Tagged ‘Christie’s’

    DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER AND POSTERS CAN BE FUN

    Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

    Diamonds are Forever concept artwork (left), detail (centre) and the final poster design (right).

    Diamonds are Forever and posters are pretty important too.  The original concept artwork for the poster campaign of the 1971 James Bond classic Diamonds Are Forever hand-painted by Robert McGinnis leads Christie’s sale of Vintage Film Posters in London on June 15. The unique prototype offers a rare chance to own an exceptional piece of James Bond memorabilia.  It is estimated at £18,000-24,000.

    The auction spans nine decades of film making with over 300 lots of promotional material. As well as James Bond posters, Dr. No through to Never Say Never Again, a rare advance British quad for Thunderball, 1965 (£6,000-9,000), original concept artwork for View to A Kill, 1985 (£4,000-6,000), and the final poster design used for  the Eon/United Artists production Diamonds are Forever (£300-500), the sale features cinematic genres from Film Noir to Disney.

    The selection includes Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, 1967 (£300-500), Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1961 (£1,500-2,500), Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1958 (£300-500), Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita, 1959 (£4,000-6,000), as well as Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Lauren Bacall and many more.

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    de Vlaminck, Monet, Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso, de Chirico at Christie’s

    Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

    MAURICE DE VLAMINCK (1876-1958) Paysage de banlieue at Christie's, New York.

    Paintings and sculpture by masters Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, Pablo Picasso, and Giorgio de Chirico are a feature of Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modern art in New York on May 4.  There are 57 exceptional works in a sale which is expected to realise more than $160 million.

    Head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s New York Conor Jordan said the London sales in February demonstrated that collector demand for top-quality works offered fresh to the market continues to reach new heights.
    Among the most visually-arresting paintings in the sale is Paysage de banlieue, a fauvist masterpiece by celebrated French painter Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958). He was among the leaders of the movement dedicated to revolutionizing 20th century art through the use of pure, unmodulated color and expressive brushwork. Paysage de banlieue, painted in 1905, is estimated at $18-25 million.
    Picasso’s Les femmes d’Alger, version L is estimated at $20-30 million. It is one of the largest works within the artist’s groundbreaking series of 15 paintings created in 1955 in homage to the masterpiece of the same name by the 19th century master Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863).
    UPDATE:  DE VLAMINCK’S PAYSAGE DE BANLIEUE MADE $22,482,500

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    MASTERPIECE BY STUBBS AT CHRISTIE’S

    Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

    Gimcrack by Stubbs. (Click to enlarge) © Christie’s Images UPDATE: IT MADE £22,441,250

    A masterpiece of British art will be offered by Christie’s next July.  Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey by George Stubbs (1724-1806) depicts one of the most popular and admired of all 18th century racehorses. From the collection of Lord Woolavinton, a whisky magnate, it is expected to make more than £20 million. The painting measures more than six feet across.

    John Stainton, Senior Director of British Pictures, Christie’s said: “This is a truly exceptional example of 18th century painting which holds immense importance on many levels – as an Old Master picture, as a great masterpiece of British Art, and as one of the finest sporting pictures ever painted”.

    Richard Knight, International co-head of Old Master and 19th Century Art at Christie’s said: “The sale of this masterpiece will be a cornerstone moment in the history of Christie’s. It is telling that as a result of the global nature of the 21st century art market, Stubbs, a very British artist, is set to join a small and select group who represent the most valuable old master artists ever sold, placing him alongside Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Turner.”
    Commissioned by Frederick St. John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke the work was painted in 1765.  Gimcrack won an impressive 28 of his 36 races was was unplaced only once. The painting will be offered at the Old Master and British Paintings evening sale In London on July 5.  The current auction record for Stubbs is £10.1 million paid at Sotheby’s last year for Brood Mare and Foals.
    UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £22,441,250
    See antiquesandartireland.com for December 11, 2010.

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    CHATEAU de GOURDON COLLECTION BRINGS IN 42,387,113

    Friday, April 1st, 2011

    The Chateau de Gourdon Collection realised 42,387,113 at Christie’s in Paris.  One of the finest private collections of early 20th century decorative art and design ever offered at auction was disposed of in a landmark series of five sales over three days at the Palais de Tokyo.  It was sold 84% by lot and 84% by value. The 860 lots at the Palais de Tokyo had a minimum estimate of 40 million euros.

    The sale viewing drew over 17,000 visitors in four days.  Buyers were 75 per cent European, 21 per cent American, two per cent Asian and one per cent Middle Eastern.

    See antiquesandartireland.com posts for March 30 and December 3.


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    WOMAN SMILING, FREUD’S PORTRAIT OF SUZY BOYT, AT CHRISTIE’S

    Thursday, March 31st, 2011

    Woman Smiling, 1958-59, by Lucian Freud, the only single portrait of Suzy Boyt who was to mother five of the artist’s children, will be sold by Christie’s in London in June.  The auction house say it is the most significant work by Freud to be offered at auction since Benefits Supervisor Sleeping sold at Christie’s New York in May 2008 for $33.6 million – a world record price for a work by a living artist.
    Woman Smiling, is a tender portrait of Freud’s former prize-winning Slade pupil and lover. Their friendship lasted many decades. She appears sitting with bashful eyes, radiating with a youthful smile and projecting the affection that existed between the artist and sitter. As Lucian Freud once said,  ‘Painters who use life itself as their subject-matter…do so in order to translate life into art almost literally, as it were…The painter makes real to others his innermost feelings about all that he cares for’ (L. Freud, ‘Some Thoughts on Painting’ Encounter, July 1954).
    Formerly in the collection of Mrs. Ian Fleming it is being offered as part of an important European private collection where it has been since 1985.  The wife of the James Bond creator was an important early patron of Freud and subject of his paintings. She was the first owner and the seller of Woman Smiling when it last appeared at auction at Christie’s in 1973, selling for £5,040.  Suzy Boyt’s other appearance in a Freud painting is as a character on the right hand side of Interior W11 (After Watteay) painted in the early 1980’s.
    Francis Outred, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe said Woman Smiling pioneered the style of painting for which Freud is most praised and recognised, using thick, expressionist brushstrokes and swathes of impasto to build a human physicality.  The work is estimated at £3.5 million to £4.5 million.
    At the sale on June 28 Christie’s will offer five drawings by Freud from the collection of Kay Saatchi.
    UPDATE: IT MADE £4,745,250

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    INAUGURAL SESSION OF GOURDON COLLECTION BRINGS IN 24,293,400

    Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

    This screen by Eileen Gray made 1,353,000 at Christie's in Paris. (click on image to enlarge)

    The inaugural session of 20th century masterpieces from the Gourdon Collection at Christie’s in Paris brought in €24,293,400.  The top lot of the opening day of the three day sale was a chaise longue ‘on skis’ created in 1929 by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann. It made €2,865,000.
    The visionary designs of Irish designer Eileen Gray captivated the imagination of many during the public viewings at Palais de Tokyo. Gray’s black-lacquered ‘Brick’ screen  circa 1922 made €1,353,000. Her ‘Bibendum’ armchair which clearly evokes the logo of tire-manufacturer Michelin made €709,000.
    No less than eight works of art sold made over €1 million and there were five world records for artists.  These included the Ruhlmann chaise longue, a carpet by Fernand Léger at €169,000, a carpet by Francis Bacon at €109,000 , a work by René Coulon at €85,000 and furniture by Louis Majorelle at €1,162,600.
    The remaining four sessions of the sale take place today and tomorrow.
    SEE antiquesandartireland.com post for December 3
    UDATE:  Overall this sale brought in 42.38 million euro over five sessions.

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    CHRISTIE’S TO SELL 150 ARTWORKS FROM JEFFREY ARCHER’S COLLECTION

    Monday, March 28th, 2011

    Christie’s is to sell around 150 works from the collection of Jeffrey Archer in London in June.  The colourful former chairman of the Conservative Party  spent five years in the House of Commons, 19 in the House of Lords and  two at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.  His years in jail spawned three best selling Prison Diaries.

    Lord Archer will conduct a charity sale at Christie’s, King St., on June 27.  One of the highlights is the senior timekeeper’s stopwatch that recorded Roger Bannister’s first four minute mile at Iffley Road in May, 1954.

    On June 28 the art collection, expected to realise around £5 million, will be sold.  It includes La Seine près de Vétheuil, temps orageux, 1878, by Monet  (£800,000 to £1,200,000); L’Eternelle Idole (Grande Modèle) by Auguste Rodin (£300,000 to £500,000); Marilyn (Feldman & Schellmann II.24) by Andy Warhol  (£100,000 to £150,000) and Rue de la Boucherie with St Jacques by Walter Richard Sickert (£50,000 to £80,000).

    Jeffrey Archer has topped the bestseller charts around the world, with sales of over 250 million copies.  He is published in 97 countries and 33 languages.  He currently spends much of his time as an amateur auctioneer and conducts around 30 charity auctions each year.

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    MONET’S LES PEUPLIERS AT CHRISTIE’S IN MAY

    Saturday, March 26th, 2011

    Les Peupliers by Claude Monet at Christie's.

    Monet’s Les Peupliers will feature at Christie’s Modern Art evening sale in New York on May 4.  This is one of the most celebrated of the great series of works from his years in Giverny.  Painted en plein air during the summer of 1891, the work is the largest of the artist’s paintings devoted to a picturesque arrangement of poplar trees, known as the “tree of liberty” in his native France.

    Most of the 24 works in Claude Monet’s Poplars series are housed in major museums around the world, with the remainder in private collections.  The story behind them is interesting.  In 1891 Monet learned that a row of mature poplar trees near his house was to be cut down. He made a deal with the woodcutter to leave them standing long enough for him to continue painting them. This resulted in the series of paintings in differing perspectives, lights and seasons all conceived from his small floating studio on the waterway.
    Estimated at US$ 20-30 million, the painting is offered from an important private collection and remains in pristine condition, in its original unvarnished and unlined state.  The top price paid for a Monet at auction was $80.4 million for Le bassin aux Nympheas from 1919.  It was sold at Christie’s in London in June 2008.
    UPDATE:  IT MADE $22,482,500

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    FEBRUARY SALES AT CHRISTIE’S AND SOTHEBY’S AMOUNT TO £423.6 MILLION

    Saturday, February 19th, 2011
    THE recovery in art market prices continued over the London selling season in February.  According to our calculations Sotheby’s and Christie’s sold £423.6 million worth of Impressionist, Modern, Contemporary, Post-War and Surreal art over the past fortnight.
    Aided by an incredible private owner sale entitled Looking Closely, with 60 works by some of the greatest of all modern and contemporary masters, Sotheby’s led with a sales total of  £242,109,075. This is the second highest total for any sales season ever held at Sotheby’s in London.  Their sales featured property from 39 countries and attracted buyers from 47 countries spanning 5 continents.  The total at Christie’s series of sales amounted to £181.5 million.
    These results support a growing view that the international recovery in art market prices can be sustained.

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    WARHOL SELF-PORTRAIT MAKES £10,793,250 AT CHRISTIE’S

    Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

    This Warhol self-portrait more than doubled its top estimate at Christie's. (click on image to enlarge). Picture courtesy of Christie's Images.

    A monumental-scale self-portrait by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) made £10,793,250 at Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art evening sale in London on February 16. It had been estimated at £3-5 million.  In a private collection since 1974 this previously unpublished iconic work which dates to 1967 was recently discovered. It was bought by an anonymous bidder in the room.

    Warhol first used the image for a group of works in 1966, painted in a much smaller scale.  The following year he produced 11 monumental works in large scale six foot square format.   Six works from the series were shown at the American Pavilion at the 1967 Montreal Expo.

    The sale brought in £61,380,500 and was 92 per cent sold by lot.  It was the highest total for the category in London since June 2008.  The Warhol was the top lot and 16 lots sold for over one million pounds.  There were buyers from 21 different countries.  Six artists records were set, for Jenny Saville, Martial Raysse, Miquel Barcelo, Wade Guyton, Ged Quinn and Adriana Varejao.

    See antiquesandartireland.com post for January 11.

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