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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

Tags: Christie's, Monet, Peupliers
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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.

Tags: art, Christie's, London, sotheby's
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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.

Tags: art, Christie's, Warhol
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NEW WORLD RECORDS FOR BONNARD AND DALI AT CHRISTIES

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

There were world records for Bonnard and Dali at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern art evening sale and auction of art of the Surreal. The sales made £84,879,800, selling 79% by lot and 84% by value, against a pre-sale estimate of £72,580,000 to £107,060,000.

Purchasers came from 20 different countries with more than 10 clients competing on several lots. The most intense interest was for works released from private collections for the first time. Terrasse à Vernon by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) realized £7,209,250. It dates from 1923. Works by Derain and Degas also broke the £5 million barrier. The four works offered by the Art Institute of Chicago, by Picasso (2), Braque and Matisse, brought in £10,043,400.

The Art of the Surreal sale realized £22,999,250. The top price was paid for by L’aimant (The Magnet) by René Magritte (1898-1967) which made £4,745,250. Dalí’s Etude pour ‘Le miel est plus doux que le sang’ from 1926-27 made £4,073,250.

(See antiquesandartireland.com post for February 7)

Tags: art, Christie's, Impressionist, Modern, Surreal
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ART FORTNIGHT IN LONDON

Monday, February 7th, 2011

Georges Braque (1882-1963) Nature morte à la guitare (rideaux rouge) signed and dated 'G.Braque 38' is estimated at £3.5-£5.5 million. (click to enlarge) UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £3.9 MILLION

Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art will change hands in London this fortnight. Two weeks of major art sales in London begin on February 8. It is anticipated that the market recovery will see more than £400m spent on art in the coming days

Sotheby’s kick off with with an evening sale of impressionist and modern art and continue into next week with contemporary works. Their 42-lot evening session is estimated at £55-£79 million. This sale includes the most expensive lot of the week, Picasso’s “La Lecture”. The high estimate of this portrait of his lover Marie-Thérèse dated 1932 is £18 million. Sotheby’s other evening sale, on Thursday, February 10, is a private collection estimated at £39-£55 million.

At Christie’s there is an estimate of £73-£109 million for the the Impressionist and Modern and the Art of the Surreal sales on February 9. This is the second highest pre-sale estimate for the February Impressionist sales at Christie’s in London. The highlight is Nature morte à “L’Espérance”, a still life painted by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) in 1901 while he was living in Tahiti. It is expected to realise £7-£10 million. (See antiquesandartireland.com for January 7) The sale includes four works to be sold by the Art Institute of Chicago (two Picasso’s, a Braque and a Matisse), and will feature the artists Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Fernand Léger.

Self-portraits by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat will star in contemporary-art auctions in London set to raise at least 72.5 million pounds ($116 million).

Tags: art, Christie's, contemporary, Impressionist, Modern, sotheby's
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RECORD BREAKING YEAR AT CHRISTIE’S IN 2010, OUTLOOK GOOD

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Christie’s International has announced worldwide sales for 2010 of £3.3 billion, up 53% on last year’s figure of £2.1 billion (Figures include buyer’s premium). The highest sales total in the 245 year history of the firm, the figure is also the highest annual sales total ever recorded in the industry. Sales totals include private sales of £369.3 million, an increase of 39% on 2009 figures.

High sell-through rates at all price levels continued to demonstrate the strength and stability of the art market. In 2010, average auction sold rates (by lot) were 79.4%, on a par with 2009 (79.7%). Results at the higher end of the market saw sell-through rates by lot and value in excess of 90% for works priced between £500,000 and £10 million.

“2010 was a record-breaking year and early signs of 2011 indicate that the art market remains buoyant at all levels,” said Steven P. Murphy, CEO of Christie’s International. In 2010, the number of new clients who registered for a sale rose 22.7% on 2009 and the number who went on to buy in Christie’s sales increased by 13%. Hong Kong and China accounted for 7% of total new client registrants.

Tags: 2010, Christie's
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WORLD AUCTION RECORDS FOR BUREAU TABLE AND CHAIR AT CHRISTIE’S

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

This Newport, Rhode Island bureau table made $5.6 million at Christie's, New York, a new world record. (click on image to enlarge) © Christie’s Images Limited 2011

A $5.6 million bureau table and a $662,500 Federal side chair made new world auction records at Christie’s Americana Week 2011 in New York. The Catherine Goddard Chippendale block and shell carved and figured mahogany bureau table c1765 is attributed to John Goddard (1724-1785), Newport, Rhode Island. The desk bears all the unique characteristics that make Newport furniture of this era so highly prized by collectors. It had been estimated at $700,000-900,000. The price paid of $5,682,500 represents a world auction record for the form.

This chair made a new world auction record for a piece of Federal furniture. (click on image to enlarge). © Christie’s Images Limited 2011

The Federal carved mahogany side chair, known as the Elias Hasket Derby chair, has carving attributed to Samuel McIntire (1757-1811) of Salem, Massachusetts. McIntire, one of the earliest architects in America, was influenced by the Palladian style and was skilled at furniture making and sculpture. The chair had been estimated at $30,000-50,000. The price paid represents a world auction record for a piece of Federal furniture.

The combined total for Americana Week 2011 at Christie’s New York was $22,026,376/£13,784,788/€16,222,849, achieved through five sales from January 18 through 25.

Tags: Christie's, furniture, new york, Records
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CANALETTO’S VIEW OF MESTRE FROM AN IRISH COLLECTION

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Canaletto's View of Mestre

This View of Mestre by Canaletto, kept at Castle Durrow in Ireland until it was demolished in 1922, features at Christie’s two-part sale of paintings, drawings and watercolors by the great masters of European Art in New York on January 26.

It is the only large-scale view Canaletto painted of Mestre, the mainland city now linked to Venice by bridge. Previous owners were the Viscounts Ashbrook, whose ancestors likely purchased the work direct from the studio of Giovanni Antonio Canal, il Canaletto (1697-1768) during a Grand Tour and brought the work to Ireland. It is estimated at $2,500,000-3,500,000.

The sale of over 300 works in total represents great examples of European art dating from the 14th to the 19th centuries. It features master works by Canaletto, Luca Carlevarijs, Jean-Francois Millet, Jean Léon Gérôme, William Bouguereau, and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema among the highlights.

UPDATE: The Canaletto did not find a buyer in sales which brought in $36.6 million.

Tags: Canaletto, Christie's, Old Masters
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WARHOL SELF PORTRAIT AT CHRISTIE’S LONDON

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Monumental Warhol self-portrait. (click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE £10,793,250

THIS re-discovered self-portrait by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) from 1967 comes up at Christie’s in London on February 16. Completely unpublished, it has been in a private collection since 1974 when it was acquired from Leo Castelli, Warhol’s primary dealer. The six foot square work is one of an historic series of 11 large-scale self-portraits executed in 1967, five of which are in museums (Tate, London; The Staatsgalerie Moderne Kunst, Munich; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and two at the Detroit Institute for Arts).

Francis Outred, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe: “I’m incredibly excited at the prospect of offering this rediscovered masterpiece by Andy Warhol. At the time of its execution Warhol was at the peak of his creative powers and this very rare series of works were the largest self-portraits he had made. This work shows a classic image of the artist in an imposing, larger than life scale, with an extraordinary presence of thick, red paint. That five of the works from this series are in museums is a testament to their importance.”

It will be offered at the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction and is expected to realise £3 million to £5 million.

A shot up Warhol portrait of Mao Zedong made $302,500 at Christie’s in New York on January 11, more than 10 times its high estimate. Easy Rider start Denis Hopper shot two bullet holes through the 1972 portrait. A friend of the actor, who died aged 74 last May, explained that Hopper saw the Mao out of the corner of his eye in the shadows and was so spooked that he shot at it. A delighted Warhol called him a collaborator and labelled the damage “warning shot” and ” bullet hole”. It had been estimated at $20,000 to $30,000.

UPDATE| It made £10,793,250.

Tags: Christie's, Warhol
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GAUGUIN STILL LIFE AT CHRISTIE’S

Friday, January 7th, 2011

GAUGUIN’S Nature morte à “L’Espérance is the highlight of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale in London on February 9. Christie’s Art of the Surreal sale takes place on the same evening.

The pre-sale estimate of £73,880,000 to £109,060,000 is the second highest for the February Impressionist sales at Christie’s in London. The corresponding estimate in 2010 was £56.5 million to £80.8 million.

Paul Gauguin’s (1848-1903) historically important still life was painted in 1901 when he was still living in Tahiti. The work has been exhibited at over 20 major museum exhibitions including the artist’s first landmark Retrospective at the Grand Palais, Paris, in 1906. It is expected to realise £7 million to £10 million.

Four works to be sold by the Art Institute of Chicago are led by Nature morte à la guitare (rideaux rouge) by Georges Braque (1882-1963) (estimate: £3.5 million to £5.5 million).

A collection of works on paper by Paul Gauguin made in France and Tahiti between 1894 and 1902 will be sold at Sotheby’s in London on March 30. From the Collection of Stanley J. Seeger, the American privagte collector, the ten works have a well-recorded provenance. They can be traced back in most cases directly to the artist. The group will lead the sale of Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints, and is estimated at £430,000-574,000.

UPDATE: There was disappointment when this work failed to sell in an otherwise sucessful auction that realised £84.9 million. It was suggested that the brown colour of the work had something to do with this.

Tags: art, Christie's, Gauguin
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Posts Tagged ‘Christie’s’

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