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  • Posts Tagged ‘Sothebys’

    MONUMENTAL SPIDER BY LOUISE BOURGEOIS AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, April 25th, 2023
    Louise Bourgeois – Spider UPDATE: THIS MADE $32,804,500

    Spider by Louise Bourgeois from 1996 comes up at Sotheby’s Contemporary evening auction in New York on May 18 with an estimate of $30-$40 million. The most ambitious embodiment of her signature motif her towering Spiders stand among the most iconic sculptures of the twentieth century.  This is one of just four monumental spiders ever to appear at auction and is number one from an edition of six plus in bronze one artists proof in steel.

    Bourgeois imbues the delicate curves and needle-like limbs of her Spiders with memories of her mother, a tapestry weaver. Achieving a lithe grace that belies its towering scale, Spider is emblematic of the deeply personal visual lexicon that defines her artistic practice. One of just 42 known monumental Spiders represented through 11 distinct forms — and over a third of which are in museum collections — the present work emerges from the Instituto Itaú Cultural, having resided in the prestigious museum’s collection in São Paulo for over twenty-five years. It is being sold to benefit the foundation.

    MICHAEL JORDAN’S TRAINERS SELL FOR $2.2 MILLION

    Wednesday, April 12th, 2023
    Air Jordan XIIIs worn by Michael Jordan during the 1998 NBA Final

    Meet the priciest sneakers in the world. Michael Jordan’s signed Air trainers made $2.2 million at Sotheby’s to become the most expensive shoes ever sold. Jordan, considered the greatest athlete of all time, has become the most valuable athlete at auctions of sportswear memorabilia. Last year a jersey he wore at the 1998 NBA finals made $10.1 million. Jordan had the size-13 shoes on when he scored 37 points in Game 2 of the 1998 NBA Finals series, carrying the Bulls to a 93-88 victory over the Utah Jazz.

    MUNCH FRIEZE AND PICASSO PORTRAIT AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, February 14th, 2023
    UPDATE: THIS MADE £16.9 MILLION

    In 1906 Edvard Munch was commissioned to paint the frieze on Max Reinhardt’s avant-garde theatre in Berlin.  Dance on the Beach, the last of 12 canvases and one of the first immersive installations ever, is at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary sale on March 1. This sale boasts a Picasso portrait of his little daughter Maya born to Marie Therese Walther titled Fillette au bateau (Maya). Her birth sparked a creative rejuvenation at a time of personal crisis after a lengthy divorce battle and a worsening political situation in Europe. Picasso painted Maya’s portrait no less than 14 times between January 1938 and November 1939.

    Pablo Picasso – Fillette au bateau (Maya) UPDATE: THIS MADE £18 MILLION

    AN $856.3 MILLION WEEK AT SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK ART SALES

    Saturday, November 19th, 2022
    Willem De Kooning – Collage made $33.6 million a new record for a work on paper by the artist. 

    The New York sales at Sotheby’s this week made $856.3 million, bringing the yearly total for Modern and Contemporary art to $3.04 billion. Every lot was sold at two of the six sales this week. In some cases bidding was frenzied with more than ten bidders each for eight artists: Salman Toor (15 bidders), Louis Fratino (13), Julien Nguyen (13), Lucy Bull (13), Jean Arp (12), Elaine de Kooning (12), Pierre Soulages (11) and Barbara Kruger (11). major works by Piet Mondrian ($51 million), Alexander Calder ($8.5 million), Joan Miró ($6.5 million) and August Rodin ($2.3 million) all went to buyers in Asia,

    INSIDE THE WORLD OF FRANCIS BACON AT SOTHEBY’S

    Tuesday, October 11th, 2022
    FRANCIS BACON’S PALETTE

    Inside the World of Francis Bacon: Works from the Collection of Majid Boustany at Sotheby’s in Paris on October 24 is a capsule collection which will include twenty works spanning over fifty years. There is art by Bacon, historic objects of ephemera, works by Bacon’s acquaintances such as Graham Sutherland, Louis Le Brocquy and Roy de Maistre, as well as portraits of the artist by photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Don McCullin and Peter Beard.

    The most expensively estimated lot, at €3.5 million – €5 million, is Figure Crouching from 1949 which has never been on the market before. There is an image of Francis Bacon by Louis le Brocquy which is estimated at €12,000-€18,000. Bacon’s palette is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.

    Francis Bacon – ‘Figure Crouching’

    OUTSTANDING SCULLY WORK AT SOTHEBY’S CONTEMPORARY SALE

    Tuesday, October 4th, 2022
    Sean Scully – Wall of Light Red. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE AUCTION

    One of the most outstanding paintings in Sean Scully’s Wall of Light series comes up at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction in London on October 14. Executed in 1998 it is one of the largest and earliest work within the series. It is estimated at £800,000-£1.2 million.

    SOTHEBY’S TO DISPLAY NEW JOSEPH WALSH SERIES AT LONDON DESIGN WEEK

    Tuesday, September 6th, 2022
    Joseph Walsh with his Gestures table.

    A new design series by Joseph Walsh, the Cork based internationally renowned furniture maker, will be offered by Sotheby’s as part of the London Design Festival. From September 17 – 29 there will be a selling exhibition of key pieces from the newly developed series ‘Gestures’ by the designer-maker at New Bond Street. There will be 12 works from the new series on display for the first time. Included is a large dining table, a sculptural bench, free form lounge chairs, dining chairs and various wall mounted sculptural shelves and consoles.

    ‘Gestures’ has emerged over the past three years, beginning with charcoal sketches which Walsh translates into scale model studies in wood. Wood is cut into layers, rebuilt and then carved to create an uninterrupted sculptural form. Finally, the works are finished in ebonised black. Each piece is functional and boldly sculptural, a unique free form composition designed to sit together in harmony with other works as an exhibition.

    Elena Checchi, Director, Specialist, 20th Century Design, Sotheby’s, said: “Joseph Walsh’s striking sculptural designs truly push the boundaries of working with wood. In the new Gestures series, Walsh distils furniture down to singular expressive gestural lines to bold and impactful effect. This collection of work, exhibited during London Design Festival, is testament to both the mastery of his craft and the technical innovation that this exceptional designer-maker pursues.”

    Gestures Bench.

    SOTHEBY’S WEEKLONG NEW YORK SERIES MAKES OVER $1 BILLION

    Friday, May 20th, 2022
    Sean Scully – Song sold for a record $2,046,500

    After four days of consecutive auctions, the Contemporary evening auction tipped Sotheby’s weeklong series over one billion US dollars. The $210.5 million Contemporary evening auction in New York last night was powered by towering figures of contemporary art, with Francis Bacon’s triumphant finale to his Pope paintings realising $46.3 million. Also leading the sale were: Cy Twombly’s Untitled ($38 million), Andy Warhol’s Elvis ($21.6 million), Ed Ruscha’s Cold Beer Beautiful Girls ($18.8 million) and Georg Baselitz’s Women of Dresden – Visit from Prague ($11.2 million, a new artist record). The evening’s final lot, Sean Scully’s Song ($2 million), earned the artist a new auction record.

    The Now evening auction realised $72.9 million. Work by women artists achieved $28 million (nearly double the $10.3–14.4 million estimate) and work by artists of colour realised $35.1 million (above the $15.9–22.9 estimate) or nearly half of the auction’s total sale value. In one energetic hour, nine out of 23 lots set records: Adrian Ghenie’s  Degenerate Art ($9.3 million), Matthew Wong’s  The Night Watcher  ($5.9 million), Avery Singer’s Happening  ($5.3 million), Christina Quarles’s Night Fell Upon Us Up On Us ($4.5 million), Jennifer Packer’s Fire Next Time ($2.3 million), Simone Leigh’s Birmingham ($2.2 million), Anna Weyant’s  Falling Woman ($1.6 million), Lucy Ball’s Special Guest ($907K, in her auction debut), and Virgil Abhloh’s Unique” Efforescence” Desk ($151K for a dedicated work of art).

    ANTIQUE IRISH FURNITURE AT SOTHEBY’S SALE IN LONDON

    Thursday, May 19th, 2022
    Mid 18th century Irish side table. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A fascinating collection of  antique furniture and art comes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London on May 26.  Monte Alverno: An Irish Private Collection will offer a collection of English and Irish furniture from a Dalkey home with views over the Irish Sea.  There is some beautifully carved and patinated Irish furniture from the mid 18th century through to later pieces by Hicks of Dublin as well as gilded mirrors and Chinese works of art.

    Among the Irish furniture lots of note is a pair of George III style demi lune side tables, a mid 18th century open armchair, a pair of Regency convex mirrors by Richard Jackson,  a George II style side table by Hicks, a Regency telescopic extending dining table, a harlequin set of 15 George II style dining chairs and a George III oval cut glass mirror.  A B. Yeats, William Scott, John Luke, Patrick Swift, James Arthur O’Connor and other renowned Irish artists.  The catalogue is online.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 4, 2022)

    SPECTACULAR FURNITURE FROM MONTE ALVERNO IN DALKEY

    Wednesday, May 4th, 2022
    George I gilt and scarlet-japanned bureau-cabinet, circa 1720, in the manner of John Belchier. UPDATE: THIS MADE £151,200

    This spectacular early Georgian gilt and scarlet japanned bureau cabinet is the most expensively estimated lot at Sotheby’s sale of contents from Monte Alverno, Dalkey, Dublin in London on May 26. Formerly at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire it was acquired at Mallett’s in London in 1999 and is now estimated at £150,000-£250,000. The City by Jack B Yeats has a similar estimate. Monte Alverno; An Irish Private Collection contains a remarkable collection of English and Irish furniture and paintings from a home perched high on a terrace in Dalkey with views over the Irish Sea. There is beautifully carved and patinated Irish furniture dating from the mid-eighteenth century through to later pieces by Hicks of Dublin, partnered with gilded mirrors, Chinese works of art and fine English furniture along with paintings by Jack B. Yeats, William Scott, James Arthur O’Connor, Patrick Swift and other renowned Irish artists. The catalogue is online.

    A pair of George III mahogany torchères, circa 1770