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    • Posts Tagged ‘sotheby’s’

    ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL RICHTER ICEBERG

    Friday, February 3rd, 2017

    Gerhard Richter, Eisberg, 1982, Oil on canvas, 100.5 by 151 cm  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £17.7 MILLION

    Gerhard Richter’s Eisberg will come to auction for the first time at Sotheby’s evening sale of contemporary art in London on March 8.  It was painted soon after the artist’s divorce from his first wife Ema in 1981. Gerhard and Ema had been married for 25 years, but by the early 1980s Richter was living with Isa Genzken, a successful young artist. In the words of his biographer, Dietmar Elger, Eisberg was created as an attempt “to work through his unfulfilled hope for familial happiness and to take final stock of a difficult period in his life.”

    “For an artist who so consistently sought to objectively portray everyday nature as filtered through photography, the iceberg paintings hold a special place among Richter’s landscapes, coming closest to the transcendental sublime of 19th century German Romanticism. In the short time I’ve been lucky enough to live with this painting, I’ve been truly fascinated to see its colours change every day – sometimes glowing and warm, sometimes icy cold. It’s a painting that never stands still” commented Alex Branczik, Head of Contemporary Art, Sotheby’s Europe.

    Estimated at £8 – 12 million / HK$76.8 – 115.2 million, Eisberg is the largest of only three Iceberg paintings made by Richter. The second work is held in the prestigious collection of Doris and Donald Fisher that is promised to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A third work, Eis (1981) sold at Sotheby’s London in February 2012 for £4.3 million. This one is estimated at £8-12 million.

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    NEWLY DISCOVERED RUBENS MAKES $5.1 MILLION IN NEW YORK

    Thursday, January 26th, 2017

    Sir Peter Paul Rubens – Study of a Horse with a Rider

    A rare example of a large-scale animal study by the Flemish painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens achieved $5.1 million at Sotheby’s sale of Old Masters in New York.  A rare example of a large-scale animal study by the artist, Study of a Horse with a Rider had been until recently described as by a follower of Sir Anthony Van Dyck. However, the authorship had been difficult to discern due to overpaint and background added later, which dominated the original scene. With the removal of these later additions, the canvas has been revealed as a work of high quality, and a typical example of the spirited and rapidly-painted oil sketches for which Rubens is celebrated.

    The sales of Old Master Drawings and Master Paintings and Sculpture at Sotheby’s  – part of Masters Week in New York – realised a total of $31.8 million.  Christopher Apostle, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department in New York, commented: “This evening we saw exceptional prices for several exceptional pictures – this market understands and appreciates a masterpiece when it sees one. That applies both to famed artists like Rubens and Botticelli, who continue to attract a global audience, as well as names celebrated among connoisseurs like Drost and de Coster, both of whom saw new auction records set tonight. We had strong private bidding across our field, including participation from Asian and Russian collectors, with Dutch 17th-century pictures, early Italian, and Flemish works performing particularly well.”

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    COHEN’S POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART AT SOTHEBY’S

    Monday, January 23rd, 2017

    The single-owner sale dedicated to the collection of Ed Cohen and Victoria Shaw at Sotheby’s in New York on March 2 is largely focused on Post-War and Contemporary Art.  Entitled In Its Own Light the auction includes examples of German Expressionism and Modern British art. The New York couple’s collection was created over 35 years and reflects the close relationships (often grounded in a shared passion for literature), between Ed Cohen and many of the artists represented, as well as with gallerists such as Anthony d’Offay and Marian Goodman. Highlights include pieces by Joseph Beuys, John Currin, Cecily Brown, Brice Marden, Anselm Kiefer, Agnes Martin, William Kentridge and Gerhard Richter. Richter was collected in particular depth with a range of works – from a smaller-scale example of the artist’s signature abstraction, to examples from the important, but less well-known Souvenir and Painted Photograph series.

    Allan Schwartzman, Chairman, Sotheby’s Fine Arts Division commented: “The Cohen Collection defines collecting at its best, as it includes the highest level of selectivity and connoisseurship, a very personal and finely honed assembly of artists spanning many generations, and an articulate and unwavering commitment to the most timeless of subjects for art—the human condition.  Whether with artists collected in depth, or represented by a single work, the Cohens have consistently collected works that get to the heart of each artist represented, not always in the most obvious way, but always in the most insightful.” Ed Cohen is also known as a generous supporter of a number of museums, most notably the Tate where a gallery is named for him. The sale is estimated to fetch $4/6 million.  It will be followed by the contemporary curated auction. Both sales are timed to coincide with The Armory Show, with exhibitions opening on February 24.

    Gerhard Richter
    Abstraktes Bild (843-4),1997 ($600/800,000)

    Cecily Brown Bonus, 2004 ($300/400,000_

    Anselm Kiefer Stefan I, 1975 ($150/200,000)

    John Currin The Florist, 2003 ($400-600,000_

     

     

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    A PAINTING FROM THE COLLECTION OF AN EXECUTED MONARCH

    Monday, January 16th, 2017

    Orazio Gentileschi
    HEAD OF A WOMAN

    Head of a Woman  by Orazio Gentileschi, which once hung outside the bedroom of King Charles I at Whitehall Palace in London, is a highlight Sotheby’s sale in New York on January 25.  It was sold off after his execution as his famous art collection was scattered across Europe and comes to auction now for the first time in 380 years.  In the interim the work, described as “Naked Woman” in the original inventory which detailed “the Picture of a woeman with her left breast naked her right breast covered with a part of her Smock”, has been altered.  The bottom of the canvas has been removed, possibly by a prudish owner. It dates from the early 1630’s and is one of two surviving works by the artist on panel.

    The impressive art collection of King Charles I was sold off by Parliament after his execution in 1649 to pay the late king’s debts. More than 1,300 paintings were consigned by Cromwell to Somerset House, where they were offered to the public. The sale has gone down in history both as a tragic loss of national art and for its odd detail, with a Titian painting famously given to a plumber to pay his bill.  Estimated at $2-3 million the proceeds of the sale will in part benefit the department of European Painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

    UPDATE: This sold for $1,812,500

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    HIGHLIGHTS FROM UPCOMING LONDON ART SALES AT SOTHEBY’S, HONG KONG

    Friday, January 13th, 2017

    An exhibition of highlights from Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art, Surrealist Art and Contemporary Art evening sales in London on March 1 and 8 will run on Hong Kong for the next three days.  It will include paintings by some of the most sought-after artists from Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse to Gerhard Richter and Yves Klein, Wassily Kandinsky, Francis Picabia and a small model of Rodin’s Penseur from the collection of Lord and Lady Attenborough estimated at £800,000-1 million.  Here is a sample:

    YVES KLEIN – UNTITLED MONOGOLD (MG 47) (£700,000-900,000)

    MARC CHAGALL – GRAND COQ BLANC (£1-1.5 MILLION).

     

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    THE TOP TEN LOTS AT SOTHEBY’S IN 2016

    Tuesday, December 20th, 2016
    The most expensive lot at Sotheby's in 2016 was Picasso's Femme Assise

    The most expensive lot at Sotheby’s in 2016 was Picasso’s Femme Assise

    A heady list of art and diamonds make up Sotheby’s top ten lots in 2016.  Picasso, Modigliani, Munch, Twombly, Bacon, Daqian, Richter and Gentileschi in that order accounted for the top art works, a blue diamond and a pink diamond made up the balance.

    Picasso’s  Femme Assise, 1909 which sold for £43,269,000 ($63,631,391) in London in June topped the list.  Next came Amedeo Modigliani with Jeanne Hébuterne (Au Foulard), 1919 which sold for £38,509,000 ($56,631,335): Edvard Munch, Pikene på broen (Girls on the Bridge), 1902 which sold for $54,487,500: Cy Twombly, Untitled (New York City), 1968 sold for $36,650,000: Francis Bacon, Two Studies For A Self-Portrait, 1970 sold for $34,970,000: Zhang Daqian, Peach Blossom Spring, 1982 sold for HKD $270,680,000 (US$ 34,702,564) and Gerhard Richter, A.B., Still, 1986 sold for $33,987,500.
    Number eight on the list was the De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 which sold for HK$248,280,000 ($32,013,223). Ninth came the Unique Pink, a fancy vivid diamond ring which sold for CHF 30,826,000 (US$31,561,200) and Orazio Gentileschi, Danaë, 1621 which sold for $30,490,000 was tenth.

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    A MAJOR PIECE OF HARRY POTTER HISTORY

    Tuesday, December 13th, 2016
    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    A major piece of Harry Potter history, a rare presentation copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard created, hand-written and illustrated by J.K. Rowling sold for £368,750 to an anonymous buyer bidding on the telephone at Sotheby’s in London this afternoon. With a personal inscription by the author the copy, number 3 of the 7 that J.K Rowling produced, was presented to British publisher Barry Cunningham who famously accepted the first Harry Potter book for publication.  Cunningham played an instrumental role in launching J.K Rowling’s career as an international best-selling author. In a dedication written in the front of the book, JK Rowling wrote: “To Barry, the man who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell… THANK YOU”.

    Cunningham recalls the experience of receiving the copy in December 2007 as ‘unreal’, becoming ‘progressively more exciting’ as he opened a white jiffy envelope to reveal a beautiful, cloth-wrapped manuscript book, adorned with semi-precious stones and a sterling silver mounted skull. The original packaging, in which the copy was delivered, is included as part of the lot. Originally presented as a personal gift to ‘those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books’, the manuscript of wizarding tales is one of only seven unique copies produced for the most important people in Rowling’s life during this time. In 2007, a seventh copy produced specifically for sale at auction to raise money for J.K Rowling’s charity Lumos, was sold at Sotheby’s for a record-breaking £1.95 million. Bound in brown morocco leather, the manuscript carries seven unique mounted rhodochrosite stones. At the end of the volume, the author notes that these semi-precious stones are ‘traditionally associated with love, balance and joy in daily life.’ The exterior is additionally embellished with hallmarked sterling silver ornaments, centred by an ominous skull.

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

    The Tales of Beedle the Bard

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    EVOCATIVE NORWEGIAN LANDSCAPE MASTERPIECE AT SOTHEBY’S

    Thursday, December 1st, 2016
    Harald Sohlberg - From Værvågen, The Fisherman’s Cottage.

    Harald Sohlberg – From Værvågen, The Fisherman’s Cottage.  UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £1,208,750

    One of the most evocative landscapes by Norwegian artist Harald Sohlberg ever at auction comes up at Sotheby’s sale of 19th century European paintings in London on December 14. From Værvågen, The Fisherman’s Cottage marks the culmination on a grand scale of Sohlberg’s aim to capture on canvas the reaction he experienced standing before the sublime scale of nature. The artist is known and loved in Norway but rarely features at international auctions.

    Painted in 1921, the landscape – measuring 94 by 121 cm – was acquired from Sohlberg by Alfred W.G. Larsen, manager of a leading company in the import of wine and spirits in Norway. His sister Tulla had a tempestuous relationship with Edvard Munch culminating in an infamous shooting accident in which Munch injured two fingers. Throughout his career Sohlberg repeatedly denied any claims that he was under the influence of Munch, six years his senior. The younger artist’s ‘mood-painting’ had less of a psychological component that Munch’s, but a comparison with the titan of Norwegian art has proven irresistible. An exhibition exploring their relationship was held in New York in 1995, titled Munch/Sohlberg: Landscapes of the Mind.

    Claude Piening, Head of 19th Century European Paintings, Sotheby’s London, said: “From Værvågen is a powerful fusion of Romanticism and Expressionism, exuding a sense of awe in the face of the vastness of nature but also an intense feeling of longing and belonging. Large-scale landscapes by Sohlberg appear on the market only very rarely. As well as its rarity, the painting is also distinguished by its impeccable provenance and untouched original condition, having remained until today in the possession of the family of its first owner.” It is estimated at £600,000-800,000 and looks set to establish a new auction record for Sohlberg.

    UPDATE: IT SOLD FOR £1,208,750

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    MAHLER’S 2nd SYMPHONY MAKES WORLD AUCTION RECORD

    Tuesday, November 29th, 2016

    mahler-2ndThere was a new auction record for a musical manuscript when the complete manuscript of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony (the “Resurrection”) sold for £4,546,250 at Sotheby’s in London today. This monument of musical history, spanning 232 pages and written in the composer’s distinctive hand throughout, ranks as the most significant music manuscript ever to be offered at auction. It remains completely unaltered, untrimmed and unbound – including deletions, alterations and annotations, many in vivid blue crayon. The work retains the form in which Mahler left it, reflecting and revealing the compositional process for the work. mahler-2

    The dramatic manuscript is made all the more noteworthy by its remarkable provenance, coming to auction from the estate of the American economist and businessman, Gilbert Kaplan (1941-2016), who, having become infatuated with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 upon seeing the piece performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1965, dedicated his life to realising his dream of conducting the piece with the world’s greatest orchestras.

    *The only comparable autograph music manuscripts of major symphonic works to have been sold at auction are the celebrated manuscript of nine Mozart symphonies (which achieved £2.5 million at Sotheby’s in London in 1987) and the manuscript of Robert Schumann’s Second Symphony (which sold for £1.5 million at Sotheby’s in London in 1994).

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    ATTENBOROUGH COLLECTION OF PICASSO CERAMICS DOUBLES ESTIMATE

    Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016
    Grand vase aux femme nues’ sold for £728,750

    Grand vase aux femme nues’ sold for £728,750

    Lord & Lady Attenborough’s celebrated private collection of Picasso ceramics sold for £3,080,875 at Sotheby’s in London.  The ‘White Glove’, -100% sold –  sale soared over its pre-sale estimate of £1.5 million. All 67 lots were pursued by multiple bidders, each one achieving prices above the high estimate.  The top lot was the large scale  ‘Grand vase aux femme nues’, which sold for £728,750 and established a new auction record for a ceramic of this subject.

    In many ways Lord & Lady Attenborough were pioneers, appreciating Picasso’s creative ingenuity with the medium of fire clay soon after the artist began producing ceramics.  Lord Attenborough’s astute understanding of Picasso’s body of work in ceramics has been widely lauded; he understood that Picasso created these pieces with the same innovative passion as his paintings, sculptures and prints. Actively building a collection that was unique for its time – beginning in 1954 with a souvenir ashtray purchased for £3 – Lord & Lady Attenborough spent the next 50 years acquiring many different examples of the ceramic editions. The well-loved and respected late actor, director and producer recounted how every summer, he and Sheila took their children on holiday to a pension in the South of France. A casual visit to the Madoura pottery in the town of Vallauris – where Picasso began working in 1949 – developed into a annual event when, on or around August 29, they would drive to the studio to choose his birthday present.

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