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.
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
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
There 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. 
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).
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.
Richter, Warhol and Basquiat were stars of the evening sale of contemporary art at Sotheby’s in New York, which brought in $276.7 million last night. The top lot was Gerhard Richter’s AB Still which sold to a private European buyer for $33.9 million. Andy Warhol’s Self Portrait (Fright Wig) made $24.4 million. Basquiat’s Brother’s Sausage made $18.6 million.
There was a record for David Hockney at auction when Woldgate Woods, 24, 25, 26 October 2006 sold for $11.7 million. This is an oil on canvas in six parts, and it went to an anonymous buyer. The auction included Part 1 of The Ames Collection, which made $122.8 million. There were bidders from 38 countries and Asian participation was up 11% year on year.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for July 31, 2016)
Andy Warhol – Self-Portrait (Fright Wig)
David Hockney – Woldgate Woods
A rediscovered portrait by Frida Kahlo portrait comes up at Sotheby’s in New York on November 22. In the summer of 2016 Niña Con Collar surfaced when Sotheby’s was approached by a former personal assistant of Kahlo’s who had been given the work as a keepsake by Diego Rivera the year after Kahlo’s death in 1954. It will be offered as part of the Latin America: Modern Art sale with an estimate of $1.5 / 2 million.
The only record of Niña Con Collar had been a black-and-white photograph taken by the artist’s friend Lola Álvarez Bravo who documented her early works. That picture was used as the work’s catalogue raisonné entry and has been the only documentation of the painting until now.
Axel Stein, Sotheby’s head of Latin American art, commented: “I have known Niña Con Collar since 1988 when I saw the black and white photograph in the newly published catalogue raisonné. I never imagined it would surface and turn out to be such a beautiful and warm painting.” With the subject’s direct stare from under her spreading eyebrow and the rigid symmetry of a frontal pose, Niña Con Collar immediately recalls some of the artist’s most celebrated paintings.
UPDATE: THIS WORK SOLD FOR $1,812,500
Edvard Munch – Girls on the Bridge.
Led by Munch’s Girls on the Bridge which sold for $54.5 million the Sotheby’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York last night brought in $157.7 million.
Pablo Picasso’s large-scale late work Le Peintre et son modèle brought $12.9 million; Auguste Rodin’s Penseur, petit modèle sold to an Asian private collector for $1.8; Picasso’s Tête de femme sold for $8.5 million; Maurice de Vlaminck’s Fauve landscape Le Verger made $7.6 million; László Moholy-Nagy’s EM 1 Telephonbild, a masterwork of early conceptual art, achieved $6.1 million and František Kupka’s La Forme du bleu from 1924 sold above the high estimate for $2.2 million.
“Tonight’s solid results, coupled with those in London this June, demonstrate there is strong demand for top-quality works at every price level,” said Simon Shaw, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Worldwide Impressionist & Modern Art Department. “We were pleased to offer for the third time Edvard Munch’s Girls on the Bridge, which achieved $54.5 million – a price that is second only to his iconic The Scream, sold at Sotheby’s for $120 million. Munch has only recently been recognized for his tremendous impact on both 20th and 21st century art, and our team has worked to build his appreciation in the market as well.”
Frank Auerbach’s Head of Gerda Boehm sold for £3.8m
With participants from 46 countries there were records for 11 British artists at Part 1 of the sale of the David Bowie Collection at Sotheby’s. The first session, a white glove sale in which every lot found a buyer in a record breaking night for British art, doubled the high estimate and totalled £24.3 million.
There were artists records for Frank Auerbach, Peter Lanyon, Bernard Leach, Winifred Nicholson, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Henry Lamb, Harold Gilman, Ivon Hitchens, Kenneth Armitage, Bryan Wynter, Patrick Caulfield and Meret Oppenheim. Over the course of the 10-day pre-sale exhibition in London, more than 37,000 people came to Sotheby’s to view the collection, making for the best attended pre-sale exhibition London has ever witnessed. The top lot of the evening was Air Power 1984 by Jean Michel Basquiat which made £7.1 million.
Bowie famously said of the Frank Auerbach painting illustrated left: “My God, yeah! I want to sound like that looks”.
Sleep Sound by Jack B. Yeats sold for £233,000 over a top estimate of £180,000 and Image of James Joyce by Louis le Brocquy sold for £68,750 over a top estimate of £15,000.
Part I: Modern and Contemporary Art, Evening Auction: £24.3m
Part II: Modern and Contemporary Art, Day Sale: £7.2m
Part III: Design: Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Group: £1.4m
“David Bowie’s personal art collection captured the imagination of the tens of thousands who visited our exhibitions and the thousands who took part in the sales. Sotheby’s is truly honoured to have had the opportunity to share this collection with the world and, in doing so, offer a fresh insight into the creative mind of one of the greatest cultural figures of our time.”– Oliver Barker, Chairman, Sotheby’s Europe
Image of James Joyce by Louis le Brocquy sold for £68,750.
Sleep Sound by Jack B. Yeats sold for £233,000.
The market for important works of design has gone from strength to strength in recent months. The Design sale at Sotheby’s in London on November 15 follows on successful similar sales in New York and Paris in 2016. Following the success of a relaunched dedicated design sale for London in 2015, this second edition will be underpinned by important works of Post-war Scandinavian, Italian, French, American and Contemporary Design, including rare examples by Arne Jacobsen, Gerrit Rietveld, Gio Ponti, Studio Job, Marc Newsom and Nacho Carbonell. The sale takes place just days ahead of the landmark opening of a major new home for London’s Design Museum.
Fontana Arte – Low Table Model No. 1774 UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £50,000
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld – Zig Zag Chair UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £16,875
Hans Coper – Monumental Spade Form vase UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £62,500
Arne Jacobsen – Desk UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD