Sixteen Jackies by Andy Warhol at Christie’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE $25.9 MILLION
The 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F Kennedy this month is recalled through Andy Warhol’s Death and Disaster series in New York next week. Sixteen Jackies will lead Christie’s 20th century evening sale next Thursday (November 9). The 1964 painting, a grid of a repeated press image of First Lady Jackie Kennedy during her husband’s funeral procession is estimated at $25 – $35 million and is one of many highlights in the sales. Led by the Emily Fisher Landau collection of key masterwork examples sales at Sotheby’s showcase over a century of artistic production. There are seminal works by Picasso, Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol. This collection comes under the hammer at Sotheby’s next Wednesday and Thursday (November 8 and 9), followed by the Modern evening auction on November 13 and Now and Contemporary art sales on November 15. At Christie’s the 21st Century evening sale is next Tuesday the 20th century sale is on Thursday, the Post War and Contemporary day sale is on November 10 and the Impressionist and Modern day sale takes place on November 11.
Untitled XV 1983 by Willem de Kooning at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE $8.6 MILLION
Untitled IV by Willem de Kooning from the Macklowe Collection sold for $18.9 million (€17.4 million) in New York in 2021.
The red/blue tonal palette of two artworks illustrated here is similar. In art market terms the gulf between them amounts to millions and millions of euros and is to all intents unbridgeable. Willem de Kooning, the a Dutch born American based Abstract Expressionist, belongs in the canon of the greats, Gerard le Roux is a practically unknown French artist and sculptor born in 1942 and resident for many years in St. Tropez. When it comes to the art market comparisons are indeed odious. Untitled IV by de Kooning sold at Sotheby’s in New York for a whopping $18.9 million in November 2021. It was part of the Macklowe Collection, which sold for just under $1 billion, then the most valuable collection ever sold at auction. The sale of the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen for $1.66 billion last November has eclipsed this result since. Despite stellar sales like these the art market operates at many different levels. You do not need to be an RTE “celebrity” in order to be able to dip into it.
Three Women by Gerard le Roux has an estimate of €200-300 at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 250 AT HAMMER
The market is for everyone as demonstrated by the second red/blue work Three Women by Gerard le Roux. It comes up at Whyte’s online summer evening art sale on July 10. Colourful, appealing and charming enough to grace any wall it is estimated at a mere €200-€300. An American influence is obvious in two works by him at this sale, lots 316 and 317. There is a similar estimate on Couple on a Beach. The artist spent a number of years in New York. The Mutualart website reports that work by le Roux has been offered at auction multiple times with prices ranging from $127 (€116) to $360 (€329), a record established for a beach scene at Pourville near Dieppe at Pierre Berge and Associates in Paris in 2021.
Summer art sales are brimful of interest and need not break the bank. There is a selection of 337 works to choose from at Whyte’s. The online sale offers an exciting array of accessible art from Ireland and around the world. Among the artists represented are Paul Henry, Jack Yeats, Norah McGuinness, Graham Knuttel, Robert Ballagh, Markey Robinson and Pauline Bewick. Le Grand Pavon (Peacock), a wool carpet by Salvador Dali was produced in 1979 by Ege Axminster, Denmark and comes with an estimate of €800-€1,200. A 1947 lithograph by American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell is estimated at €100-€150, the estimate for Ecce Homo, 16 offset colour lithographs by George Grosz dated 1923 is €2,000-€3,000 and a woodblock print portrait of a man by Otto Dix is estimated at €500-€700.
Beached Boat by William Carron at Whyte’s (€500-€700). UPDATE: THIS MADE 480 AT HAMMER
A view of Kilshannig, Castlegregory, Co. Kerry by Kenneth Webb is estimated at €3,000-€5,000, Mayo, a watercolour by Norah McGuinness, is estimated at €2,500-€3,500, an oil of Tory Harbour by Patsy Dan Rodgers is estimated at €600-€800, as is a watercolour of thatched cottages in the west of Ireland by Frank McKelvey.
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,
Willem de Kooning’s Untitled III at Christie’s (estimate in the region of $35 million)
The major November art sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York this November will feature art from the 20th and 21st centuries. A series of sales at Sotheby’s from November 14-17 will showcase the artistic movements from Impressionism to the groundbreaking artists working today. At Christie’s auctions on November 17, 18 and 19 will be led by Jean Michel Basquiat’s Sugar Ray Robinson.
Alberto Giacometti – Caroline at Sotheby’s ($15-$20 million)
WILLEM DE KOONING (1904-1997) – Untitled XXI. UPDATE: THIS MADE $25 MILLION
Willem de Kooning’s Untitled XXI will come up as a highlight at Christie’s 20th century evening sale in New York in May. Estimated in in excess of $20 million the painting is fresh to the market and has been in the same private collection for more than 30 years. It was painted in de Kooning’s studio in East Hampton in 1977, a year when he turned out a group of radiant, large-scale abstractions that had a new level of mastery about them. Art historians regard 1977 as a highpoint of his career, his annus mirabilis, or “miraculous year,” as the British critic David Sylvester wrote. The art market has confirmed that view: three of de Kooning’s top four highest prices achieved at auction were for paintings from 1977.
Pablo Picasso – Mousquetaire a la pipe II at Christie’s UPDATE: THIS MADE $34,710,000
In the era of shredded Banksy’s the New York sales over the next two weeks art will be presented in an innovative way that has broken away from traditional sale categories like Impressionism and Contemporary Art. Artists from Banksy and Basquiat to Peter Doig and El Anatsui to Cindy Sherman and Arcadia will kick off the non traditional art sale season in New York at Christie’s 21st century evening sale on November 9. Arcadia is an NFT – non fungible tokens allow people to buy the rights to online art – by contemporary visual artist Andres Reisinger, Grammy award winning musician RAC and poet Arch Hades. Combining music, visual art and poetry this is the first collaborative interdisciplinary NFT to come to auction. RAC, who was born in 1985, is the oldest of the three. UPDATE: Arcadia sold for $525,000.
A year ago few of us had heard of NFT’s – now they are big business. In March US artist Beeple (aka Mike Winklemann born 1981) made worldwide headlines when an NFT of his digital artwork “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” sold for $63.9 million. Beeple is back at Christie’s on November 9 with an NFT called Human One. By September Christie’s had shattered the $100 million dollar barrier for NFT sales. UPDATE: HUMAN ONE SOLD FOR $28,985,000.
Sotheby’s has launched twice yearly sales of NFT’s. The jury is out on whether this is merely a temporary craze or a more permanent feature of the art market. The buyers of NFT’s, including cyber punks and crypto currency gazillionaires, tend towards the non traditional.
Christie’s say their global 20th/21st century auction series reflects evolving market demands and collecting habits. It is also helping to discover new works, physical and digital. The sale on Tuesday offers 39 lots with established contemporaries like Richard Prince and Christopher Wool being sold alongside new market darlings like Nicolas Party, Harold Ancart and Xinyi Cheng.
On November 11 Christie’s will offer The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism. With masterpieces by Caillebotte, Cezanne and Van Gogh this is billed as one of the greatest American collections ever to appear on the market. Dallas based Edwin Cox, who died aged 99 a year ago, spent his career in oil and gas exploration and was ceo of his own investment company. The auction will be followed immediately by the 20th Century evening sale. This ranges from Impressionism in Paris in 1880’s to Pop Art in New York in 1980’s with masterpieces by Picasso and Monet and a Warhol portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat.
Untitled IV by William de Kooning at Sotheby’s in New York on November 15. UPDATE: THIS MADE $18,935,250
On November 15 Sotheby’s will offer the Part One of the Macklowe Collection which they describe as one of the most important collections of any kind ever to appear on the market. The sale will include masterworks by Alberto Giacometti, Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. The Macklowes are a spectacularly rich warring New York couple in their ’80’s. A judge has ordered the sale of the collection as part of their protracted divorce proceedings. Sotheby’s Modern evening auction is to take place on November 16 and this will be followed two nights later by an evening auction called Now focusing on art made in the last 20 years.
Francis Bacon – Study for Portrait. Signed, titled and dated 1981 on the reverse ($12-18 MILLION)
Francis Bacon’s Study for Portrait – the last of the artist’s famed portraits of his lover and muse George Dyer – is to come up at Sotheby’s in New York. It is among the highlights from the Gerald L. Lennard Foundation Collection at the May marquee auctions of Contemporary and Impressionist & Modern Art. Other works include Willem de Kooning’s Untitled X from the group of works created in 1975 that marked the artist’s transition from a period of radical experimentation to the lush abstracts which are among his most celebrated and sought after works today; the most comprehensive group of late works by Philip Guston ever to appear at auction, including Legs, Rug, Floor from 1976 andRed Sky from 1978; and signature portraits by Frank Auerbarch depicting his wife Julia Wolstenhome and his friend Catherine Lampert.
The Gerald L. Lennard Foundation’s interests include helping to promote programs involving visual and performing arts, healthcare, education and environmental sustainability. Proceeds from the sale of the 37 works presented will help to benefit the Foundation’s mission now and in the future.
Philip Guston Legs, Rug, Floor Signed, titled, and dated 1976 on the reverse ($6-8 MILLION)
Willem de Kooning Untitled X Executed in 1975 ($8-12 MILLION)
The 41 lots offered and all sold at Christie’s Art of the America’s evening sale from the Rockefeller collection made $106,883,500. The top lot of the sale was Willem de Kooning’s Untitled XIX, which sold for $14.2 million and formerly resided in David Rockefeller’s Chase Manhattan office. There were seven artist records, for Charles Ephraim Burchfield, Morris Cole Graves, Stefan Hirsch, Fairfield Porter, Diego Rivera, Charles Sheeler and Gilbert Stuart. To date, the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller has made $765,384,844, and established the highest total achieved for any private collection offered at auction during the first night of the sale week.
Will Haydock, Head of American Art, said: “The American art from the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller represents one of the best single owner collections to come to market and this evening collectors responded accordingly. Peggy and David appreciated and cherished this material in the same manner as their Impressionist and Modern masterworks and that allowed us to expose it on a broader, international stage. Both established and new collectors gravitated to the auction and it enabled us to achieve this monumental result. Tonight’s sale set a record total for any American Art auction, with strong results achieved across all time periods of the category. There was a particular interest in works commissioned by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller one the first true pioneers and patrons of Modernism in the United States, as seen with the records set for Rivera, Sheeler and Hirsch.”
Sotheby’s New York autumn season will be led by “The Triumph of Painting: The Steven and Ann Ames Collection”. The landmark collection, assembled by the New York patrons of the arts, philanthropists and collectors, tells the story of painting over the past 50 years through masterpieces by Robert Ryman, Georg Baselitz, Willem de Kooning, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Philip Guston and others. Overall, the works are estimated to fetch in excess of $100 million in sales of Contemporary Art on November 17 bd 18,
At the core of the collection are outstanding works by two giants of 20th-century painting: Gerhard Richter and Willem de Kooning. Richter was one of the first painters to spark the couple’s interest after they fell in love with his work in the 1980s; indeed Steven wrote his thesis on the artist to earn his Master’s degree in Art History at Columbia University. The evening auction on November 17 will include Richter canvases from every major period of his career covering his full exploration of the medium – abstract, landscape, portraiture, conceptual and more. Robert Ryman and others then entered the collection before the Ames’s sought out paintings by Willem de Kooning, seeking to connect the legacies of these different artists and bridge the stylistic gaps between them.
UPDATE: THE AMES COLLECTION PART 1 BROUGHT IN $122.8 MILLION
Gerhard Richter A.B., St. James 1988 ($20.30 million) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $22.7 MILLION
Gerhard Richter A.B., Still 1986 ($20-30 million) UPDATE: THIS MADE $33.9 MILLION
Franz Kline, Herald 1953-54 to be sold at Sotheby's, New York on May 9. The estimate is $2.5-$3.5 million. (click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE $2,322,500
Willem de Kooning, Event in a Barn Painted in 1947, to be sold at Sotheby's, New York on May 9. It is estimated at $5/7 million. (click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE$4,562,500
Work from the collection of art dealer Allan Stone will be offered at Sotheby’s in New York in May. The sale will be presented in two volumes on Monday, May 9, the night before Sotheby’s Contemporary art evening sale on May 10.
Highlights of the first sale will comprise outstanding examples by the key artists represented and collected by Stone, including Willem de Kooning, John Chamberlain, Franz Kline and Joseph Cornell. The second sale will be dedicated to the West Coast artist Wayne Thiebaud, whose work was first championed by Stone in New York more than forty-five years ago.
The two sales are estimated to bring in more than $35 million.
UPDATE: The two-part sale of The Collection of Allan Stone, brought a total of $54,805,500, well above the pre-sale high estimate of $46.8 million, and was 93% sold by lot. The auction was held 50 years after the founding of The Allan Stone Gallery and celebrated the artists represented and collected by this renowned New York dealer. The evening was led by John Chamberlain’s Nutcracker which sold for $4,786,500 and set a new record for the artist at auction. The sale was characterised by strong prices and global demand for U.S. West Coast artist Wayne Thiebaud
