Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art and Modern Art and Photography Andy Warhol, Art, Auctions, David Hockney, New York, Photography, Polaroid, Sotheby's 10:21 am
The last curtain falls for Polaroid at Sotheby New York in June this year.
1200 Pictures of Ansel Adams and photographs of artists such as Chuck Close, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, Robert Frank, Robert Mapplethorpe and Polaroid fan Andy Warhol will be on sale.
The entire collection contains about 10,000 photographs but so far no museum is interested in buying this collection and the sale is controversial. Some even say it’s illegal.
Source: www.sothebys.com
Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art and London and Modern Art and Works of Art Auction, Auction houses, Auctions, Christie's, New York, Sale, Yves Klein 10:20 am
Christie’s will be selling Yves Klein’s ‘ANT 93, Le Buffle’ (The Buffalo).
The painting by the French artist is offered for the first time at auction in New York, USA, on 11 May and is expected to fetch 10 million USD. Klein used females bodies as the paintbrush along with his distinctive ‘International Klein Blue’ colour, the artist’s patented pigment.
ANT 93, Le Buffle (“The Buffalo”) was executed in 1960-61 and is a monumental work from the last great series created by the artist before his untimely death by way of heart attack at the age of 34. Photographs of the artist in his flat in Paris in the early 1960s reveal ANT 93, Le Buffle (“The Buffalo”) hanging prominently on his sitting room wall; the artist with Martial Raysse). Additional examples from this small and rare group can be found at The Centre Pompidou, Paris and Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.
The work is currently on display at Christie’s London.
Source: http://www.artdaily.org
Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art and London and Works of Art Art Sale, Auction, Giacometti, Sotheby's 11:08 am
When I first heard about that sculpture and how much it has fetched on auction at Sotheby’s London last Wednesday I thought it to be a joke at first. £65m… that is a 65 with six(!) zeros… Well, that should help the bank to get back on track and kiss the economic crisis goodbye.
Here are some excerpts from recent reports:
The stupendous price of £65m fetched by Giacometti’s “L’Homme qui marche 1” (1961) at Sotheby’s on Wednesday was seen by dealers leaving the sale as signalling a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of the art market. “The money was there, but nothing was available to buy, so the moment good things came back for sale they were going to perform incredibly well,” said Richard Nagy, who described the whole sale as evidence of “pent-up spending”. Financial Times
So big spenders are cutting back? Clearly not all of them. A sculpture of a grimly determined walking man by Alberto Giacometti tonight broke records by becoming the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction when it was bought for £65m. The price, achieved at Sotheby’s in London, was five times more than its estimate of £12m-18m, and beat the record set by Picasso’s Garçon à la Pipe in 2004. That sold in New York for $104,168,000. The Guardian
A life-sized bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, the Swiss artist, has became the most expensive piece of art to ever sell at auction after it sold for more than £65million. The Telegraph
Whatever happens to the broader economy, there will always be super-wealthy individuals who look at the art world either as a passionate collector or a shrewd investor or both. There are institutions, some with state backing, in the market for rare works to fill museums and galleries that have sprouted up, particularly in the Middle East. And while Russian buying may have slowed, China and India have made up for it. Reuters
L’Homme qui marche 1, 1961
Art market and Auctions and Databases Sotheby's, Auctions, Art market, Collecting art, Art, Art international, Art Dealer, Auction houses, Christie's, Valuation 2:11 pm
The recession is certainly affecting all of us one way or the other but what to do to get a little bit of extra cash?
Well, most of us have probably seen TV programs such as ‘Cash in the attic’, ‘Antiques Roadshow’ etc. and wonder if they have something that might be worth a fortune, even if it is just a little fortune. And there are many ways to find out if we have little treasures at home without going national on TV.
When you think ‘auction house’ you probably think Sotheby’s and Christie’s straight away but there are many, many more.
Most of them have specialists on pretty much everything you can imagine: books, prints, drawings, paintings, gold, silver, jewelery, clocks, furniture, china etc. etc. etc. These auction houses usually offer a free quick valuation service which can give you at least an idea of what you have and if it is worth something. If you want a detailed valuation, however, you have to be prepared to pay a certain fee.
As an art historian I am quite down to earth with my little treasures and didn’t expect them to be worth a million but I was intrigued to find out what they might be worth. You can always check Artprice and artnet to find out what similar items were sold for in the past but if you want full access to these databases you will have to pay for subscription.
Hence – to get a second opinion – I went to the valuation day of my nearby local auction house Rosebery’s in South London last Saturday and took two of my originally signed engravings by Richard Müller and a golden bracelet with me. The engravings are dated 1912 and 1915 and the bracelet is, as I found out after a little research, late Victorian although in mint condition because it has been very well looked after.
My research showed me that you can get late Victorian bracelets for around GBP 800-900 and that my engravings might be around the same price each. Well, I was very happy to find out that my research was more or less correct and that I could get even more for the prints. It’s nice to know that there are at least a few treasures in my home but I don’t intend to sell them just now.
What treasures have you got at home?
Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art Sotheby's, Auctions, Sackler Collections, New York 10:41 am
Following up on yesterday’s post, there is more on sale of the famous Sackler Collections.
Sotheby’s New York is holding six auctions over the next five months containing several hundred objects from the Sackler Collections. Altogether Sotheby’s is hoping for a $15 mio. turnover. See their press release here.
Fine Chinese Furniture, Works of Art & Carpets
16 September 2009
Further dates:
Important English Furniture & Decorations
16 October 2009
Impressionist & Modern Art
4 & 5 November 2009
American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture
3 December 2009
Antiquities
10 December 2009
Important European Terracotta & Bronze Sculpture
26 January 2010
source & images: www.sothebys.com
Art international and Art market and Auctions and International art Auction, Asian Art, Sackler Collections, New York, Japanese Art, Korean Art 1:27 pm
It’s Asian Art Week in New York this week and Christie’s is holding dedicated sales on Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, South Asian Modern+Contemporary Art , Indian and Southeast Asian Art and Japanese and Korean Art.
One of the specials of these auctions is that the Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art sale includes pieces from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections.
Arthur M. Sackler (August 22, 1913, Brooklyn, New York – May 26, 1987, New York City) was an American psychiatrist, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He attended New York University School of Medicine and graduated with an M.D.
Sackler was also a scholar of the arts. He endowed galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Princeton University, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University in Beijing, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C., and the Jillian & Arthur M. Sackler Wing at the Royal Academy, London.
Favorite auction lots of any of the above sales:
sources & images: www.christies.com
Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art Paris, Yves Saint-Laurent, Auction, Christie's, Design, Collection 3:01 pm
World record in auction results at Christies in Paris.
The auction house saw a total turnover of over 270 million GBP within it’s 3 days sale this week.
The private collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé was sold in a three days auction sale at Christies in Paris. The results were mind blowing and exceeded even Christies expectations. Many lots sold for more than twice their estimate. On the evening of the second day Christies published the following press-release:
*******************************
24 February 2009
YVES SAINT LAURENT & PIERRE BERGÉ
COLLECTION OF 20th CENTURY DECORATIVE ART AND DESIGN REALISES
€59.1 MILLION /£52.6 MILLION / $76.5 MILLION
WORLD RECORD FOR A COLLECTION OF 20th CENTURY DECORATIVE ARTS
WORLD RECORD FOR MOST EXPENSIVE WORK OF 20th CENTURY DECORATIVE ART AT AUCTION
Top lot: Eileen Gray’s ‘Dragons’ armchair, circa 1917-1919, sells for €21.9 million /£19.4 million / $28.3 million
Eileen Gray’s lacquered sideboard, 1915-1917 sells for €3.9 million / £3.5 million / $5.1 million
François-Xavier Lalanne’s YSL bar , sells for €2.7 million / £2.4 million / $3.5 million
Jean Dunand pair of lacquered and gilt metal vases, 1925, sells for €3 million / £2.7 million / $3.9 million
12 WORLD RECORDS FOR ARTISTS AT AUCTION 10 WORKS OF ART SELL ABOVE €1 MILLION
Paris – Tonight’s second evening sale at the Grand Palais saw the hammer go down on the highly anticipated 20th Century Decorative Arts section of the Collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, offered by Christie’s in association with Pierre Bergé & Associates auctioneers. This meticulously selected group of Art Deco treasures, a sophisticated celebration of one of the most brilliant chapters in Parisian cultural life, realised a total of €59.1 million / £52.6 million / $76.5 million. The star lot of the evening was Eileen Gray’s ‘Dragons’ armchair, circa 1917-1919, which sold for €21.9 million / £19.4 million / $28.3 million, a world record for a work of 20th century decorative art at auction, and a world record for the artist at auction. 10 works of art sold for over €1 million (10 over £1 million and 10 over $1 million). The auction saw a total of 12 artist records established.
Philippe Garner, International Head and Sonja Ganne, European Director, 20th Century Decorative Art & Design said: “Tonight’s sale was a homage to the great personalities, designers, collectors and patrons who so marked their era in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s and, of course, to the pioneering vision of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé as collectors.”
Leading highlights of the sale included:
Other lots in the sale such as the curule stool of African inspiration, circa 1920-1925 by Pierre Legrain which sold for €457,000 / £406,730 / $591,312 (estimate: €400,000 – 600,000), a circular occasional table, designed by Armand Albert Rateau in 1919 which sold for €1.1 million / £1 million / $1.4 million (estimate: €600,000 – 800,000), and the crystal table lamp, circa 1926 by Jean-Michel Frank, which sold for €193,000 / £171,770/ $249,723 (estimate: €80,000 – 120,000) reflect the uncommon blend of instinctive passion and deep connoisseurship that the collectors applied at every level in their unerring search for refinement and elegance.
ARTIST RECORDS:
Lot 278 Ernest Boiceau Tapis aux perruches et perroquets, vers 1920 Estimate: €150,000-200,000 Sold for € 601,000 WORLD RECORD FOR ARTIST AT AUCTIONThe Sale of the Collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé
Grand Palais Avenue Winston Churchill, Paris
Wednesday 25 February 1pm Sculptures and Works of Art
Wednesday 25 February 7pm Asian Art, Ceramics, Furniture, Islamic Art and Antiquities
Images on request
Visit Christie’s Web site at www.christies.com
Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art and Works of Art Art, Paris, Auction houses, Yves Saint-Laurent, Auction, Christie's, Fashion, Design, Renaissance Art 2:21 pm
Christie’s Paris will have a huge 3 days auction in order to sell the art collection and furniture of the late Yves Saint-Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé on 23-25 February 2009.
The collection is so extensive that Christie’s published three (!!!) very detailed auction catalogues. To browse these catalogues please see the Christie’s website.
The auction house expects a spectacular turnaround which is highly needed in the current economic market, especially after record sales of contemporary art in early 2008 have left collectors and auctioneers with high expectations… despite the recession every business sector is facing.
My favorites of Yves Saint-Laurent’s collection are undoubtably the exquisite paintings, prints and drawings up to 1900.
PIETER DE HOOCH - Jeune femme
The returns will be put into trusts for Fashion and AIDS research and I’m curious to see the outcome.
Sources: www.art-magazin.de, www.christies.com
Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art and London and Works of Art Sotheby's, Auctions, Collecting art, Art 2:31 pm
Sotheby’s London saw an impressive sale turn around of 32,564,300 GBP on their Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 5th February 2009.
The 30 lots included works by no lesser artists than Klimt, Rodin and Degas. For the lot numbers as well as the artworks and their prices, please see the Sotheby Website.
Similar good results were seen at Christie’s (31 lots) and Phillips de Pury & Co (53 lots).
Surprisingly enough, works by Frances Bacon and Mark Rothko failed to sell at other auctions.
Art Market Insight says:
In the circumstances, the first sales in February unsurprisingly posted no new records but at least they avoided disaster. Only 21% of Christie’s items remained unsold, but 52% of lots fetched less than their estimations… Sotheby’s pulled off the best sale of the week by selling 25 lots out of 27 and topping a million pounds for three of them.
Sources: www.sothebys.com, www.christies.com, www.artmarketinsight.com
Art international and Art market and Auctions and Works of Art Art, Auction houses, Auctions, Hanns Bolz, Max Ernst, Works of Art 2:14 pm
Ketterer Kunst is opening their new exhibition and auction building in Munich (Riem) this week with a 2-day auction. Lot. 230 of yesterday’s sales was a portrait of the art dealer Alfred Flechtheim, painted by Hanns Bolz in 1910/11. It was estimated at € 18.000-24. 000 but sold for € 76.860 in the end.
Alfred Flechtheim by Hanns Bolz, 1910/11
Hanns Bolz moved to Paris in 1909 where he took over Picasso’s studio and joined the circle of German artists in rue Gabrielle 49, Montmatre. He was befriended with Max Ernst.
The auction of this painting is a small sensation because Bolz ordered in this will for all his work to be destroyed which is why most of his work is presumed to be lost forever. But this painting has survived and is now, after one year of official research, been declared to be a true and original work of Hanns Bolz.
picture: www.kettererkunst.de
