18th Century and Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and International art and London and Works of Art Art, Art international, Auction, Sotheby's, Turner 2:46 pm
A Turner masterpiece has sold at Sotheby’s London for almost £30m – a new auction record for the British master.
William Turner's Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino
The painting was sold by a descendant of the fifth Earl of Rosebery, who bought it in 1878 while on honeymoon with his wife Hannah Rothschild. The masterpiece had been on loan at the National Galleries of Scotlnd for the past 30 years.
For the full story see BBC news.
Art international and Art market and Auctions and Collecting art and Exhibitions and International art and London and Modern Art asian elephant, Auctions, öffentlicher Raum, Collecting art, elephant, Elephant Parade 2010, endangered species, Exhibition, London, public space 11:12 am
Yes, colourful and cheerful elephants all over town in London. Not real ones of course… art work. And what art work it is. The idea isn’t new. We’ve seen bears, cows and other animals in European cities. Munich for example had the Bavarian lion placed all over town in 2006.
This year it’s London’s turn and it’s even for a good cause: to save the endangered Asian elephant. Initiated by Elephant Parade, a social enterprise founded by father and son Mike and Marc Spits, the exhibitions aims to raise support for the Asian elephant, which is threatened with extinction. The benefits of the Elephant Parade are donated to the Elephant Family, the largest elephant charity in the world.
The event has over 250 brightly painted elephants located across central London throughout May and June 2010. Each model elephant is decorated by a different artist, designer or celebrity. They are now brightening and beautifying the city, enhancing every park, street corner and building they grace.
How they can make money through an exhibition of elephants in a public place? All elephants will be sold by online auctions at Giving Lots.
The London Elephant Parade is running from May to July 2010 and is London’s biggest outdoor art exhibition. With an estimated audience of 25 million, the campaign is aiming to raise over £1 million for the endangered Asian elephant, will benefit more than 15 UK conservation charities, and more than ten projects in Asia.
Art market and Auctions and Museum 1936, Auction, Auctions, Bugatti, Cars, Classic Cars, etersen Automotive Museum, Record 11:28 am
An ultra-rare 1936 Bugatti 57SC Atlantic has broken all previous known records for the most expensive car to have ever been sold. The Italian classic is one of only two that survive in original condition out of the three made and apparently achieved a sales price of between US$30 million and US$40 million at an auction held by Gooding & Company. The Buggati was owned by the late Dr. Peter D. Williamson of New Hampshire, who passed away in 2008. The only other example lives in the garage of fashion designer Ralph Lauren.
The Buggati sale has smashed the previous record for a vehicle sold at a public auction held by a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa which went for about US$12.2 million a year ago.
Apart from its extreme rarity, another reason the Bugatti 57SC Atlantic is so special is because of the technological innovations which are displayed on the car. These include the low-slung body that was designed by the founder’s son Jean Bugatti and fashioned out of aluminium.
“This car has everything going for it,” said Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. “In addition to technical sophistication, it was most avant-garde and futuristic car built up to that time. It’s beautiful, performs well, beautifully built, and rare.”
Art international and Art market and Auctions and International art Auction, Auktion, Christie's, Picasso 10:18 pm
(Reuters) – Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” sold for more than $106 million at Christie’s on Tuesday, setting a record for art sold at auction.
The Picasso, a 1932 work not seen publicly in 50 years, was purchased by an anonymous buyer from a world-class collection assembled by the late Los Angeles art patrons Frances and Sidney Brody.
The vibrant, large-scale depiction of Picasso’s mistress and frequent subject, Marie-Therese Walter, was the top priced work at Christie’s sale of Impressionist and modern art.
The sale netted $335.5 million for the auction house.
“Obviously we’re thrilled” with the final price of $106,482,500 including commission for the Picasso, auctioneer Christopher Burge said afterward. He added that there was “incredible bidding” across the range of 69 works on offer, of which more than 80 percent found buyers.
A record was also set for Georges Braque when “La Treille” sold for $10,162,500, or more than twice the pre-sale estimate.
Christie’s said the sale’s total was its third best, with the $224 million Brody take second only among single-owner sales to the Yves St. Laurent sale in Paris.
Nearly three-quarters of the winning bids came equally from U.S. and European bidders, while one-fourth were categorized as “other,” a designation that includes collectors from the Mideast.
Christie’s Americas Chairman Marc Porter said the sale was also marked by “an extremely heavy rate of participation from new collectors, in new economies.”
The sale, dominated by Picassos and Giacomettis, was not without its casualties, notably Edvard Munch’s “Fertility,” which was estimated around $30 million but went unsold when no one bid beyond $23 million.
But the big spending, especially for the Brody works, spoke to the willingness of deep-pocketed collectors to purchase rare works of impeccable provenance.
Three Giacometti sculptures also saw strong prices. A narrow bust, a forearm with outstretched hand and a walking cat, all bronzes from the Brody collection, fetched $55.3 million, $25.84 million and $20.8 million respectively.
The spring sales continue on Wednesday with Sotheby’s auction of Impressionist and modern art.
source: www.reuters.com
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 Art, Art Dealer, Art international, Art market, Auction houses, Auctions, Christie's, Collecting art, Sotheby'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 Auctions, New York, Sackler Collections, Sotheby's 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 Asian Art, Auction, Japanese Art, Korean Art, New York, Sackler Collections 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
