Christie’s Impressionist And Modern Art Sale, “Nice, Tidy & Tight”
The London auction season opened at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art sale Tuesday evening with solid results, the art sale tallied $112,908,380.
Of the 50 lots offered, 8 failed to sell for a buy-in rate by lot of 16%, 24 lots sold for over a million pounds and 29 sold for over a million dollars. Of those, 1 exceeded £10-M. Prices reported reflect the hammer price plus buyer’s premium for each lot sold, calculated at 25% of the hammer price up to and including £50,000, 20% on that part of the hammer price up to and including £1%, and 12% of that part of the hammer price above £1-M.
The sale opened with a petite Pablo Picasso table-top still life, “Verre et Radis” from Y 1944, which sold to a telephone bidder for $576,013 (est. $350,000). The Picasso was followed by Egon Schiele’s “Madchenkopf (Frau Sohn)” from Y 1918, in charcoal on paper, which made $1,052,713 (est. $600,000).
Paul Cezanne’s page-sized still life “Oranges et Verre (recto); le fils de Cezanne (verso),” in watercolor and pencil on paper from circa Y 1900, made $2,622,645 (est. $1.5-M).
Vincent van Gogh’s early and Dutch flavored “The ‘Laakmolen’ near The Hague,” a watercolor and pencil and pen and ink on paper laid down on panel from July 1882, sold to another telephone bidder for $3,669,550 (est. $3-M).
4 Surrealist flavored Rene Magritte gouache on paper offerings, representing a robust slice of his heated market, sold briskly led by “Le Basier” from Y 1957, depicting a blue bodied dove in flight over a shadowed beach with a crescent moon and stars occupying her extended wingspan, it saw $3,156,549 (est. 1.8-M).
Salvador Dali’s fantastical “Chevauchee celeste” from Y 1957, depicting a stilt walking rhino with a nude woman rider and baseball game televised on its armored hide, attracted a trio of bidders and sold to the telephone for $4,580,293.
Impressionist era offerings: Alfred Sisley’s beautifully shadowed Summer garden, “Le Potager” from Y 1872, originally acquired by Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris in Y 1890 and later exhibited as part of a Sisley solo at its New York outpost in Y 1914, sold to London dealer James Roundell of Dickinson Gallery for $3,512,485.
Camille Pissarro’s watchful “La servant assise dans le jardin d’Eragny” from Y 1884, depicting 2 of the artist’s 8 children minded by a nearby nanny, brought £$2,800,613. This painting was backed by a third party guarantee and represents a settlement between the seller and the heirs of the previous owner, storied art dealer and French Resistance fighter Rene Gimpel, who perished in a Nazi concentration camp in Y 1945.
Claude Monet’s “Iris Mauves” from Y 1914-17, a grandly scaled vertical format composition stamped with the artist’s signature. It sold to a telephone bidder for the top lot price o$17,216,021. It is 1 of some 20 views of irises Monet painted that flanked the banks of his beloved lily pond and was included in the traveling exhibition “Monet’s Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism,” which landed at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1978. Y The picture last sold at Christie’s New York in May 1997 for $3,852,500. Telephone bidders from America, Asia, and Russia chased the big painting.
Paul Gauguin’s slumbering Tahitian picture “Le reve, Moe Moea” from Y 1892, which sold over estimate for $3,050,190.
A sensual but awkward rear view captured by Edgar Degas, “Apres le bain, femme s’essuyant la jambe (le peignoir rouge),” executed in pastel on paper from Y 1893, brought $4,580,293.
Kees van Dongen’s provocative harem figure encased in a gauzy veil, “Anita en almee” from Y 1908, sold for $6,537,941. The Fauve period oil last sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 1995 for $1,652,500.
Henry Moore’s bronze “Reclining Figure No. 2” from Y 1953 and cast in an edition of 7, once in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, brought $2,444,677.
Joan Miro’s impressive “La tige de la fleur rouge pousse vers la lune ” from Y 1953, drew heated bidding and made $6,004,037.
Pablo Picasso’s late and vibrant “Tete” from Y 1969, showing off the head and shoulders of one of his virile musketeers, which sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $7,071,845.
“It felt like a nice, tidy, tight sale,” said Jay Vincze, head of Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern department, “and we saw a really good range of bidding from lots of different countries.”
The evening London art auction action resumed at Sotheby’s London Wednesday, highlighted by a rare to market painting by Kazimir Malevich, another Russian avant garde master, carrying pre-sale expectations of £20-30-M
Stay tuned…
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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