Displaying items by tag: Christie's

This past November, Francis Bacon’s triptych ‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’ sold for $142 million at Christie’s in New York, making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. Rumors swirled after the buyer’s name was not immediately revealed, with some speculating that Paul G. Allen, the cofounder of Microsoft and an avid art collector, had purchased the painting.

Nearly two months after the sale, it has been reported that the buyer was Elaine Wynn, former wife of Las Vegas casino owner and collector Steve Wynn. Elaine Wynn, who is a co-founder of the Wynn Casino empire, is estimated to have a net worth of $1.9 billion. The couple, who divorced in 2010, are the owners of a remarkable art collection and Ms. Wynn serves on the board of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Painted in 1969, ‘Three Studies’ depicts Bacon’s friend and artistic rival, Lucian Freud. It is one of only two existing full-length triptychs of Freud and it was included in the Grand Palais’ Bacon retrospective in Paris during the early 1970s.

Supporters of the Detroit Institute of Arts have offered to donate $330 million to help pay a portion of the city’s bankruptcy debt and save the museum’s finest works from being sold at auction. The donors would like the funds to go to retirees, whose pensions may be cut by as much as $3.5 billion. In exchange, the Detroit Institute’s collection would be protected in any bankruptcy settlement. A statement e-mailed to the U.S. District Court in Detroit said, “All recognize that if these two goals can be accomplished, a third absolutely critical goal of facilitating the revitalization of the city in the aftermath of the bankruptcy will be greatly advanced.”

Detroit filed for bankruptcy in July 2013 and the city is currently over $18 billion in debt. Following the filing, Kevyn Orr, Detroit’s emergency manager, asked Christie’s to appraise the 2,781 city-owned works housed in the Detroit Institute of Arts. The auction house estimated the works to be worth anywhere from $452 million to $886 million.

The Institute has opposed any sale, stating that its art is held in a charitable trust and cannot be part of any auction to help pay Detroit’s substantial debts.

Next month, Sotheby’s London will sell approximately 120 works from the collection of the late Jan Krugier, a preeminent dealer of 20th century art. Krugier, who passed away in 2008, sold works for Pablo Picasso’s family and was close friends with the artist. He operated galleries in Geneva and New York and was a powerful presence at art fairs such as TEFAF Maastricht and Art Basel.

37 works will be sold during an evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on February 5 and the remainder of the collection will be offered during the day sale on February 6. Most of the collection is comprised of works on paper and include pieces by Francisco Goya, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso. Sotheby’s expects the entire collection to garner between $39 million and $57 million. The most expensive work to be offered is Alberto Giacometti’s cast bronze ‘L’homme qui marche III’, which is expected to fetch between $5 million and $8 million.

Last November, Christie’s New York held a highly anticipated sale of works from Krugier’s collection but the auction failed to meet expectations.

Christie’s London will auction off 85 works spanning the seven decades of Joan Miró’s artistic career. The collection is one of the most extensive offerings of works by the Spanish surrealist ever to come to auction. The holdings, which are estimated to be worth $49 million, were acquired by the Portuguese government from a failing bank during the 2008 global banking crisis.

The star of the auction is the painting ‘Women and Birds,’ which features two of Miró’s recurring subjects. Created in 1968, the canvas is expected to bring $6.5 million to $11.5 million. The sale also includes works on paper and a series of paintings on Masonite from the 1930s.

The works will be sold during three auctions slated to take place February 4 and 5. The current auction record for Miró was set in 2012 when ‘Painting (Blue Star)’ sold for nearly $37 million.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AK has acquired a number of works by Andy Warhol. The first acquisition, ‘Coca-Cola (3),’ was purchased at Christie’s for $57.3 million in November. It had previously belonged to a private collection.

The Crystal Bridges’ other Warhol acquisitions were gifts -- an early painting from the artist’s time as a student at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and a book of 21 dye diffusion transfer prints, which are being donated to the museum by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

‘Coca-Cola (3)’ and the early painting will go on view alongside the Warhol works already in the Crystal Bridges’ collection on December 26. The prints will not be immediately exhibited. 

On Tuesday, December 10, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s announced that they have hired new Chief Marketing Officers. Sotheby’s is bringing former MasterCard CMO Alfredo Gangotena on board, while Christie’s has hired Marc Sands, the Tate’s Director of Media and Audiences.

Bruno Vinciguerra, Sotheby’s Chief Operating Officer, released a statement saying that Gangotena “will be responsible for shaping and delivering Sotheby’s brand message globally -- what we say through digital, advertising, catalogues, the press and philanthropy.”

Sands, who will begin at Christie’s in 2014, is taking over a position that has not been filled since 2011.

It is being rumored that Alice Walton, the Walmart heiress and founder of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AK, purchased Andy Warhol’s Coca-Cola (3) from Christie’s in November. The painting sold for $57.2 million during the auction house’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale. The price is more than Walton has been known to have ever spent at an auction.

The work is one of only four paintings of a single Coca-Cola bottle made by the Pop artist between 1961 and 1962. Coca-Cola (3) was being offered by New York art dealer Jose Mugrabi and was expected to garner between $40 million and $60 million.

A representative for Walton would neither confirm nor deny the purchase.  

Sotheby’s American Art auction, which concluded on December 4 in New York, garnered $83.9 million, far exceeding its high estimate of $62.1 million. The sale was highlighted by a collection of seven paintings by Norman Rockwell from the family of Kenneth J. Stuart Jr. -- the artist’s longtime friend and art editor at the Saturday Evening Post. 

While the entire Stuart collection sold for $59.7 million, the group was led by Saying Grace, which sold for $46 million -- the highest price ever paid for a work sold in an American art auction. The painting was estimated to bring $20 million.

Edward Hopper led Christie's American art sale, which wrapped up on December 5, with his painting East Wind Over Weehawken. The work, which depicts a desolate street corner in Depression-era Weehawken, NJ, sold for $40.5 million -- a record for the artist at auction. The overall sale netted $76.8 million, which is the highest sale total ever for the category at Christie's.  

Christie’s announced that Detroit’s art collection, which is housed in the Detroit Institute of Arts, is worth between $452 million and $886 million. The auction house was hired by the city’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, to put a price tag on 2,781 works owned by the city after Detroit filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

The city’s artworks represent about 5% of the Detroit Institute’s holdings, but 11 of the pieces on display at the museum account for 75% of the appraised collection’s total value. Christie’s plans to propose five alternatives to selling the works, which include masterpieces by Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Pieter Bruegel, that would still allow the city to make a profit off of the treasures.

The city of Detroit is currently over $18 billion in debt.

Christie’s is currently hosting an online only sale titled Andy Warhol@Christie’s: A Christmas Thing. The holiday-themed sale will feature 99 works by Andy Warhol and is part of an ongoing partnership between Christie’s and the Andy Warhol Foundation. Works include images of Santa Claus, angels and other holiday iconography, along with other subjects more readily associated with Warhol.

Amelia Manderscheid, Head of E-commerce for Post-War & Contemporary Art at Christie’s, said, “We are delighted to present A Christmas Thing, a seasonal edition of our ongoing series of online-only sales dedicated to Andy Warhol. Buyers from over 50 different countries have already purchased an original work from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts through Christie’s since our multi-year partnership was first announced in 2012.”

A Christmas Thing will remain open for competitive bids through December 11.