Displaying items by tag: Christie's

On Friday, 31 October 2014, a press conference was held in New York in connection with the recently settled claim for restitution involving a work by Schiele formerly owned by the noted Viennese cabaret artist Fritz Grünbaum, who died in a concentration camp. The watercolor is due to be auctioned at Christie's New York on Wednesday, 5 November 2014.

In the invitation presented to the Leopold Museum Private Foundation to attend the press conference, which was held in the Museum of Jewish Heritage, reference was made to the claim for restitution, refuted by the Leopold Museum Private Foundation, for another painting by Schiele, "Tote Stadt III" [Dead City III], also from Fritz Grünbaum's collection. This work is part of the Leopold Collection and in the possession of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation.

On November 4, Christie’s London will offer works from the collection of the late architect and designer David Collins. Collins, who passed away in 2013, was known for his affinity for shades of blue and his masterful use of texture. Melding British refinement with metropolitan chic, Collins and his eponymous London-based studio created sophisticated and luxurious interiors for a swath residences, restaurants, hotels, and high-end retailers. Some of Collins' most celebrated projects include the Old World-inspired Wolseley restaurant in London, the Berkeley Hotel’s striking Blue Bar (also in London), and The Charles, which houses some of New York City’s most coveted private residences. 

“Luxury–Colour–Texture” comprises 192 lots from Collins’ Kensington property and includes furniture, lighting, and works of art.

The gavel will not come down on the first lot of New York's major fall auctions until Tuesday, but records have already fallen and more are virtually certain once the bidding actually begins.

With a global pool of collectors competing for more than $1.5 billion worth of fine art, the city's top auction houses are expecting record values for trophy works at sales over the next two weeks.

Sotheby’s ten-day auction of the Collections of Andy Warhol in 1988 dispersed 179 watches the artist had owned. Some have resurfaced over the years and last year a Patek Philippe Ref. 2526 owned by the artist sold at Christie’s New York for $68,750, well above its $20,000‑30,000 estimate.

On November 11 Sotheby’s Geneva will be selling a Patek Philippe, Ref. 3448, made in 1977, and coming directly from the person who had bought it at the 1988 auction. The watch is estimated at $85,500‑128,000.

The similarities between two art works being auctioned next month by Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York are striking. Both were created by the Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele. And both once belonged to Fritz Grünbaum, a Viennese cabaret performer whose large art collection was inventoried by Nazi agents after he was sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he died.

But there is also a notable difference in the way the houses are handling the sales.

In a formal ceremony that witnessed the performance of a creation of a unique work by artist Qin Feng, Christie’s officially opened their new exhibition space and office in Shanghai at the historic Ampire Building, near the Bund.

“When James Christie first opened the doors in London in 1766, nearly 250 years ago, his intention was to bring people art lovers together with the art they loved. Today in Shanghai we open this wonderful building that speaks of the history of the city, the tradition of Christie’s and yet also feels very contemporary and looks to the future.”

A painting from Cy Twombly’s celebrated “blackboard” series could set a record for the artist at auction. “Untitled” (1970) is expected to fetch between $35 million and $55 million on November 12 at Christie’s in New York. Before being offered to buyers at the auction house’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, the work will be exhibited in London and San Francisco.

Twombly, who is best known for his calligraphic, graffiti-like paintings, executed his “blackboard” series  between 1966 and 1971. Using contrasting lines against a light or dark background, these rhythmic works feature geometric shapes, words, letters, and numbers, calling to mind a classroom blackboard or a pupil’s notebook. With its swirling landscape of loops drawn in white crayon against a dark gray background, “Untitled” is hypnotic, entrancing the viewer with its formulaic loops.

When Christie's auctioned off Edgar Degas' “Danseuses” for nearly $11 million in 2009, the catalog noted that the masterpiece was being sold as part of a restitution agreement with the “heirs of Ludwig and Margret Kainer,” German Jews whose vast art collection was seized by the Nazis in the years leading up to World War II.

But now a dozen relatives of the Kainers are stepping forward to object. Not only did they fail to benefit from that sale, they say they were never even told about it, or any other auctions of works once owned by the couple, including pieces by Monet and Renoir.

In mid-september the German casino conglomerate Westspiel announced their plan to sell "Triple Elvis"(1963) and "Four Marlons" (1966) at Christie’s, New York in November. The paintings are expected to fetch over €100 million or £80 million. A petition has since been sent by twenty-six museum directors in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia to the regional government, demanding it prevent the auction of two works by Andy Warhol, reports "Die Welt."

In the petition, the directors claim that the sale “contravenes international conventions” whose ultimate goal is to “protect public cultural heritage.” They fear the sale could set a very dangerous precedent that could become a “controversial political issue with considerable ripple effect.”

After its Essl Collection sale on Monday kicked off the Frieze-week frenzy, Christie’s returned on Thursday night with its main event of the week.

Peter Doig’s first tropical painting led a carefully edited postwar and contemporary auction. The house tried to catch the prevailing mood favoring young artists—like the many being exhibited at this week’s fairs—and the German masters now on view in many of the British capital’s biggest galleries.

Still, the top lot was Doig’s “The Heart of Old San Juan,” dating from 1999, showing an emerald-green basketball court by the sea. The tranquil painting attracted some interest in the salesroom and sold for £4.56 million (about $7.26 million).