Displaying items by tag: Christie's

On May 13, Christie’s will offer a rare painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat during its Evening Auction of Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York. The work, which has resided in the same private collection since it was acquired from Annina Nosei’s SoHo gallery in 1982, is expected to fetch between $20 million and $30 million.

Basquiat’s graffiti-inspired Neo-expressionist and Primitivist paintings are highly sought after by collectors and remain influential in the realm of contemporary art. “Untitled,” which was created in 1981, the year that Basquiat transitioned from the underground art scene to international stardom, is frenetic, bold, and colorful -- characteristics that define the artist’s style. Brimming with gestural lines, broad strokes, and flat expanses of color, the work also exemplifies Basquiat’s technique during this period.

“Untitled” ranks among Basquiat’s largest canvases and has not been seen publicly until now. The work is being offered by the heirs of the painting’s original owner, Anita Reiner.

Edward Dolman, the former Chief Executive and Chairman of Christie’s, has announced that he will leave his current post as Executive Director and Acting Chief Executive of the Qatar Museums Authority. Dolman will return to the auction world in July when he assumes the role of Chairman and Chief Executive of Phillips.

During his three-year tenure with the Qatar Museums Authority, Dolman oversaw the construction and opening of several new museums. He also presided over the state’s collections, spearheaded new acquisitions, and organized exhibitions.

Phillips, which sells contemporary art, design, photography, limited edition prints, and jewelry, was founded in 1796 by former Christie’s employee Harry Phillips. The auction house is currently owned by the Russian luxury goods company, the Mercury Group.

Christie’s announced that it will offer Andy Warhol’s “White Marilyn” at auction in New York on May 13. The work, which was created in 1962 shortly after Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death, is regarded as one of the finest examples from Warhol’s seminal Death and Disasters series. It was also one of the Pop artist’s first silkscreens, which soon became his medium of choice.

“White Marilyn” carries a pre-sale estimate of $12 million-$18 million. The iconic portrait was one of eight Marilyn silkscreens selected for Warhol’s first one-man show at Eleanor Ward’s renowned Stable Gallery in New York, and was once part of the gallery owner’s personal collection.

Laura Paulson, Christie’s Chairman and International Director for Post-War and Contemporary Art, said, “We are extremely proud to present White Marilyn, one of the nucleuses of Warhol's first ever and most significant solo exhibition organized by Eleanor Ward for the Stable Gallery in 1962. With his unique ability to fuse painting and photography into an unforgettably iconic image, Warhol condensed all the themes of his art in this magnificent ‘White Marilyn’ which keeps one such icon alive and forever in style. Compared to the perfectly coiffed media propagated publicity images of the actress, in ‘White Marilyn’ she appears touched by humanity, and transcends reality to become a modern Saint. Warhol dedicated this work to Ward and expressed his gratitude scattering hearts on the reverse of the painting.”

In November 2013, Warhol’s “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)," another silkscreen from his Death and Disaster series, realized $105.4 million at Sotheby’s -- a record for the artist at auction.

After opening the James Christie Room at Hong Kong’s Alexandra House in February, Christie’s has launched a new art space at the Imperial Club in Beijing. This is the auction house’s first art space in mainland China and it will serve as a multi-purpose platform for collectors and art enthusiasts. Christie’s will  use the space for exhibitions, lectures, art programs, and private shows. The auction house has similar facilities in London, Paris, and New York. 

Steven P. Murphy, the Chief Executive Officer at Christie’s, said, “We share the vision with China of developing art and culture, and look forward to contributing to the growing vibrant art scenes in Beijing. The opening of our first art space in Mainland China is part of our dedication to building exhibition spaces like this around the world. We look forward to welcoming more Chinese collectors and friends on a regular basis.”

An exhibition of nine works from the Feng Wen Tang Collection of Paintings by Qi Baishi is currently on view at the new space. The show will run through April 19.

The German power company EON SE announced that it will sell Jackson Pollock’s “Number 5 (Elegant Lady)” on May 13 at Christie’s in New York. The work, which was painted by the Abstract Expressionist master in 1951, is expected to fetch between $15 million and $20 million. Proceeds from the sale will support EON’s art and culture spending for the next few years. The company currently owns around 1,800 artworks and boasts one of the most important corporate art collections in the world.

The Pollock painting was acquired by EON’s predecessor company, Veba AG, from the German art dealer Alfred Schmela. Schmela had purchased the work from New York’s Knoedler Gallery in the 1970s. The work has hung in the Museum Kunstpalast next to EON’s headquarters in Dusseldorf since 2001. EON, which became Germany’s largest utility provider in 2000, has been forced to cut costs as renewable power sources have gained popularity, significantly lowering the company’s profits.

Before its sale in New York in May,  “Number 5 (Elegant Lady)” will be exhibited in Hong Kong and London.

Christie’s announced that it will sell the late billionaire philanthropist Edgar M. Bronfman Sr.’s substantial art collection, which includes works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Egon Schiele, Milton Avery, and Henri Matisse. A selection of works from the collection will be offered during the auction house’s Impressionist and modern art evening sale in New York on May 6. The remaining 230 items, including decorative objects, jewelry, and antiquities, will be sold this year during sales in London, Hong Kong, and New York. Bronfman’s collection is expected to fetch more than $34 million. 

Highlights from the collection include Picasso’s “Mangeuse de Pasteque et Homme Ecrivant,” which is expected to bring $7 million to $10 million; a seascape by Matisse titled “Femme Aupres de la Fenetre,” which is estimated to fetch between $3 million and $5 million; and Monet’s “L’Escalier,” which is expect to garner between $1.5 million and $2.5 million. Most of the works being offered at Christie’s once hung in Bronfman’s Manhattan penthouse, which is on the market for $65 million.

Bronfman, who passed away in December, helmed the Seagram Company for 23 years before retiring in 1994. He also led the World Jewish Congress and helped establish it as the world’s preeminent Jewish organization.

The St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, will sell a number of works from its extensive fine art collection, including five portraits by Thomas Eakins. Eakins, a realist who lived and worked in Philadelphia, is widely considered one of the most important American artists in history.

Christie’s will facilitate a private consignment sale of the works, which mostly feature past faculty members and have been in the seminary’s possession for around 80 years.  A sixth Eakins painting, which was loaned to the seminary by the American Catholic Historical Society, will also be put up for consignment. In addition, the seminary is consigning a painting by the American Impressionist Colin Campbell Cooper as well as a work by the expressionist painter Alice Neel. Bonhams and Sotheby’s will broker those sales respectively. 

Before deciding to sell the works, the seminary had a committee of arts specialists and seminary alumni and administrators conduct a year-long study. The seminary looked into partnering with local museums and historical societies, hoping that one would offer to acquire the paintings, but none of the organizations voiced interest.

Proceeds from the sales will help fund a major renovation of St. Charles’ Main Line campus, which will include making the seminary smaller and renovating its existing facilities.

Major auction houses are voicing opposition to a new bill called the American Royalties Too Act, which would grant visual artists (or their estates) a portion of the profits when their work is resold at public auction. The bill was introduced last month in the House by Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York, and in the Senate by Democrats Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

In December 2013, the United States Copyright Office re-examined its policy concerning visual artists and resale royalties. Last time the issue was explored, which was in 1992, the Office decided that artists should not receive a share of the profits when their works are resold. However, after more than a decade, the Copyright Office reversed its decision and stated that resale royalties should be awarded to visual artists, including painters, illustrators, sculptors, and photographers.

Lawyers for Sotheby’s visited lawmakers on Capitol Hill this month, asking Congress to shoot down the bill. They are joined in the fight by Christie’s, who have hired David Israelite, a royalty battle veteran and the CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association. The auction houses consider the bill an added cost that will increase the price of doing business, which could lead to more sellers making deals through private transactions rather than public auctions. They are also arguing that the royalties would solely benefit the most successful artists and estates as they are the ones whose work is most often sold in the secondary market. Galleries and dealers are not included in the proposed bill.

Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, will decide whether to schedule hearings on the bill.

According to a report released on December 13 by the United States Copyright Office, in the past two decades, over 70 countries have changed their policies concerning resale royalties to better serve visual artists.  

Two sisters of the late, New York City-based modern artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, filed a $1 million lawsuit against Christie’s in Manhattan’s Federal District Court on Tuesday, March 4. Basquiat’s siblings claim that the auction house tried to sell possible fakes and falsely suggested that a number of the works had been authenticated by the estate.

The works in question are being offered by Alexis Adler, Basquiat’s former girlfriend and roommate, and include poems written on scrap paper, painted clothing, a sketchbook, prints, and collages. The suit states that six of the more than three dozen items being offered were authenticated by the estate in 2007, but one was rejected because the committee did not consider it a work of art. The other objects were never submitted for the authentication committee’s approval. The lawsuit states that despite bypassing the committee, Christie’s included a notice in the auction catalog that the works being offered had been copyrighted by the estate. Basquiat’s sisters are seeking a court order barring the auction house from using the estate’s name in the sale.

The Basquiat auction, which is being held online and at the auction house, began on Monday, March 2 and will run through Monday, March 17.

Basquiat, who rose to fame in the 1980s, died of a drug overdose in 1988. His graffiti-inspired Neo-expressionist and Primitivist paintings remain highly influential in the realm of contemporary art.

For the first time in over a century, Francesco Guardi’s “Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace” will be offered at auction. The painting, which was created during the height of Guardi’s career, will be sold during Christie’s Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale in London on July 8, 2014. The work carries a presale estimate of $13 million to $16.5 million.

Guardi, who was born into a family of Venetian painters, is best known for his views of the city, which were especially popular with British tourists visiting Italy. “Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace” highlights the Doge’s Palace, one of the city’s most notable landmarks. Built during the 14th century, the Venetian Gothic palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the city’s supreme authority.

“Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace” was once part of the collection of The Earls of Shaftesbury and was later acquired by France’s Baron James-Edouard de Rothschild. The painting was then passed down to Rothschild’s daughter, Jeanne-Sophie-Henriette, Baronne Leonino, and then to her brother, Baron Henri-James-Charles-Nathan de Rothschild, who passed the work down to its present owners.

Prior to the sale, “Venice, the Bacino di San Marco with the Piazzetta and the Doge’s Palace,” which has not been seen in public since 1954, will embark on a global tour. The painting will go on view at Christie’s in Paris (March 3-4, 2014) and will continue on to Moscow (April 12-13, 2014), New York (May 2-6, 2014), Hong Kong (May 22-26, 2014), and then back to London where it will be exhibited from July 5, 2014 through July 8, 2014.