Displaying items by tag: Christie's

A triptych of Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon could sell for over $95 million at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale on November 12, 2013. Three Studies of Lucian Freud from 1969 carries an estimate of $85 million at hammer price but fees would be added to that amount.

The painting of Bacon’s painter friend is being offered by an unidentified European seller and has never appeared on the auction market before. The work was included in the seminal Bacon retrospective organized by Paris’ Grand Palais in 1971-72.

Three Studies of Lucian Freud will be on view at Christie’s King Street during Frieze Art Week from October 13-18, 2013 before heading to the auction in New York in November. Francis Outred, head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe, said, “We are honored to announce the sale of an undeniable icon of twentieth century art. A conversation between two masters of 20^th century figurative painting, Francis Bacon’s triptych, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, executed in 1969 is a true masterpiece that marks Bacon and Freud’s relationship, paying tribute to the creative and emotional kinship between the two artists.”

A painting by Willem de Kooning from a rare and celebrated series will head to Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale on November 13, 2013 in New York. Executed in 1975, Untitled V is the prime example from the critical phase when de Kooning returned to painting after a period of sculpture-driven work. The painting has not been seen in public since 1980 and will go on view in London on October 12, 2013 before appearing in New York on October 31, 2013. Untitled V is expected to fetch anywhere from $25 million to $35 million.

The original series that Untitled V was a part of was created in six months exhibited at the Fourcade, Droll gallery in New York. The paintings stunned audiences with their explosive color palettes and wide variety of masterful brushstrokes. Tobias Meyer, Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s, said, “The unveiling of Untitled V and the other Fourcade gallery exhibition paintings in the autumn of 1975 marked the renaissance of Willem de Kooning. Today, the force of the work is as powerful and affecting as it was forty years ago.”

The auction record for any de Kooning works was set at Christie’s New York in 2006 when Untitled XXV (1977) sold for $27.1 million. The painting also set the record for the highest price paid for a Post-War work at the time.

A “flawless” white diamond the size of a small egg sold for $30.6 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on October 7, setting the world record for a white diamond at auction. The previous auction record was set in May when a white diamond sold at Christie’s in Geneva for $26.7 million.

Mined two years ago in Africa, the 118-carat oval white diamond was the object of two phone bidders’ pleas. After six minutes, one of the bidders dropped out. The stone was estimated to sell for between $28 million and $35 million. The 330-lot auction, which netted $95 million in total, also included a 7.6-carat flawless, round, vivid blue diamond, which carried an estimate of $19 million. Unfortunately, that gem failed to find a buyer.

The world record for a jewel at auction was set in 2010 when London jeweler Laurence Graff paid $46 million for a 24.8-carat “fancy intense pink” diamond. The record could be shattered in November when Sotheby’s is slated to offer a 59.60-carat pink diamond that is expected to sell for over $60 million in Geneva.

Two monumental works by Andy Warhol could garner over $120 million when they head to auction this fall. Silver Car Crash (Double Distaster), a 8 x 13 foot silkscreen from the artist’s Death and Disaster series, will be offered during Sotheby’s contemporary art sale on November 13 and Coca-Cola (3), one of Warhol’s most famous pop art paintings, will be sold during Christie’s post-war and contemporary auction on November 12.

Silver Car Crash, which has only been seen in public once in the last 26 years, is expected to bring around $60 million while Warhol’s black-and-white portrait of a coca cola bottle will likely sell for $40-$60 million. Silver Car Crash has been in the same private collection since 1988 and will go on display at Sotheby’s London on October 12 and in New York on November 1.

A highly influential artist who continues to command high selling prices, Warhol’s works fetched $329 million at auction last year.

Christie’s held its first auction in Mainland China on Thursday, September 26, 2013. The sale included 39 paintings, sculpture, jewelry, watches and wine and garnered $24.9 million. A ruby and diamond necklace, which sold for $2.9 million was the top lot but failed to reach its high estimate of $4.6 million.

The modest sale marked the first time that an international auction house has been allowed to independently hold an auction in China. Christie’s received its license to conduct auctions in China in April and agreed not to sell any “cultural relics” dated before 1949 when the Communist Party took power.

China’s art market continues to grow at a rapid pace, making it an ideal location for international auction houses. The sale of art and antiques in China garnered $13.7 billion in 2012, making it the second largest market in the world behind the United States. The country’s strong buyer base has been active in Christie’s global auction centers in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Paris. In fact, the number of clients from Mainland China bidding at Christie’s international auctions has doubled since 2008. Christie’s presence in Shanghai will allow the auction house to sell directly to China’s growing number of wealthy buyers.  

China’s auction market is currently dominated by the country’s own Beijing Poly International and China Guardian. Sotheby’s joined forces with the state-owned Beijing GeHua Cultural Development Group last year to hold auctions in China. Sotheby’s own 80% of its venture with Beijing Gehua.

Christie’s Geneva will offer the jewelry collection of Hélène Rochas, wife and muse of the late fashion designer Marcel Rochas, on November 12, 2013 as part of its Magnificent Jewels auction. The 18-piece collection includes a ruby brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels (estimate: $190,000-$255,000), a rare leaping tiger brooch by Rene Boivin (estimate: $190,000-$255,000) and a pink topaz, aquamarine and diamond bangle by Verdura (estimate: $127,000-$190,000).

Rochas, who passed away in 2011, also maintained an impressive art collection that included works by Edouard Vuillard, Wassily Kandinsky and four portraits of herself by Andy Warhol. In 2012, Christie’s Paris organized a sale of her art holdings, which ended up breaking four world records.

Besides Rochas’ collection, the jewelry sale will include pieces once belonging to Bolivian tycoon Simón Iturri Patiño. Highlights include an emerald and diamond necklace by Cartier London (estimate: $7 million-$10 million) and a cushion-shaped F-color diamond ring of 32.65 carats by Chaumet (estimate: $2.2 million-$2.8 million).

Christie’s will sell a number of pieces from the collection of Jan Krugier, an art dealer who sold works for Pablo Picasso’s family. The sale will include over 150 lots and is expected to garner at least $170 million. The sale, A Dialogue Through Art: Works from the Jan Krugier Collection, will take place on November 4-5, 2013 at the auction house’s New York location.

Krugier, who died in 2008, was one of the leading dealers in premier 20^th century art for four decades. He operated galleries in Geneva and New York and exhibited at highly anticipated art fairs including Art Basel in Switzerland and TEFAF Masstricht in the Netherlands. Krugier’s Manhattan gallery closed in 2010 and his company no longer participates in fairs.

A Dialogue Through Art will present 30 works by Picasso including a maquette for the 65-foot sculpture Tete, which is located in Chicago. The work is expected to sell for $25 million to $35 million and is the most valuable piece in the sale. Other highlights include a bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti made for the Venice Biennale, which is expected to sell for $9 million to $12 million; a Fauvist period landscape by Wassily Kandinsky, which carries a $20 million to $25 million estimate; and a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which is expected to sell for $3 million to $4 million.

A selection of works from the upcoming sale will be on view at Christie’s headquarters in London through September 19, 2013.

The National Gallery in London will send Edouard Manet’s The Execution of Maximilian on a tour of the UK. The painting will be the first work to embark on the three-year Masterpiece Tour, which is part of the National Gallery’s commitment to promote the understanding, knowledge and appreciation of Old Master paintings. In 2015, Canaletto’s A Regatta on the Grand Canal will join the Masterpiece Tour, followed by Rembrandt’s Self Portrait at the Age of 63 in 2016. Christie’s auction house is supporting the museum’s effort.  

The Execution of Maximilian depicts the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian being executed alongside two of his generals. Mexican forces captured Maximilian, who was installed in Mexico as a puppet emperor by Napoleon III, when Napoleon withdrew his French troops, who were occupying Mexico. After its completion in 1868, the painting was cut into smaller pieces, some of which were sold individually. Degas eventually purchased all of the surviving fragments and reassembled them on a single canvas.

The Execution of Maximilian will travel to The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge (January 17-March 16, 2014), The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle (March 22-May 18, 2014) and the Mead Gallery at the University of Warwick (September 27-December 6, 2014).

Jeff Koons’ coveted sculpture Balloon Dog (Orange) will be part of Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale on November 12, 2013 in New York. The avid art collector and paper magnate, Peter Brant, is selling the 10-foot-high sculpture, which is one of the most recognizable pieces of 20th century art. The funds from the sale will be used to create an endowment for the Brant Foundation Art Study Center, which is located in Greenwich, CT and presents two annual exhibitions drawn from Brant’s illustrious collection of contemporary art.

Balloon Dog carries a pre-sale estimate of $35 million to $55 million and is one in a series of five sculptures created in the early 1990s. The other sculptures reside in the collections of renowned collectors Steven A. Cohen, Eli Broad, Francois Pinault and Dakis Joannou.

Brant will hang on to his other works by Koons including a 43-foot-tall terrier made from over 70,000 flowering plants titled Puppy.

Christie’s announced that its Buyer’s Premium will be an amount equal to 25% of the hammer price of each lot up to and including $100,000; 20% of the hammer price from $100,001 up to and including $2,000,000; and 12% of any sales above $2,000,001. Christie’s previously charged 25% of the hammer price up to and including $75,000; 20% on the amount from $75,001 to $1.5 million; and 12% on anything exceeding $1.5 million.

This is the second time that Christie’s has adjusted its Buyer’s Premium, a fee charged to buyers at auction, this year. Prior to the initial change, which went into effect on March 11, 2013, Christie’s Buyer’s Premium had been unchanged since 2008.