Displaying items by tag: Sotheby's

A painting by Artemisia Gentileschi achieved €865,000 ($1,179,832) at Sotheby’s in Paris, nearly three times its presale estimate of €200,000–300,000 ($272,000–$408,000), reports Art Daily. The price sets a new world record price for the 17th-century Baroque artist.

The work existence was until recently only documented in an old black and white photograph from the archives of an Italian dealer (see artnet News report). It’s believed the consignor’s family acquired the painting from that dealer at the beginning of the 20th century.

Christie’s failed to sell 33 percent of the artworks offered in its Impressionist and modern art evening sale in London as collectors rebelled against aggressive estimates and subpar quality.

Yesterday’s tally of 85.8 million pounds ($145.7 million) was about 30 percent lower than rival Sotheby’s (BID) sale the night before. Of the 60 lots offered, 20 failed to find buyers, including works by Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian and Alberto Giacometti.

“There was a big difference in quality between the two sales,” said London-based art dealer Pilar Ordovas. “There were many works which would have been better suited for a day sale.”

An iconic painting of water lilies by Claude Monet helped Sotheby’s (BID) sell 122 million pounds ($208 million) of Impressionist and modern art in London.

Yesterday evening’s tally represented a 15 percent increase from a year ago and was Sotheby’s third highest result for the category in London. Of the 46 lots offered only four failed to find buyers as Russian, Asian and American collectors competed for works by Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky. The sale also benefited from the presence of several estates, including that of Jan Krugier, a prominent art dealer who died in 2008.

The only surviving example of a legendary stamp that sold for one cent in 1856 has gone under the hammer for $9.5m (£5.6m), setting a new record for the most expensive stamp sold at auction and the most valuable object by weight and size.

Sotheby's sale of the British Guiana one-cent magenta postage stamp reinforces its reputation as the world's most famous and valuable.

Recently owned by an American millionaire who died four years ago in a prison cell, the stamp was one of an emergency printing of several denominations by the local Official Gazette newspaper in British Guiana in 1856, when storms delayed a shipment from the UK and the postmaster was in danger of entirely running out of stamps.

Sotheby’s London is offering as a highlight of the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on Monday 23rd June 2014 Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (Water Lilies) of 1906, estimated at £20-30 million/ $33-50 million. Instantly recognisable and revered the world over, Claude Monet’s Nymphéas are among the most iconic and celebrated paintings of turn of the century. The profound impact the series has made on the evolution of modern art marks them out as Monet’s greatest achievement.

This painting was selected by the artist to be exhibited at his seminal exhibition held at the Galerie Durand- Ruel, Paris, in 1909 to unveil his Water Lily paintings in a show dedicated purely to this subject. It had also been singled out and acquired by Paul Durand-Ruel - the legendary art dealer who championed the Impressionists and represented Monet, among many other of the greatest artists of his time – and it remained in his personal collection throughout his lifetime. The painting has since been widely exhibited at some of the world’s most prestigious international museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, and since 2011 has been on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It is this painting, together with the others in this series, that eventually led to Monet’s Les Grandes décorations which were painted between 1914-26, now in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.

After being hidden away for 80 years and known only in a black-and-white photograph, Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Mary Magdalene In Ecstasy” has been uncovered in a collection in the south of France and will be up for grabs at Sotheby’s Paris on June 26. The painting is estimated at €200,000 to 300,000 (approx. $278,400 to 417,600). Best known for her monumental work “Judith Slaying Holofernes,” the badass Baroque artist managed to make a name for herself in early 17th century Rome despite her gender.

Sotheby’s London today announces that the collection of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., visionary founder of the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise, who died earlier this year, will lead Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art in London on 23 June 2014. The group of four works, highlighted by two exquisite paintings by Claude Monet that represent the pinnacle of the Impressionist movement, was assembled by Mr Wilson with a remarkable vision over two decades ago. American Football as it is known today would not exist if it weren’t for Mr Ralph Wilson, but while he was best known as the longtime owner of the Buffalo Bills, privately he was a passionate collector of the highest order. Seeking out the finest examples of key artists of the Impressionist era, Wilson pursued great works of art and in the 1990s acquired these four canvases by the towering figures of the period.

Helena Newman, Sotheby’s Co-Head, Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide comments: “We have seen how much appetite there is for works of true museum quality so we anticipate that these two extremely desirable works by Monet will appeal to buyers across the world. Outstanding paintings by Monet are more desirable now than ever before and these two works, each from a pinnacle of the artist’s career in two different decades, are both wonderful examples of why Monet has such an enduring appeal.”

Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (on light ground) by Francis Bacon is to go under the hammer in Sotheby's Evening sale of Contemporary Art in London . The painting depicts the man who was the love of Bacon’s life at the moment when they were most deeply involved, this exceptionally rare lifetime depiction of Dyer is full of the painterly exuberance that marks out Bacon as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. An outstanding example of Bacon at the height of his powers, this museum- quality work is also of critical importance because it is, in all likelihood, the first painting for which Bacon used the legendary photographs by his friend John Deakin as source material for a painting. An outstanding example of Bacon at the height of his powers, this exceptional work has only rarely been seen in public. Having remained in the same collection since 1970, it now comes to auction for the first time ever with an estimate of £15-20 million.

Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Senior International Specialist in Contemporary Art, said: “Painted less than a year after their first encounter, Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer marks both the height of Bacon’s affair with Dyer and the zenith of his achievement in portraiture. Full of the painterliness, chaotic brushstrokes and raw emotion that make Bacon such a giant among artists, we expect it to create great excitement at auction, coming at a moment when the market for works by Bacon is at an all-time high.”

Over the course of 30 years, Barbara Piasecka Johnson (1937-2013) – art connoisseur, philanthropist and wife of the late John Seward Johnson, co-founder of the Johnson and Johnson medical and pharmaceutical firm - assembled one of the most remarkable collections of Old Master paintings, drawings and works of art in recent times. On 9 July 2014, Sotheby’s London Evening sale of Old Master and British Paintings will present a group of nine Renaissance and Baroque masterworks from her Estate, led by three remarkably rare Florentine drawings, including the only Botticelli drawing to appear on the market in a century (est. £1-1.5 million).

The proceeds of the sale, expected to fetch over £8.6 million, are to benefit the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation, the primary focus of which is helping children with autism.