Displaying items by tag: Auction

The founders of New York’s Dia Art Foundation are suing the organization and Sotheby’s to stop the auctioning of artworks they say were donated with the intention of keeping them readily available to the public. Heiner Friedrich and his ex-wife, Fariha Friedrich, who started the foundation in 1974 with art historian Helen Winkler, filed the suit in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan on November 7, 2013.

The sale, which is scheduled to take place at Sotheby’s on November 13 and 14, includes contemporary artworks by Barnett Newman, Cy Twombly and John Chamberlain – all of which the plantiffs claim were donated or loaned to Dia in the 1970s and 1980. The Friedrichs said in their complaint, “Dia’s proposed auction of the subject works would remove the works from public access and viewing in direct contravention of Dia’s entire intent and purpose and of plaintiffs’ arrangements and understandings with Dia.”

The Friederichs started Dia to help artists bring “visionary projects” to fruition and to make them available to the public. Heiner Friederich has not served on the foundation’s board since 1985; Fariha remains a trustee emeritus. They have asked for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the sale.  

Steven A. Cohen, a hedge-fund manager and founder of SAC Capital Advisors, will sell works from him impressive art collection in New York later this month. The majority of the sales will be part of Sotheby’s contemporary art evening sale on November 13, but Christie’s will also sell a small portion, estimated to be worth less than $5 million.

The trove headed to Sotheby’s includes works by Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Cy Twombly and is estimated to be worth around $85 million. Highlights include Andy Warhol’s portrait of Elizabeth Taylor titled Liz #1 (Early Colored Liz); a 10-by-8-foot canvas by German artist Gerhardt Richter, which was shown by the Pace Gallery at Art Basel in 2012; and a bronze sculpture by Cy Twombly.

Cohen, an avid collector who is active in the market, is bringing this collection to auction after SAC was accused in a grand-jury indictment of encouraging insider trading. The company was told it would have to pay $1.8 billion and admit wrongdoing to resolve securities-fraud charges, including a previous penalty of approximately $600 million.

On November 6, Sotheby’s held an evening sale of Impressionist and modern art in New York, which realized a shocking $290 million. It was the auction house’s most successful sale behind a May 2012 auction, which included a version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream that sold for a record $120 million.

 The sale, which surpassed its low estimate of $212.9 million but fell short of its $307.9 million high estimate, included new world auction records for six artists. Highlights included Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tete mince (Grande tete de Diego), the evening’s top lot, which achieved $50 million; Pablo Picasso’s portrait of Marie-Therese Walter, Tete de feme, which garnered nearly $40 million, exceeding its high estimate of 30 million; and Claude Monet’s Impressionist masterpiece Glacons, effet blanc, which sailed past its high estimate of $14 million and sold for approximately $16 million.

Simon Shaw, head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art department, said, “Tonight’s results speak for themselves and today’s efficient marketplace – collectors have a remarkable understanding not only of quality, but also of value. The key is matching their discerning taste with the right combination of fresh material and responsible estimates, and we did that this evening.”

China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, purchased a painting by Pablo Picasso of his young children, for $28.2 million at Christie’s in New York on November 4, 2013. The work, which was part of the sale of art dealer Jan Krugier’s collection, was expected to sell for $9 million to $12 million. Jianlin acquired Claude et Paloma through Rebecca Wei, managing director of Christie’s Asia. He is the founder of Dalian Wanda Group, a Chinese conglomerate with activities in real estate development, tourism, hotels and more.  

Overall, the sale failed to reach its full potential, falling 34% below the low end of its presale estimate of $171.4 million. The two-part auction brought in $92.5 million and out of 155 lots, 29 failed to find buyers including works by Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Wassily Kandinsky, Gerhard Richter and Robert Rauschenberg.

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.

On January 25, 2014 Sotheby’s will hold the auction Visual Grace: Important American Folk Art from the Collection of Ralph O. Esmerian in New York. The sale includes over 200 works including watercolors, portraits, pottery, painted furniture, weathervanes, carvings, needlework, sculpture and scrimshaw. Together, the collection marks the most important assemblage of American folk art to ever appear at auction. The sale carries a pre-sale estimate of $6.4 million to $9.5 million.

Nancy Druckman, Head of Sotheby’s Folk Art Department, said, “Ralph Esmerian is known for his profound connoisseurship, discernment and passion for the best in American folk art. Each of the examples in the collection is distinguished by the highest quality in design, pattern, color, texture and form. A pervasive respect and understanding of the inspiration and expertise of the various makers is present in each of the pieces, as they represent both the traditions and inventiveness of American art.”

Highlights from the sale include a drawing of a man with a plough by outsider artist Bill Traylor, an important Federal paint decorated slant front desk attributed to Johannes Braun and a rare fireboard with a view of Boston Harbor from 1825-35.  

The Ralph Esmerian collection will be on view in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries during Americana Week in New York beginning January 18, 2014.  

An extremely rare Fabergé statuette recently discovered in an attic in Rhinebeck, NY sold for a record price of $5,980,000 on Saturday, October 26^th at Stair Galleries in Hudson. The work, which was estimated to garner $500,000 to $800,000, sold to a phone bidder. The last hardstone figure to appear at auction sold for $1.8 million in 2005 at Sotheby’s, New York.

 The work, which was believed to have been lost, is one of 50 sculptures in semiprecious stones and gold produced by the Fabergé workshop. The statuette was acquired by a collector from the dealer and industrialist Armand Hammer in the 1930s and re-emerged this summer complete with original receipts when a descendant’s estate was emptied. The work depicts Nikolai N. Pustynnikov, bodyguard to Empress Alexandra, the wife of Nikolai II, Russia’s last Tsar.

 Wartski, the famed London-based jewelers, who serves the Queen of England, purchased the piece. They specialize in Russian pieces, most notably Fabergé. It’s not clear if they were purchasing it for stock or a private client.

On November 2, 2013 Oprah Winfrey will auction the contents of her 23,000-square-foot mansion in Montecito, CA with the help of Beverly Hills-based Kaminski Auctions. Offerings include a marble-topped Louis XVI chest stamped by the maker “Boudin” (estimate: $30,000-$50,000), a set of Louis XV armchairs in hand embroidered yellow silk upholstery (estimate: $20,000-$40,000), and various works of fine art as well as English antiques and furnishings.    

Winfrey purchased the 42-acre estate in 2001 for $50 million and hired well-known designer Rose Tarlow to overhaul the house’s interior. All proceeds from the sale will benefit The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation College Fund. A public preview will be held from October 30 through November 1 at the grounds of the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club.  

Millions of dollars worth of art was sold in London last week thanks to the Frieze art fairs. Frieze Masters, which is in its second year and presents works created before 2000, included the sale of Pablo Picasso’s Femme assise au chapeau (Acquavella Galleries) for $7 million, an abstract painting by Willem de Kooning for $8 million and two Jean-Michel Basquiat works for a combined $9.3 million.

Frieze London, which features established contemporary artists as well as promising newcomers, saw fewer big-ticket items. As the event drew to a close, Gagosian Gallery, which presented five highly anticipated works by Jeff Koons, had no confirmed sales. A sculpture by Takashi Murakami being offered by Hauser & Wirth was also still available as the fair winded down.

Frieze week also includes a number of contemporary art auctions and a number of satellite events, which added to the week’s hefty art sales.

A monumental sculpture by the British artist Henry Moore will be offered at Christie’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on November 5, 2013 in New York. Reclining Figure, a bronze sculpture measuring over 11 feet, is estimated to sell for $6 million-$8 million. The work is being sold by a “Distinguished Collection,” where it has resided for 35 years.

Reclining Figure is one of the massive sculptures that dominated Moore’s later works and boasts the natural undulating silhouette that he is well-known for. Moore has fared increasingly well at auction in recent years and a world record for the artist was set at Christie’s London in 2012 when Reclining Figure: Festival, achieved over $30 million.

Brooke Lampley, Head of Department, Impressionist & Modern Art at Christie’s, said, “In this work, Moore expertly balanced the figurative and the abstract to captivating effect – the mere silhouette of a body is visible, overshadowed by its resplendent curves. Reclining Figure is an icon by one of the greatest of all Modern sculptors.”

The work will go on view outside at Christie’s plaza in Rockefeller Center a few weeks prior to the sale.

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.”