Displaying items by tag: Auction

S.C. Johnson & Son, a global manufacturer of household cleaning supplies and other consumer chemicals, has filed a lawsuit against Sotheby’s. The lawsuit concerns a rare desk and chair from the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed S.C. Johnson & Son Administration Building in Racine, Wisconsin. The furniture, which was slated to be the highlight of the auction house’s upcoming 20th century design sale on December 18, exemplifies American Modernism.

According to a complaint filed in a New York federal court, S.C. Johnson claims that that the desk and chair are stolen goods. While the company does loan furniture and objects designed by Wright to museums, selling works is against their policy. The company’s statement went on to say that the removal of the desk and chair from the Administration Building was not authorized.

The sale’s catalogue lists the provenance of the desk as having been acquired by the chemist Elerslie E. Luther from S.C. Johnson during the early 1950s. The desk was alleged passed on by descent until it reached the current owner who acquired it from Jeffrey V. Luther. However, there is no evidence of a connection between Luther and S.C. Johnson in the company’s records. Similarly, the catalogue lists the chair as having been gifted by Samuel C. Johnson to a private collector in 1972. However, the bequest in inconsistent with S.C. Johnson’s records. 

The desk is estimated to sell for $400,000 to $600,000 while the chair is expected to net $80,000 to $120,000.

A portrait by Jean-Honoré Fragonard of a French general fetched nearly $30 million, a world record price for the artist, at an auction held on December 5 at Bonhams in London. The works offered were provided by Unicef Germany and had been a part of what was once one of Europe’s largest private art collections. The entire sale garnered $31 million for the charity.

The works belonged to Dr. Gustav Rau, a German philanthropist and doctor who donated his collection to Unicef in 2001. For over a decade the collection has been embroiled in legal battles as some believe that Rau, who died in 2002, was not mentally fit during the time of the transaction. While the most recent court case deemed the transfer legitimate, Swiss authorities are currently reviewing the deal after a complaint was filed by the council in the district of Bülach, where the collection was once stored.

Unicef expects to net $161 million this year thanks to a series of sales from Rau’s collection.   

It is being rumored that Alice Walton, the Walmart heiress and founder of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AK, purchased Andy Warhol’s Coca-Cola (3) from Christie’s in November. The painting sold for $57.2 million during the auction house’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale. The price is more than Walton has been known to have ever spent at an auction.

The work is one of only four paintings of a single Coca-Cola bottle made by the Pop artist between 1961 and 1962. Coca-Cola (3) was being offered by New York art dealer Jose Mugrabi and was expected to garner between $40 million and $60 million.

A representative for Walton would neither confirm nor deny the purchase.  

Sotheby’s American Art auction, which concluded on December 4 in New York, garnered $83.9 million, far exceeding its high estimate of $62.1 million. The sale was highlighted by a collection of seven paintings by Norman Rockwell from the family of Kenneth J. Stuart Jr. -- the artist’s longtime friend and art editor at the Saturday Evening Post. 

While the entire Stuart collection sold for $59.7 million, the group was led by Saying Grace, which sold for $46 million -- the highest price ever paid for a work sold in an American art auction. The painting was estimated to bring $20 million.

Edward Hopper led Christie's American art sale, which wrapped up on December 5, with his painting East Wind Over Weehawken. The work, which depicts a desolate street corner in Depression-era Weehawken, NJ, sold for $40.5 million -- a record for the artist at auction. The overall sale netted $76.8 million, which is the highest sale total ever for the category at Christie's.  

On Sunday, December 1, Sotheby’s wrapped up Beijing Art Week, a series of sales that marked the company’s first commercial auction in mainland China. The auction house offered $212 million worth of western and Chinese art, jewelry and furniture in three private sales and an auction.

During the Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art auction on Sunday night, a record was set for Chinese-French artist Zao Wou-Ki. the artist’s 1958 oil-on-canvas abstract work, which was sold by the Art Institute of Chicago, brought $14.7 million. Wou-Ki’s previous record was set on October 5 during a sale at Sotheby’s Hong Kong when a work sold for $11 million.

China is home to the fastest growing art market and the success of the Beijing sales indicates that there are active buyers on the mainland.

On November 13, Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York realized an impressive $380,642,000 – the highest price achieved for any sale session in the auction house’s history. The 61-lot auction carried an estimate of $280.7 million to $394.1 million and saw records set for seven artists including Andy Warhol.

Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), the last of four in a series of the artist’s paintings depicting car crashes, sold for $105.4 million, shattering Warhol’s auction record of $71.7 million. The work, which is believed to have come from a private Swiss collection, has belonged to a number of important collectors including Bruno Bischofberger, Gian Enzo Sperone, the Saatchi Collection and Thomas Ammann.

Other highlights from the auction included Gerhard Richter’s large-scale A.B. Courbet, which sold to a telephone bidder for $26.5 million; Cy Twombly’s 24-piece Poems of the Sea, which garnered $21.7 million; Willem de Kooning’s Abstract Expressionist canvas Untitled V, which realized $24.8 million; and Barnett Newman’s abstract By Twos, which sold to dealer David Zwirner for $20.6 million.

An exceptional and rare orange diamond, the largest known gem of its kind, sold for a record $31.5 million on November 12 at Christie’s in Geneva. The gemstone, which was found in South Africa and weighs in at 14.82 carats, was deemed “fancy vivid,” the top rating for colored diamonds, by the Gemological Institute of America.

Very few pure orange diamonds, or “fire diamonds,” have appeared at auction, with the largest never more than six carats. David Warren, Christie’s international jewelry director, said “To have one that’s over 14 carats is exceptional.” The gem was expected to achieve between $17 million and $20 million.

Sales will continue this week at Sotheby’s when the auction house offers “The Pink Star,” a flawless 59.60-carat vivid pink diamond in Geneva. The stone carries an estimate of $60 million.

On November 12, Christie’s Evening Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York achieved an unprecedented $691,583,000 – the highest total for any auction in art market history. The top lot was Francis Bacon’s triptych, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which garnered $142,405,000, a world record for any artwork ever sold at auction.

The highly anticipated painting, which was was expected to sell for $85 million to $95 million, portrays Lucien Freud, Bacon’s friend and fellow artist. Executed in 1969, the work is one of Bacon’s most important paintings and unites two of the most significant figurative artists of the 20^th century.

The sale set ten new world auction record prices for Bacon, Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool, Lucio Fontana, Donald Judd, Wade Guyton, Vija Celmins, Ad Reinhardt, Willem de Kooning and Wayne Thiebaud. Three works sold for over $50 million, 16 went for above $10 million, and 56 works exceeded $1 million. In addition, Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog (Orange) achieved $58,405,000, a new world auction record for a living artist and the most expensive contemporary sculpture ever sold.

Brett Gorvy, Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s, said, “We are thrilled to announce an historic total of $691.6 million for this evening’s sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art. It is the second time this year that Christie’s has broken the highest total in auction history. Collectors from 42 countries registered tonight with strong bidding from American, European and Asian collectors but also from institutions. The sale was heavily focused on icons and masterworks, achieving an astonishing 10 record prices and breaking the record for any work of art ever sold at auction. Beyond the records, 10,000 art lovers flocked to Christie’s galleries in the last week to engage with and enjoy the remarkable selection of artworks on display.”

New York’s Contemporary art sales kicked off on Monday, November 11 at Phillips. The sale, which featured 40 lots, garnered over $68 million and sold 88% by lot and 84% by value. The top lot was Roy Lichtenstein’s Woman with Peanuts, which sold for $10.8 million, just past its low estimate of $10 million. Other highlights from the sale included Andy Warhol’s Nine Gold Marilyns (Reversal Series), which realized $$9.1 million and Jeff Koons’ Buster Keaton, which sold for $4.4 million. There were a number of records set for popular contemporary artists including Nate Lowman, Lucien Smith and Jacob Kassay.

Sales will continue on November 12 and November 13 at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

Christie’s Geneva held a three-session auction of important watches on November 10^th and 11^th that realized an unprecedented combined total of $43,985,467 million – the highest result for a series of watch sales ever held. Rolex Daytona “Lesson One,” a unique single-themed auction featuring 50 exceptional luxury wristwatches garnered $13,248,167 million and the various-owner Important Watches sale totaled $30,737,300 million. The top lot of the week was a 1957 Patek Philippe ref. 2499-second series in pink gold, which sold for $2,160,474.

Aurel Bacs, International Head of Christie’s Watch Department, said, “On November 10 and 11, Christie’s dispersed over 370 fine watches in an historical ten-hour auction marathon, which set a new record total for any series of watch sales. We exhibited highlights in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, New York, Paris, Dubai and in all locations we noticed an ever-growing appetite for high quality collector’s watches. This trend was demonstrated by a fiercer-than-ever competition generated by both experienced and new international bidders, in the room, on the telephone and online.”

The sale set 50 world records for 50 watches as well as a record price for any Rolex Daytona ever sold at auction.