Die Helfer by Neo Rauch sells for $980,378
Posted on Mar 7 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
The oil painting by Neo Rauch titled “Die Helfer” sold during Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction on February 12 for £623,650 ($980,378), over 2 times the pre-auction estimate.
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L’amore del mondo by Giorgio De Chirico sold for $902,500
Posted on Nov 10 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
On the same note as our previous post and because Christie’s and Sotheby’s like to have similar auctions at the same time, here is a pick from Christie’s recent “Impressionist Modern Sale” auction event on Nov 4 in New York
“L’amore del mondo” by Giorgio De Chirico – sold for $902,500
From the lot description:
“L’amore del mondo of 1960 is a reworking of an earlier painting entitled Le mauvais génie d’un roi of 1914-1915 and now in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Depicting almost identical scenes in which the details are executed skillfully and painstakingly, this work differs only from the earlier version in that de Chirico has introduced a mannequin, known as the troubadour, behind the vertical board which divides the composition asymmetrically, thought to be “originally inspired by a play written by de Chirico’s brother in which the main protagonist is a ‘man without voice, without eyes or face’” (On Classic Ground, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1990, p. 81). The troubadour was an important hallmark and recurring motif in his more carefully gauged and meditated compositions of later years. “Hiding” behind the board, the troubadour; “…is afraid of feeling in his back or his side the piercing arrow of a glance, even a benevolent one” (de Chirico quoted in de Chrico by de Chirico, exh. cat., The New York Cultural Centre, New York, 1972).L’amore del mondo is one of the great paintings in a series of “metaphysical” works where importance is given to the reallocation of reality and where the still life vocabulary is usually fantastic and based on intuition. De Chirico aimed to take commonplace objects and buildings out of their natural environment with the idea of suggesting a counter reality which would communicate with the subconscious mind. “The artist likes what reminds him of certain visions that he has in his mind and in his instincts, and which are his secret world that nobody can take away from him” (de Chirico quoted in op. cit.).
Underlying de Chirico’s philosophy of the metaphysical still-lifes was the writings of Nietzsche. In his complete works he writes: “Art is above all and first of all meant to embellish life, to make us to ourselves endurable… Hence art must conceal or transfigure everything that is ugly… A man who feels with himself a surplus of such powers of embellishment, concealment and transfiguration will finally seek to unburden himself of this surplus in works of art” (F. Nietzsche, Human, “All-Too-Human,” Part Two,” in Dr. O. Levy, ed., The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche, New York, 1911, pp. 91-92).”
Cavaliere by Marino Marini sold for $1,082,500
Posted on Nov 10 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
Marino Marini’s sculpture titled Cavaliere was sold for $1,082,500 at Sotheby’s Impressions & Modern Art Evening Sale on Nov. 9, 2009 in New York.
From the lot’s note:
“A dominant theme of Marini’s art, the subject of horse and rider underwent a number of stylistic transformations throughout the decades, from the simple, rounded forms of the early 1940s, to the highly stylized, almost abstract manner of his late works. With its solid forms, the pronounced vertical and horizontal lines, and the figure of the rider firmly seated on the horse’s back, .Cavaliere. recalls the calmer, more harmonious renderings of the theme, which culminated in the famous wooden sculpture .The Town’s Guardian Angel. of 1949-50, and its monumental bronze variant dominating Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice. While the horse is represented in a moment of tension, its head and neck raised upwards, the rider still appears unperturbed, unlike the more dramatic, falling figures that dominated Marini’s sculpture of the 1950s.In choosing the subject of horse and rider, Marini draws on a long established tradition of equestrian painting and sculpture, that had its prominent place in more or less every period throughout the history of Western art, from small-scale votive renderings of early civilizations, to the grand, triumphant statues of modern-day rulers and military leaders. While firmly grounding his art in this tradition, in contrast to the often bombastic and politically motivated sculptures created by his predecessors, Marini’s horses and riders are the embodiment of a new, raw, elemental force. Having lost its significance in the sphere of transportation and warfare, the horse in Marini’s vision acquires a more spiritual character and, unified with the image of a nude rider, becomes a symbol of humanity. Carlo Pirovano wrote about Marini’s riders executed around this time: ‘The frenetic progress of Marino’s tragic allegory of modern man, compressed between superior idealities and uncontrollable irrationality, reached the point of greatest psychological tension in the early Fifties.The cause of this was the fundamental uncertainty of the outcome of a conflict that was increasingly linked to the primary nature of the protagonists rather than the perverse development of contingent events”
Two pieces of Tyeb Mehta sell at Christie’s South Asian and Modern Art auction in the million dollar range
Posted on Sep 27 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
Two paintings of Tyeb Mehta were bought in the million dollar range at Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art event in New York on September 16.
Mahishasura – sold for $1,280,900
Two Figures – sold for $926,500
A sad actuality of this event is Tyeb Mehta recent passing on July 2, 2009. You can learn more about him on Wikipedia or through this editorial of the New York Times
Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Bergé collection breaks records at Christie’s
Posted on Feb 27 - Filed Under Antiquities, Arts | View Comments
One of the most anticipated art sale events this year so far was the week long viewing exhibition and auction of the collection of Yves Saint Laurent & Pierre Bergé. This stunning collection of antiquities, modern and decorative arts, interior designs, sculptures and everything in between and beyond was collected by the two men during a period of 50 years and now auctioned off by Christie’s and Pierre Bergé Associates in Paris. This Legendary Collection – as Pierre Bergé said – is a piece of art itself. Yves Saint Laurent noted – “Pierre Bergé and I wished for our selection to reflect our favourite pieces and for it to evolve with them, quality being the only criterion to guide us.”
The auction raised a total of €373,935,500 ($483,835,144), which is the world record sum for a private collection sold at auction. The nearly half a billion dollars will benefit the Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and a new foundation with the purpose of supporting scientific research and the fight against AIDS. Many blogs and news outlets covered the record breaking sales and some of the controversies, so we decided to include some of the lots with million-dollar hammer prices, categorized according to Christie’s lots.
Continue reading >>
Contemporary art million-dollar sales: Warhol, Fanzhi, Dubuffet
Posted on Feb 20 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
Recent million dollar contemporary art sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s
As usual, the competing auction houses were running similar events around the same time. February 5, London, New Bond Street and February 11, London, King Street respectively.
Turtleneck by Andrew Wyeth
Posted on Jan 16 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
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American realist painter Andrew Wyeth died today at age 91. He was considered to be one of the greatest contemporary painters in the US. In memory of Wyeth, see below his painting titled “Turtleneck”, which sold in 2007 for $1,105,000 |
Turtleneck – Andrew Wyeth – sold at Sotheby’s
Degas’s “Petite danseuse de quatorze ans” to be sold by Sotheby’s
Posted on Jan 13 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
Sotheby’s will have an amazing auction coming up on Feb 3, 2009 in London during which Degas’s most important and iconic sculpture, the “Petite danseuse de quatorze ans” will be on the block with an estimated selling price of £9 – £12 million
Below is Sotheby’s press release:
LONDON, 6 January 2009 – Sotheby’s is delighted to announce that it is to offer Petite danseuse de quatorze ans in its next sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in London on the 3rd of February 2009. Estimated at £9 – 12 million, Petite danseuse de quatorze ans is one of the most ambitious and iconic of Degas’s works and a groundbreaking sculpture from the Impressionist period. The bronze cast to be offered at Sotheby’s is one of only a handful of casts remaining in private hands. This sale therefore represents a rare opportunity to acquire an icon of Impressionist art.
Pigs might fly – second day of Damien Hirst’s auction
Posted on Sep 17 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
The second day of the Damien Hirst’s auction fetched another stunning £40,919,700 ($73,409,941).
Pigs Might Fly – 541,250 GBP ($971,002)
Bill With Shark – sold for 313,250 GBP ($561,970)
Oil on canvas, donated to the artist by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
It is sold on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Moments of weakness – 690,850 GBP ($1,234,963)
3 Subodh Gupta works sell in New York for around $1M
Posted on Sep 16 - Filed Under Arts | View Comments
Three works of Subodh Gupta sold today for around one million dollars at the Rockefeller Plaza during the second day of Christie’s Asian Art Week auction titled “South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art”
Steal 2 – sold for $1,166,500
Miter – sold for $1,022,500
Untitled – sold for $962,500
Other notable million-dollar sales include: Maqbool Fida Husain’s “Ritual” for $1,022,500 and Tyeb Mehta’s “Untitled (Yellow Heads)” for $902,500
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