The Classicist: $90 Million Picasso, Crichton Collection & More in Megabucks May Art Sales

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Apr 19th 2010 at 9:01AM

May is shaping up to be a megabucks month for the art market with some of the world's most notable collections of modern and contemporary master works crossing the block. Topping the list is a rarely-seen Picasso that's expected to fetch up to $90 million at Christie's landmark Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on May 4th in New York. The painting, Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust (above) dated 1932, is from the Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody of real estate fame. The Brody collection boasts a wealth of master works by the "towering figures of the Modernist movement", including Picasso, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, Edouard Vuillard, Marino Marini, and Henry Moore. The total value of the works to be offered is expected to exceed $150 million, making it one of the most valuable single-owner collections ever offered at auction.

Other standouts from the sale include Matisse's Nu au coussin bleu, 1924, estimated at $20–30 million, and Giacometti's Grande tête mince, 1954, estimated at $25–35 million. The Brodys acquired the Picasso direct from the artist's dealers in the 1950s and made it the focal point of their expanding collection at their mansion in Holmby Hills. The painting has only been exhibited once in the United States, when the Brodys loaned it to the 1961 exhibition Bonne Fête Monsieur Picasso, a retrospective staged in honor of Picasso's 80th birthday that was sponsored by the UCLA Art Council. The upcoming sale preview on April 30 marks the first time in 50 years the work will be publicly displayed.

Gallery: Megabucks May 2010 Art Auctions

We now also have full details and images of famed author Michael Crichton's collection, the sale of which my colleague Deirdre Woollard previewed back in February. The collection will be offered during Christie's' Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on May 11 in New York. The starring attraction is Jasper Johns' Flag, painted in 1960-1966, which is expected to fetch $10 million – $15 million. Robert Rauschenberg's Trapeze, painted in 1964, is estimated at $5 million – $7 million.
Roy Lichtenstein's Girl in Water, from 1968, is estimated at $800,000 – $1.2 million. 2003's Push/Pull by Mark Tansey is also estimated at $800,000 – $1.2 million. And Andreas Gursky's Chicago Board of Trade from 1997 is estimated at $600,000 – $900,000. Not to be outdone, on May 12 Sotheby's is staging its Contemporary Art sale in New York. The big draws there are Mark Rothko's Untitled from 1961, estimated at $18 million – $25 million, and Andy Warhol's iconic 1986 Self Portrait, executed just before the artist's death, estimated at $10 million – $15 million.

Tags: alberto giacometti, Andy Warhol, art auction, art market, Christies, contemporary art, eduoard vuillard, georges braque, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, Jasper Johns, marino marini, Mark Rothko, Mark Tansey, Michael Crichton, modern art, modernist, mrs. sidney brody, New York, Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein

Filed under: Auctions, Art, The Classicist

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Spectacular Bid May 6th 2010 4:12PM

The relative obscurity of this painting over the last 60 years mated with its provenance certainly piqued the bidding interest. Purchased for $19,800 in 1951 by M/M Sidney Brody they lent the work just once - in 1961 - for an exhibit celebrating Picasso's 80th birthday. Otherwise they purportedly never allowed pictures to be taken of the painting.

The record for an auction by a painting could be shattered in years to come if the lawsuit regarding Jan Vermeer's masterpiece "The Art of Painting" advances. The Czernin family of Austria are seeking the return the work claimed to have been sold under duress to Adolf Hitler during World War Two and now the jewel of Vienna's art history museum. If it ever came to auction it would almost certainly surpass $200M.