Matisse Bronze Tops Christie's Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 4th 2010 at 6:00PM

Last night, November 3, was Christie's turn to host an Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale. The night before, rival Sotheby's brought in $227.5 million. Christie's had a similarly strong evening with a total of $231.4 million. The 84-lot sale was 80 percent sold by lot and 88 percent sold by value.

Henri Matisse's monumental sculpture Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV) was the night's top lot, setting a record for the artist at $48,8 million nicely above the top estimate of $35 million. This was the first time that a work from the artist's Back series has ever come to auction. Other leading lots included Alberto Giacometti's Femme de Venise V, conceived in 1956 and cast in 1958, which sold for $10.27 million, three works by Fernand Léger from Property from the Collection of Max Palevsky, including La Tasse de Thé, 1921, which realized $8.16 million and Egon Schiele's Mann und Frau (Umarmung), 1917, which sold for $7.36 million.

As at Sotheby's the previous night, this sale too had an unsold Picasso. The 1921 "Maternite," was estimated to sell for as much as $10 million but failed to find a buyer.

Tags: art, art market, art results, christies, matisse, sculpture