art auction

When we first reported back in May that Pablo Picasso's 1932 painting Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust (above) had sold for a record-breaking $106.5 million at Christie's we heard whispers that the buyer was a certain Russian oligarch known for his eye-popping acquisitions: Roman Abramovich. Now that the world's most expensive painting has been lent to the UK's Tate Modern museum by the unnamed "private collector" who bought it (as my colleague Deidre Woollard reported), a strong indication that the owner is based in London where Abramovich spends most of his time, we're hearing them louder. [cont'd]

Proving that sentiment sells, the original 1952 cover art for the best-selling children's book, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, brought an incredible sum at tonight's sale by Heritage Auctions in New York City. The cover art drawn by legendary children's illustrator Garth Williams sold for $155,350 more than five times the pre-sale estimate and a world's record for any of Williams' art.

"The buyer is an anonymous New York collector who did not say what his plans are for the art," said Barry Sandoval, director of operations for the comics and original comic art auctions at Heritage.

White's story of Wilbur the pig, Charlotte the Spider and Fern, the young girl who tries to save Wilbur from the slaughterhouse, has enchanted generations of children. Another famous drawing from the book, the page 95 illustration entitled, "There Was the Handsome Pig, and Over Him, Woven Neatly in Block Letters, Was the Word TERRIFIC," brought $95,600. The late artist's family consigned 42 of Williams' original illustrations for Charlotte's Web to the auction, and they brought a combined total of $780,245 (including the 19.5 percent buyer's premium paid by all winning bidders).

"The response to the Charlotte's Web art was tremendous, especially to the iconic cover art. We expected that the cover art would exceed our initial estimate of $30,000 or more, but for it to break $150,000 is breathtaking. It just shows how universally beloved this book and this art really are," said Sandoval.

A few years ago we covered the listing of the famous Beechwood estate in Newport, Rhode Island. The legendary home of the Astor family was filled with beautiful antiques, many of which will be sold off through Skinner Inc. next month as part of the auction house's European Furniture and Decorative Arts sale on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. in its Boston gallery. The sale will feature items originally owned by Mr. & Mrs. William B. Astor including William Parsons Winchester Dana's painting, "The U.S. Frigate 'Constitution' Chased by an English Squadron," July 1812, purchased on the couple's honeymoon trip (estimated at $20,000 to $40,000).

[via Wicked Local]

The exclusive opening of Art Basel – for the most serious buyers – had the desired effect. The most famous art show in the world attracted the likes of art collector Roman Abramovich (however much it may be at the behest of his squeeze) and fetched some major sales, including $15 million for a sculpture by Pablo Picasso.

So, who joined Abramovich in scratching the art itch ... one that's been hard to scratch since the art market collapsed in 2008? Well, Val Kilmer, Peter Brant and Laurence Graff were among the elite.

Prices haven't returned to 2007 levels, noted art dealer Nicholas Maclean to Bloomberg News, but he added that the top stuff is selling well. This doesn't exactly defy common sense, of course. There are 303 galleries at Art Basel this year, and they're all hoping to ride this wave.

A Christie's International auction in Paris the day before Art Basel started set the tone for the affair. A sculpture by Amedeo Modigliani moved for $53 million, setting a record for the French auction market.

The numbers may not have big, but it felt like 2007 all over again during "Russian Week" in London. Russian billionaires descended on the art auction houses and fought fiercely for prized lots. Compared to last year, auction sales nearly doubled, with the Russians spending $86 million to repatriate icons, paintings, porcelain and Faberge items. This follows $18.5 million in Russian art sales by Sotheby's and Christie's in New York back in April.

The most popular pieces were early 20th century modernist works, with the top lot Alexander Yakovlev's "Titi and Naranghe, Daughters of Chief Eki Bondo." It was good for £2.5 million, almost tripling its high-end presale estimate of £900,000.

Sotheby's was the top auction house of London's Russian Week, generating £22.3 million by selling approximately 70 percent of its 615 lots. The result falls within the presale range of £19.3 million to £28 million.

One of Monet's famous waterlily paintings is part of the upcoming Impressionist and Modern Art sale at Christie's London on June 23. Claude Monet's 1906 'Nympheas' is another piece in the sale that includes a Blue Period portrait by Pablo Picasso, offered by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. Monet's work is estimated at 30 million pounds to 40 million pounds ($44 million to $59 million) and the Picasso could bring in around $60 million. Given the recent record set by a $106.5 million Picasso that painting could go even higher. This plus the rest of the other works on offer could make this the biggest sale that Christie's has ever had in London. It could bring in 164-231 million pounds which would beat the London record of 147 million pounds set at rival Sotheby's in February.

Adam Goldstein, the top dog over at Royal Caribbean, wrote on his blog this week that the cruise line is not renewing its contract with Park West Art Services. It looks as though the future of art auctions on the ships is uncertain, given that the president and CEO says the company is evaluating alternatives.

Writes Goldstein:

"[O]ur contract with Park West Art Services has expired and we have decided not to renew it. There is a wind down period in effect and the art auctioneers will finish on different ships at different times over the next few months. We are evaluating what if any art-related programming we may offer in the fleet in the future beyond Oasis of the Seas where Art Actually is our provider of art tours and art for purchase onboard."

The Impressionist and Modern Art sales on May 4 and 5, 2010 are likely to confirm a continued climb in art auction pricing. We're now six months or so into the badly needed upswing, and there's plenty of room for optimism. Not only are the presale estimates and sales on the way up, but the number of pieces being resold quickly is on the rise, as well. This means that there's a high degree of liquidity in the art market: collectors can sell easily and without worry (as long as the inventory doesn't suck, in which case there's no hope, of course).

The increase in art market liquidity is due in part to the return of guaranteed minimum pricing, in which the auction houses assume some sales risk for attractive or desirable pieces that they feel can beat the numbers and attract buyers and sellers of other strong works. According to ArtPrice, there are "tens of millions of dollars for major works" committed via guaranteed minimum pricing, indicating that confidence is up.

It's the price guarantees that have led to the arrival of some strong pieces at the early may auctions this year, including pieces from the collections of Mrs Sidney Francis Brody, Raymond and Miriam Klein, Bernard Goldberg and Michael Crichton. Brody's works alone could fetch up to $150 million. The high estimate for Christie's is $300 million, a target that doesn't include the top lot, "Nude, Green Leaves" by Pablo Picasso, which as Jared Paul Stern revealed in a recent column is expected to bring in as much as $90 million. Other artists with eight-figure estimates include Henri Matisse, and Alberto Giacometti.

Don't just look for good news – also a expect a few records to b set. Sotheby's has high hopes for pieces by Salvador Dali and Auguste Rodin.

A collector's hidden art stash could be good for as much as $26 million. The collection, which had been owned by Ambroise Vollard, will be sold at Sotheby's sales in May and June. It's been hidden in a bank vault for four decades, and now people have shot at buying works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne and Andre Derain.

Derain's piece, shown above, is the top lot in the collection, a landscape that is estimated with a low end of $13.9 million and the potential to go over $20 million. It heads under the gavel on June 22, 2010 at Sotheby's in London. The following week, in Paris, 140 paintings, drawings, prints and books once belonging to Vollard will be sold, with a presale estimate staring at $3.4 million.

The 141 pieces in the collection were tossed in a Societe Generale vault in Paris by Vollard's associate, Eich Slomovic, in 1939. That's the year Vollard died car crash). Slomovich, who was given the collection to sell on consignment, died in 1942 (cause of death: NAZIs). The vault was opened in 1979 and was scheduled that year for auction. Legal challenges, however, kept the collection in limbo until 2006.

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.

The Russians are coming to New York! From April 21, 2010 to April 23, 2010, 600 lots of Russian art will be coming to market. Sotheby's will be auctioning 359 of them, including several by Pavel Tchelitchew, from actress Ruth Ford's collection. Also going under the blog are pieces by Stanislaw Zukowski, Nicolas Kalmakoff and Vladimir Davidovic Baranov-Rossine. Sotheby's is expecting a new auction record for Yuri Ivanovich Pimenov, with "Morning Windows" carrying a presale estimate of $250,000 to $350,000.

At Christie's, look for Konstantin Egorovic Makovskij to cause a stir. According to Artprice, his index gained 853 percent from 1999 to 2009 before losing 72 percent in the art market bust. "In from a stroll" has a presale estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. Makovskij hasn't had a sale above $200,000 since November 2008.

While there's obviously some excitement over the coming Russian sales, it shouldn't be confused with the market enjoyed from 2005 to 2008, when seven-figure values weren't unusual. Moving carefully, Sotheby's and Christie's are offering many works with estimates below $400,000.

The May art sales are coming, and I, for one, can't wait to see what happens. The art market took an exciting turn at the end of 2009. Prices appeared to be on the mend, though nobody was willing to believe it fully – not after the tumult experienced for the year and a half before it. Tentative steps gave way to optimism at the beginning of this year, leading many to accept that the art market is coming back. Collectors opened their wallets. Auction houses put better works on the block. Everything looked good.

Unfortunately, there hasn't been much action in the major categories since February. This is strictly a function of the auction seasons. Sure, we've had the Armory Show in New York and Phillips de Pury's anemic sex-themed auction, but this doesn't scratch the big-money art market itch. At the beginning of March, Sotheby's moved Andy Warhol's "Self Defense" for $420,000, well ahead of the presale estimate of $250,000 to $300,000. Christie's pushed "Two Jackies" for $446,500, more than 10 times more than the low-end presale estimate of $40,000. Yet, without piercing the million dollar mark, it's hard to capture anyone's imagination.

So, we've had to wait – and will have to continue to do so until May. In the meantime, anticipation has been mounting. What's coming up next?

The paintings of American artist Maxfield Parrish often go unremarked upon in today's culture. Deemed dates, too romantic, perhaps even schmaltzy, for the most part he has been relegated to the past like Norman Rockwell, too earnest for our cynical modern world. But Parrish will get his day in the sun at the Important American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture at Christie's New York on May 20. That's when Christie's will offer the most significant collection of illustrations and paintings by Parrish ever seen at auction. Parrish's most famous work, Daybreak, shown above, is estimated to sell for $4 million to $7 million. The estimated price for the iconic painting is less than the $7.6 million it sold for back in 2006 at Christie's setting a world auction record for a Parrish work.

Parrish had a long career illustrating for magazines including Life, Scribner's, Harper's Weekly, and Collier's as well as other commissions. Another piece up for sale is Sing a Song of Six Pence, estimated at $2.5-3.5 million, a nearly six-foot long mural created in 1910 for the hotel bar of the Sherman House in Chicago, Illinois. His Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, estimated at $1.5-2.5 million, graced the cover of Hearst's Magazine's November 1912 issue. His technique combined traditional painting with other technology. Later he decided he was done painting girls on rocks and moved onto landscapes. His Sheltering Oaks, estimated at $600,000-800,000, was originally published in a 1960 calendar for The Mutual Insurance Company of Frederick County, Maryland. The landscape features his signature blue sky, a dazzling glazed color dubbed "Parrish blue."

Art auction house Phillips de Pury has learned that sex sells. Pushing erotic-themed contemporary works, the house brought in $2.1 million at a London sale on Saturday night at a sale called simply "SEX." Of the 271 lots that went under the gavel, including art, design and photography, 69 percent sold. Unfortunately, the auction's revenue only hit 78 percent of the presale estimate: competition wasn't exactly stiff for the hottest works on the block.

The highlight of the evening was a painting by UK pop artist Allen Jones. His 1966 "Soft Tread" featured a pair of legs in stockings and adorned with stiletto heels. The sultry effort aroused at least six bids and enough action to thrust the selling price to 361,250 pounds. With a presale estimate of 60,000 pounds to 80,000 pounds, the action surely justified the art world's equivalent to a post-coital cigarette.

Apparently the erotic and sex-themed art market is hardening ... and it's turning on billionaires. A piece by Otto Mueller featuring two nude female bathers fetched 2.1 million pounds at Christie's last month, three times the high estimate.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is sending a "Blue Period" Picasso canvas under the gavel in June. A painting of an absinthe drinker, the composer has chosen Christie's as the auction house, with the proceeds going to Webber's charity. The Picasso could fetch as much as $60.9 million, a higher estimate than any other piece in Europe so far this year. Last year, Picasso was the top seller at auction, generating $121 million in sales, according to Artprice.

The painting, entitled "Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto (The Absinthe Drinker)," is a study of a young Spanish artist sitting at a Barcelona bar. Says Giovanna Bertazzoni, head of Christie's London-based Impressionist and Modern department to Bloomberg News, "A 'Blue Period' Picasso is the sort of painting that could appeal to a new Chinese buyer." She continues, "There is a new breed of Medici-style collectors who want to buy exceptional art from any period."

Lloyd Weber purchased the painting for $29.2 million in 1995 for his foundation using funds he donated. The painting almost went up for sale at Christie's in 2006 but was withdrawn at the last minute due to some concerns over ownership. A German man had claimed that the painting was lost by his family in a "forced sale" by Nazis but with all issues resolved the painting is now finally up for sale again.