In The News

Sotheby’s London – Important Russian Art

September 28th, 2011 by

The forthcoming Russian Paintings sales in London will take place on the evening of November 28 and during the day on November 29. Highlights from the 19th century include an large moonlit view of St Petersburg by Alexei Bogoliubov at £400,000-600,000, a charming view of haystacks by Shishkin from a Danish private collection at £250,000-350,000 and one of the finest boyarina portraits by Konstantin Makovsky to be sold in recent years valued at £150,000 – 250,000. The early 20th century is represented by a rare 1914 work by Nikolai Roerich at £400,000-600,000, and a 1916 still life of Tatar artefacts by Petr Konchalovsky formerly in the collection of the art historian Waldemar George estimated at £500,000-700,000. We are delighted also to be offering high-calibre paintings by Nikolai Tarkhoff, Sergei Vinogradov, Konstantin Gorbatov, Dmitry Stelletsky and Mstislav Dobuzhinsky among others.

We are inviting consignments for our forthcoming sales. Should you wish to receive a complimentary valuation, please do not hesitate to contact our specialist team at +44 (0)207 293 5570.

Sotheby’s London – Contemporary Art Evening Auction

September 28th, 2011 by

Staged alongside London’s celebrated Frieze Art Fair, Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 13th October will present 47 artworks of exceptional quality and rarity, spanning an era from post-war to present day.

Included among the many outstanding highlights to be offered for sale in the Evening Auction is an exceptionally strong School of London group, headlined by three extraordinary early works by Lucian Freud alongside masterly early Frank Auerbach and the most important landscape by Leon Kossoff to come to auction.

American Pop is epitomised by works representing two of Andy Warhol’s most recognisable icons: Chairman Mao and Marilyn Monroe, while masterpieces by Miquel Barceló, Peter Doig, Anselm Kiefer, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Chris Ofili and others are testament to the most exciting developments in the art of painting to have taken place over the past thirty years.

Sotheby’s Gloucestershire – Final Week to View – Material Worlds, Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle: A Selling Exhibition

September 28th, 2011 by

Sotheby’s is delighted to announce an exclusive collection of leading designers and artists for MATERIAL WORLDS, its second outdoor selling exhibition in collaboration with Sudeley Castle, from 28 July to 30 September 2011. The exhibition brings together cutting-edge, one-off and limited edition works in strikingly different materials by 11 artists and designers, including Tord Boontje, Amanda Levete, David Adjaye, Ingo Maurer and Paul Fryer. Set amongst the romantic ruins of Sudeley and its award-winning gardens, the works will challenge the boundaries of Design, Art and Craft.

Sotheby’s – Impressionist & Modern Art Including Russian Art

September 28th, 2011 by

The October 11th sale of Impressionist & Modern Art, including Russian Art, features a carefully curated and wide ranging selection of works from the late 19th Century through the 20th century.

Highlights include Marc Chagall’s charming early gouache Le Miroir (lot 24), featured on the back cover of the catalogue, an homage to the work of Veronese, whom he discovered during countless hours spent at the Louvre while in Paris in 1910-1914. André Lhote’s beautiful landscape Le Hameau dans la valleé (lot 50) and Louis Valtat’s Tulipes dans un vase bleu (lot 96), which graces the front cover of the catalogue, join a well cultivated selection of French works in oil and on paper by Jean Dufy, Maximilien Luce, Pierre-Eugene Montézin and Maurice de Vlaminck. Also included in the sale are a number of works from the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, including portraits of Madame Rubinstein, the first female self-made millionaire, by Raoul Dufy and Marie Laurencin (lots 78-93). A choice Modern British section includes sculptures by Lynn Chadwick, Henry Moore and Sir Jacob Epstein.

 

Sotheby’s Paris – Important Mobilier, Sculptures et Objets d’Art

September 28th, 2011 by

The autumn sale of Important Furniture, Sculptures and Works of Art will consist of approximately 200 lots including rare carpets and textiles.

A mid-18th-century “à la façon de la Savonnerie” carpet, probably Aubusson, Louis XV, with “Mamluk” patterns is a rare example of craftsmanship made before French decor became fashionable.

A Louis XIV needlepoint table cloth, circa 1660-1680 and two Régence needlepoint panels, circa 1720, adorned with the French coat-of-arms are remarkable examples of European technique and “savoir-faire,” which were widely applied in Europe in the 18th century.

In the furniture section of the sale is a rare and fine gilt bonze mounted brown tortoiseshell, brass inlaid and ebony cartel clock, Louis XIV, circa 1700, attributed to André-Charles Boulle, and a pair of carved gilt beechwood folding stools, Louis XV, circa 1740, delivered for the prince-évêque de Rohan-Soubise.

Two Louis XV pieces of furniture stamped Lacroix for the viscount of Breteuil finalize a remarkable group of 18th century French furniture.

Among the sculpture in the sale is a French terracotta bust by Augustin Pajou depicting Claude-Edme Labille, circa 1784 and a French, Parisian, late 14th century ivory figure of the Virgin and Child.

New York’s Salmagundi Club announces details of October art auction series

September 28th, 2011 by

Kim Muller-Thym, 'Cloudy Creek,' oil, 9 x 12 in., estimate $1,200. Image courtesy of Salmagundi Club.

NEW YORK – New York City’s revered Salmagundi Club – an artists’ organization founded in 1871 – is planning a major fundraiser during the month of October that comprises three auctions of juried artworks submitted by its artist-members. The auctions will be held at the Salmagundi Club on Friday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. (following a brunch in the dining room), and Friday Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. As a special incentive, no buyer’s premium will be payable on any artwork purchased, and to accommodate those who cannot attend in person, there will be Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com.

 

“Over the years, collectors have flocked to our semiannual auction fundraisers to buy top-quality artworks from some of America’s finest artists, often at very attractive prices,” said Salmagundi Club President Claudia Seymour. “When we included Internet live bidding at our March auction, it opened a new bidding avenue for art lovers around the world and resulted in some lively battles over premier artworks. We expect to see exciting competition in the October auctions, as well.”

 

All painting media will be represented in the October auctions, including oils on canvas, acrylics on canvas, etchings, watercolors, sculptures, pastels under glass and lithographs, some of them hand colored. Additionally, there will be original drawings, pen-and-ink works and photographs. Most of the two-dimensional works are framed, while a few are gallery-wrapped with canvas.

 

Anne Kullaf, 'Daydreams on 14th Street, oil, 20 x 20 in., estimate $1,500. Image courtesy of Salmagundi Club.

“We have many outstanding, well-known artists on our membership roster, and the quality of what is offered in our

upcoming auctions is quite exceptional. Our board is committed to maintaining a high level with our auctions, and that includes introducing bidders to the work of talented emerging artists, as well,” said Seymour.

 

In the past, Salmagundi Club auctions have operated under a fixed, flat-rate structure whereby nearly all artworks opened at $300, sculptures at $300-$400, and photos or multiple impressions at $150.

 

“We have done away with that method, now. We don’t want low opening prices to discourage better-known and more-accomplished artists, who get good prices in galleries, from putting their work in our sales,” said Seymour. “Our new policy is to ask the artist for a reasonable, typical price on an artwork they wish to submit, and we’ll open it at 30% of that price.”

 

Seymour explained how the artworks are selected for inclusion in the auctions. “Each artist-member may submit up to three pieces for consideration. Our art committee juries the art and selects those pieces that we believe have both the highest artistic merit and the greatest likelihood of selling. If three artworks from a particular artist are chosen, each will go into a different sale so they aren’t competing against each other,” Seymour said.

 

John Traynor, 'Jeffersonville, Vermont,' oil, 9 x 12 in. Image courtesy of Salmagundi Club.

Proceeds from the auctioned artworks are divided evenly between the artists and the club. “Normally, if an artist sells a work through one of our exhibitions, they receive 70% and the club receives 30%, but because the fall auction series is our principal fundraiser, our artist-members have graciously agreed to a 50/50 split,” Seymour said.

 

Beginning on Monday, Oct. 3, all artworks entered in the fall auction series will be displayed in a public exhibition at the Salmagundi Club. On Thursday, Oct. 6, the club will host a reception from 6-8 p.m. that includes the presentation of awards to the exhibition’s prizewinners.

 

Exhibition hours are Monday through Friday from 1-6 p.m., and weekends from 1-5 p.m. Auction dates and times are Friday, Oct. 14 commencing at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. (following a brunch from 11 a.m. till 3 p.m. in the club’s dining room); and Friday Oct. 28 starting at 8 p.m. All events, including the brunch and reception, are open to the public. The Salmagundi Club is located at 47 Fifth Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets in Manhattan.

 

For additional information about the auction, call 212-255-7740 or e-mail info@salmagundi.org. Visit the club’s website at www.salmagundi.org.

 

Online catalogs for the three October auctions may be viewed online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com, where prospective bidders may also sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet. Absentee bidding will also be available via written bidding forms at the preview.

 

About the Salmagundi Club:

 

Steeped in history, the Salmagundi Club is one of the oldest art associations in the United States. Since 1917, it has been headquartered in what is now the only remaining brownstone on Fifth Avenue, directly across from the First Presbyterian Church. Its roster of past members includes such fine-art luminaries as Thomas Moran, William Merritt Chase, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N.C. Wyeth and Childe Hassam. Of its 850 currently active members, more than 600 are artists.

 

The club’s activities include art classes, exhibitions, painting demonstrations and both fundraising and social events. The nonprofit Salmagundi Club owns a collection of more than 1,500 works of art spanning its 140-year history.

Sotheby’s – Hong Kong Autumn Sales 2011 香港蘇富比秋季拍賣會2011

September 28th, 2011 by

Sotheby’s is delighted to present its Autumn Sales Series in Hong Kong which will take place on 1-6 October. The six-day sales series will offer the finest collections across eight collecting categories. Our sale highlights include a magnificent collection of Imperial Chinese porcelains from The Meiyintang Collection, Part II, as well as exceptional contemporary Chinese paintings from The Ullens Collection: Experimentation and Evolution.

 

Sotheby’s – Modern & Post-War British Art

September 28th, 2011 by

Following on from our record-breaking and best-ever season of sales in May and June, including the Evill/Frost Collection, Sotheby’s is pleased to announce its first ever Evening Auction of Modern and Post-War British Art on 15th November, with a Day Auction to follow on the 16th November.

Season highlights include works by Edward Burra, Sir Stanley Spencer, Lynn Chadwick, Paul Nash, Henry Moore and Peter Lanyon, as well as works from The Dartington Hall Trust Collection, sold to support the Trust’s work in the Arts, Social Justice, and Sustainability, including works by Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.

Sotheby’s – Photographs

September 28th, 2011 by

Sotheby’s October 5th Photographs auction in New York features a varied range of material from the 19th to 21st centuries.  Two landmark documents in the history of photographic literature will be offered—an early copy of Gardner’s Sketchbook of the War, and a complete set of Alfred Stieglitz’s photographic quarterly, Camera Work.  Modernist innovator Pierre Dubreuil’s mastery of the medium is evident in two of his best-known images: Spectacles and The First Round.  A dramatic, twice-signed mural of Ansel Adams’s famed Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, and a mural of Leaves, Mt. Rainier National Park are featured, along with other Adams photographs.  A rare lifetime print of Diane Arbus’s Viva, the Warhol superstar, was originally illustrated in an early issue of New York, nearly causing the magazine’s demise.  A massive print of Peter Beard’s Maureen Gallagher and Late-Night Feeder presents a dazzling array of color drawing and collage elements.

Sotheby’s – Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints

September 28th, 2011 by

View results for this sale at Sothebys.com