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Category :Art Market |
Written by: Silvia Bosi
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London: Contemporary Art And Great Collections To Be Auctioned Off At Sotheby’S
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Tuesday 21 June 2011
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The art market never stops. The turnover of Oriental and New York auctions revealed to be profitable and now it is London’s turn to be in the limelight with a succession of extraordinary events, held by the leading auction houses. Sotheby’s has announced its appointments with contemporary art, scheduled for next week: the Evening Sale will be held on 29th June at 6 pm, while the next day it will be the turn of the Day Sale.
The Evening Sale, which will present the most prestigious pieces, will offer collectors a selection of about 90 lots, 34 of which come from the Duerckheim Collection, the most important post-war German private art collection to be proposed at auction. 25 other pieces from the same collection will be available during the event scheduled on the following day.
The Duerckheim Collection comprises the early works and masterpieces realised by artists of the calibre of Georg Baselitz, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Blinky Palermo and many others, documenting their progress throughout the Sixties. The offer of similar works on the market, both for quality and artistic relevance, represents a truly exceptional event and an extraordinary opportunity.
The evening promises to go great guns especially for the lots from number 35 to 88, which include some first-rate paintings and sculptures such as Crouching Nude by Francis Bacon dated 1961, with the highest catalogue estimate, a work by Basquiat dated 1981 and two works by Andy Warhol: Campbell’s Soup Can (Tomato) and the portrait of Debbie Harry.
Bacon’s fascinating nude, at auction for 7-9 million pounds, is one of the most meaningful pieces among those realised by the artist in that period. Among the group of works conceived by him between 1959 and 1962 on the same theme, this is the most successful with regards to the relation between figure and background. It also presents greater physical plasticity of the nude body conferring it with a sculptural effect. The illusion of spatial depth is highlighted by the simplified geometry of the perspective structure, in which each area is delineated by a different intensity of bright green.
Basquiat holds the position for second highest estimate: his Untitled dated 1981 is at auction for 5-7 million pounds, followed straight after by Warhol’s two canvases (3.5-4.5 million pounds for Campbell’s Soup and 3.5-5.5 million for Debbie Harry). These paintings are the symbol of a historical-artistic journey, they are authentic masterpieces and their collocation among the most precious pieces at auction confirms the titanic role played by the respective artists in the art system.
At auction there will also be seven important works, divided between the two auction days, which belonged to Dave Stewart, the famous member of the Eurythmics: musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, Steward is an art lover and great friend of Damien Hirst, which he has known since the Nineties. This collection includes two works by Damien Hirst, two by Gilbert & George, then one by Angus Fairhurst, one by Cindy Sherman and one by Andres Serrano.
Highlight among these is definitely Hirst’s pair of paintings with the highest estimates: Dantrolene dated 1994, which bears an inscription dedicated to Dave Stewart, is offered for a value oscillating between 600 and 800 thousand pounds, while the most fascinating and expensive work by Gilbert & George is Mouth (estimate 150-220 thousand pounds).
The second auction day will, as usual, present the great names of the International art system, but with much more accessible estimates. The highest estimate is held by a green Concetto Spaziale, Attese by Lucio Fontana (estimate: 400-600 thousand euros), another very appreciated artist by collectors. Straight after there is a beautiful and very recent portrait: Edwardian by John Currin, an artist who is always representing the human figure and is very tied to the past pictorial tradition, inspired mainly by the Italian renaissance expressive language and by European 18th-century and Romantic art. The sale of this painting will contribute, like many other important lots at auction in the same session, towards the opening of the new space of the Serpentine Gallery, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, in 2012. Among the artists who have generously given their works for this noble cause there are also Chris Ofili, Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Matthew Barney, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami and Shirin Neshat to mention but a few.
Arcadja Auctions Browse here Sotheby’s auction – London, 29th June 2011 Arcadja Auctions Browse here Sotheby’s auction – London, 29th June 2011
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Tags: Jeff Koons, Serpentine Gallery, Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Matthew Barney, Gerhard Richter, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Angus Fairhurst, Andres Serrano, Blinky Palermo, Anish Kapoor, Richard Prince, Chris Ofili, Gilbert & george, Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Sigmar Polke, Andy Warhol, Basquiat
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