Picasso portrait of Dora Maar becomes the world’s second most
expensive painting [May 06]
Just two years after setting the world auction
record for his Garçon à la Pipe (sold for USD 93 million on 5
May 2004), Pablo Picasso came close to repeating the feat when
a 1941 portrait of his muse, Dora Maar, was knocked down for USD 85
million at Sotheby’s prestigious Impressionist & Modern Art evening
sale.
This astonishing hammer price confirms the
market’s enthusiasm for the master of modern art – whose price index
has risen by 87% over the last five years – and for art in general
(New York turnover is up by 20% since the start of the year). In the
same session, Sotheby’s also sold a major nude by Pablo PICASSO’s
friend Henri MATISSE for USD 16.5 million. This 92cm wide 1927 work
had been estimated at USD 12-15 million. Total turnover at Sotheby’s
Impressionist & Modern Art evening sale was USD 207.5 million.
Christie’s auction on the same theme, held the
previous day, grossed USD 180.2 million, with a top bid of USD 36
million for Vincent Van Gogh’s L’Arlésienne, Madame Ginoux,
1890, followed by USD 31 million for Le Repos, another
Picasso canvas dating from 1932.
Explosion of prices in New York [Apr 06]
Art prices continued to climb in the first
quarter of 2006. In the middle of the spring/summer auction season
and a few days ahead of the prestigious "Impressionist & Modern Art
Evening Sale" in New York, the Artprice Global Index shows that
prices rose a further 16% over just four months! Since the beginning
of the year, 117 lots have already exceeded the million dollar mark,
compared with only 66 over the same period in 2005.
In New York, where prices have risen 20% in the
first four months of the year, we could even use the word
'speculation'. They are now 42% higher than at the height of the
speculative bubble in 1990. Already this year, a major painting by
William Turner has fetched USD 32 million at auction. However, in
London, prices have stabilised since the beginning of the year.
Already in 2005, the rise in transaction prices in the UK was only
+4.7% compared with +27% in 2004.
And in France, the upward trend seen at the end of 2005 was
confirmed at the beginning of this season. The Artprice Global Index
for Paris transactions rose 7.4% in the first quarter of 2006, thus
approaching the level reached at the end of 1991.
Against this backdrop, estimates in New York are
soaring. For example, a painting by Pablo PICASSO entitled
Sylvette that last sold in June 1995 for GBP 480,000 (USD
760,000) will be auctioned by Sotheby's on 3 May with an estimate of
USD 4.5 million – USD 6 million. At the same auction, La Femme en
Rouge Appuyée à un Fauteuil by Chaïm SOUTINE will be offered at
USD 2.75 million – USD 3.5 million, representing almost 10x its
previous hammer price (USD 370,000 on 10 May 1989). Christie's
estimates also reflect the sharp inflation in the art market. The
auctioneer will offer Claude MONET's Effet de neige à Limetz
for USD 3.5 million – USD 4.5 million, compared with an estimate
range of only USD 1 million – USD 1.5 million at Sotheby's six years
earlier. A painting by Alberto GIACOMETTI of a workshop scene will
be put up for auction for USD 1.2 million – USD 1.6 million compared
with its hammer price of USD 170,000 in 1993.
But will buyers be tempted to buy at these extremely optimistic
estimates? Not at all sure…
The Views of Venice at the top of Old Masters sales [Apr
06]
Within the Painting segment, Old Masters works
have always been considered as safe-haven assets, compared with
modern or contemporary works. And the figures tend to confirm this
trend. While prices for modern and contemporary paintings have
climbed 33.2% and 41.1% respectively since April 2001, demand for
pre-19th century paintings is today at the same level as five years
ago.
And yet, despite this relative stability, Old Masters works can also
be extremely speculative, particularly if the pieces are of
exceptional quality. Furthermore, the highest bid so far this season
was made at an Old Masters sale. William TURNER's painting entitled
Giudecca, La Donna della Salute et San Giorgio, the highlight
at Christie's Old Masters paintings sale in New York sold for USD 32
million on 6 April, setting a new record for a British painting.
Considered as the finest Turner work to have come
onto the market in recent years, the large format (61 x 91.5 cm) oil
painting represents a view of Venice! However, these same views of
Venice, but by Italian artists this time, have generally been the
star lots at Old Masters auctions of late. These veduti (views) of
Venice are in high demand at auctions, often exceeding the 1 million
euro mark.
Works by Antonio Canal CANALETTO claimed the highest bids in 2005
with a record of GBP 16.6 million for Venice, the Grand Canal,
looking North-East from Palazzo Balbi at Sotheby's London on 7
July. This painting was originally owned by Sir Robert Walpole, a
former British Prime Minister, who sold it at an auction in 1751.
On 22 June, during the sale of Old Masters paintings, the
Paris-based auction house Tajan, will offer an exceptional Vue de
Venise by Francesco GUARDI, estimated at EUR 2 million to EUR 2.5
million. This work could well fetch the highest price at an auction
in France in 2006.
Between 2002 and 2005, prices of veduti gained on
average +164%, and records are constantly being broken. While Luca
Carlevaris is considered as the father of veduti, it is Giovanni
Antonio Canal, known as "Canaletto" who was responsible for making
the genre so popular by practically industrialising the production
of veduti in Venice and their sale to foreign tourists. Canaletto
holds the record for the two most expensive veduti. On top of his
record of 7 July, the previous evening at Christie's, a work by
Canaletto entitled The Bucintoro at the Molo Venice, on Ascension
Day, a masterpiece from the Champalimaud collection, went under
the hammer at GBP 10.2 million (EUR 15 million), thus doubling the
pre-sale estimate. Already in January 2005, the sale of The
Bacino di San Marco, looking east from the Mouth of the Giudecca
for USD 4.7 million at Christie's reflects the high demand among
collectors for his work. Overall Canaletto's price index jumped 86%
over twelve months!
Until last July, Francesco Guardi had held the
record for a vedute since 1 December 1989, when his View of the
Giudecca Canal and the Zattere in Venise sold for FRF 85 million
(EUR 13 million) at Sotheby's Monaco. Francesco worked with his
brother Giovanni Antonio on numerous religious works. It was only
after his brother's death in 1760 that his Venetian views started to
become very popular. Concentrating on colour and spontaneous touch,
he was one of the most prolific artists of his era. Almost twenty
paintings come up for auction every year. On 8 July 2005, The
Grand Canal, Venice, with the Palazzo Bembo by Guardi was the
star lot at Christie's sale. The painting from the John & Anna Jaffe
collection, estimated at GBP 3 million to GBP 5 million, fetched GBP
3.9 million.
His paintings depicting imaginary scenes, capricci, were mostly
small format, and almost one-half of these have sold for less than
EUR 100,000 over the past ten years. However, hammer prices in this
price range will eventually become rare as his price index has
practically tripled in four years! For example, Capriccio with
Ruins, a painting measuring 12.7 x 19 cm and estimated at USD
80,000 to USD 120,000 sold for USD 140,000 (EUR 116,000) on 26
January 2006 at Sotheby's.
Guardi and Canaletto are not the only artists to
have enjoyed such high bidding for their works. A new record was set
for Luca CARLEVARIS on 7 July 2005 when his painting Venice, a
View of the Molo with the Doge's Palace looking West sold for
GBP 2 million. The Piazza San Marco, Venice, a work by
Bernardo BELLOTTO, Canaletto's nephew and assistant, was auctioned
at USD 4.2 million on 26 January. The same work, originally
authenticated as one of Canaletto's works, sold for GBP 950,000 in
December 1995.
HYPERREALISM - "Clichés" of reality… [Apr 06]
Hyperrealism, which emerged in the USA in the
60s, inherits its attachment to a banal everyday version of reality
from Pop art. The artists draw their subjects from real life; but it
is a “second-hand” real life, because they do not create their works
directly in front of the person or thing they are depicting, but
from photographs. They demonstrate a great, often laborious,
technical virtuosity, to transcribe a reality that has been examined
under a microscope. Although the hyperrealists have in common the
effort they make to achieve a mimetic reproduction, they are
distinguished from one another by the choice of themes that they
tackle. Chuck Close focuses his attention on faces, John Salt on
cars, John de Andrea on nudes, Duane Hanson on middle-class
Americans, Richard Estes on urban landscapes, and so on.
Prices for Chuck CLOSE are exploding in the US!
Between 2004 and 2005, they shot up by 90% although it has to be
said that none of his oils or acrylics appeared in the sale rooms
during 2004, and the first auctioned in 2005 was a monumental
portrait entitled John dated 1971-72 which set a new record
of USD 4,300,000 (EUR 3,348,840) for the artist (254 x 228.6 cm,
Sotheby’s NY). Close’s large scale works thus sell for well over a
million euros; but a study for John found a buyer at the same
sale for USD 170,000 (EUR 132,396). Even more affordable, a
Maquette for Alex, assembled from various media including a
Polaroid, will be available for USD 20,000 (EUR 15,744) at the May
2006 sales at Phillips, de Pury & Company NY.
The manifest craze for Close’s paintings places him ahead of the
movement’s two other major figures: the sculptors Duane HANSON and
John Louis DeANDREA. These two artists excel in sculptural trompe
l’oeil, but their works have never reached a million dollars in a
public sale. Their work has been increasingly present on the market
in recent years: of a total of 24 Duane Hanson sculptures ever
offered at auctions, half of them went under the hammer between 2003
and 2005 in the EUR 100,000 - EUR 250,000 price bracket. Since 2003,
the market has also taken up the works of De Andrea again. However,
after an absence of 5 years from the public market, his life-size
fibreglass figures cost around 50 times less than those of his older
peer Duane Hanson.
There are hyperrealist artists in Europe, such as
Frantz Gertsch, Jean Olivier Hucleux and Gerad Schlosser. The low
number of works that come up for auction is largely due to a very
limited production due to the artists’ slow and meticulous
techniques.
Franz Gertsch’s overall portfolio of paintings amounts to less than
100 works on canvas since 1969! Lovers of his work therefore focus
their attention on prints, which are much more numerous. Thus,
Pestwurzelblatt, a colour print in an edition of 80 was sold at
auction by Dobiaschofsky in Bern for EUR 1,684 in 2005. In 2002 the
same auction house put an early work in oil on canvas of a similar
size on sale (Sonniger Weg zwischen Bäumen, 1946), which was sold
for a lower price: EUR 1,025. Gertsch thus sells for less than
Schlosser and Hucleux for whom one would have to pay between EUR
10,000 and EUR 20,000 for an accomplished work of a good size.
Following the example of Chuck Close, Jean Olivier Hucleux has a
feeling for faces and is also very popular. Hucleux’s monumental
works are in public and private collections which they leave only on
a temporary basis. In his case too, few major works reach the
market, with only works on paper available. From a simple study to a
portrait in graphite more than 2 metres high, there is a great
variation in prices: from EUR 500 to EUR 20,000!
The prices for European artists are still a long way from those for
the American figureheads. The prices they reach at auction do,
however, reach those of less well-known hyperrealists such as
Richard Cottingham, Don Eddy or Robert Bechtle.
|
