SOTHEBY'S

Calder Mobile Leads Sotheby's Hybrid Sale

Sotheby's closed this week's auctions with a mixed Impressionist, Modern & Contemporary sale that totaled $63.4M with a 92% sell-through rate. The top lot of the evening was Alexander Calder's large hanging mobile from the collection of Neiman Marcus, which flew over it's high estimate of $8M to $18.2M. The second-highest lot was Pablo Picasso's 1962 portrait that sold for $11.2M. A Claude Monet painting, deaccessioned from the Brooklyn Museum, fetched $4.7M. Barkley Hendricks' world auction record was set with a 1972 painting that sold for $4M.

PHILLIPS

NY Evening Auction Sets More Records for Black Artists

Phillips New York Modern & Contemporary evening sale on Dec. 7 pulled in $135M - marking the highest total for a Phillips NY auction and a 25 percent increase over last winter's equivalent sale. As in its Hong Kong sales the week before, Phillips again saw strong demand for contemporary Black artists. Records were shattered for Amy Sherald, Vaughn Spann, Mickalene Thomas, Kehinde Wiley and Jade Fadojutimi.

Sherald's painting Bathers (2015) opened the sale in dramatic fashion when it sold for $4.3M (est. $150-200k) with at least 20 bidders. Competition also came for auction first-timer JadA© Fadojutimi, whose work fetched $378,000 (est. $40-60k). The top lot of the sale was David Hockney's Nichols Canyon for $41M. Other strong results were from Basquiat, Clyfford Still, Magritte and George Condo.

The day sale saw strong bidding for Alex Gardner, Loie Hollowell, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Christina Quarles.

CHRISTIE'S

Young Artists Lead in Hong Kong and New York

Christie's final evening sale of the year, which was a mix of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary, Western & Asian art, achieved $119.3M over its pre-sale low estimate of $95M. The relay-sale livestreamed consecutively from Christie's salerooms in Hong Kong and New York. The HK portion totaled $52.4M for 19 lots (8 were guaranteed), while the New York section achieved $66.9M for 31 lots, 14 of which were guaranteed, marking the strength of the Asian art market. Overall, 90% of the lots found buyers.

While top prices came from 19th & 20th century stalwarts, most of the heat was captured by the work of younger stars. Several records were set - Shara Hughes' landscape sold for $532k, Amoako Boafo's yellow portrait for $1.14M (more than 5 times its high estimate), and a monumental Nicolas Party still life for $1.3M. Also record-setting was Dana Schutz's elevator painting, which was shown at the 2017 Whitney Biennial, for $6.5M. The top lot of the NY sale was a rare portrait by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec from the collection of Henry Ford that was chased up to $9M above its high estimate of $5M.

A Record-Breaking Ed Ruscha of a Word Being Tortured

Christie’s auction house put the full force of its marketing department behind a coveted Ed Ruscha word painting this fall at its New York auction of post war and contemporary art , and the effort paid off handsomely.

Hurting the Word Radio #2 (1964), which belonged to Los Angeles collectors, soared to an above-estimate $52.5 million, which Christie’s chairman of postwar and contemporary art Alex Rotter framed as a rejoinder to art-market pessimists. “We wanted to prove we could sell a painting over $50 million this season,” he said

At Christie's auction house in New York the 81-year old British (and Los Angeles) artist David Hockney became the most expensive living painter when his Portrait of an Artist sold for $90.3 million at the November post war and contemporary art auction in Rockefeller Center.

It eclipsed the previous record of $58.4 million set for a giant Jeff Koons Balloon Dog.

Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi makes auction history

The rediscovered masterpiece by the Renaissance master sells for an historic $450,312,500, obliterating the previous world record for the most expensive work of art at auction

On a historic night at Christie’s in New York in November 15, 2017 , Salvator Mundi, a depiction of Christ as ‘Saviour of the World’ by one of history’s greatest and most renowned artists, sold for $450 million , becoming the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

This stunning price reflects the extreme rarity of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci — there are fewer than 20 in existence acknowledged as being from the artist’s own hand, and all apart from Salvator Mundi are in museum collections.

With $170.4 Million Sale at Auction, Modigliani Work Joins Rarefied Nine-Figure Club

In an overheated art market where anything seems possible, a painting of an outstretched nude woman by the early-20th-century artist Amedeo Modigliani was sold at the November auction at Christie's for $170.4 million to Liu Yiqian, a former Chinese taxi driver turned billionaire art collector. It was the second-highest price paid for an artwork at auction.

Yuri Kuper was commissioned by the Bolshoi Theatre to create a new Artist’s Book or Livre d’Artiste The Swan Lake with the facsimile of the handwritten score for the ballet by Tchaikovsky. The book published in St. Petersburg is accompanied by 22 original lithographs printed in Paris. The cover of the book is a combination of the refined silk and metal.

In January 2015 Dmitry Krymov has been invited to Yale University to conduct Masterclasses and Workshops in Art and Theatre for future actors, directors and scene designers.
The Krymov Lab workshops promise to become a permanent event at Yale.
Congratulations!

Click here to view Krymov gallery and
MOFA's publication of his Six Evangelic Scenes suite.

You can read the article in December 13, 2014 issue of The New York Times international edition.

Click here to see our Gottfried Helnwein gallery

The Biggest Auction Year Ever

It has been another year of superlatives in the art world, with fairs around the world reporting record attendance and robust sales, and top auction houses taking in hundreds of millions each season.

In the first two weeks of New York November sales alone, the total at Christie's for Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary sales was a whopping $1.16 billion, of which the bulk, or $852.9 million, was realized for its single evening sale of contemporary art on November 12. The grand total at Sotheby's was $1.02 billion.

Epic Christie's $852.9 Million Blockbuster Contemporary Art Sale

Christie's marathon sale of postwar and contemporary art in November in New York was the highest among the leading auction houses offering limitless demand for masterpieces of Pop art and Abstract Expressionism, as well as some of the most in-demand living artists today. A total of 15 artist records were set, including that of Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, Martin Kippenberger and Roy Lichtenstein.

New York’s November auction season has proven to be a rollercoaster of emotion, with both Sotheby’s and Christie’s breaking records. The sale of important works from Impressionist and Modern Art have taken a surprisingly exciting departure from last year’s results, thanks to Sotheby’s, , bringing in $290 million in its Impressionist and Modern Evening sale. This robust success of the Impressionist and Modern sales coupled with exciting works by Bacon, Warhol, Richter and Wool being offered in both houses’ Contemporary sales have seemed to prove a strong buying market.

The Gottfried Helnwein retrospective was the most successful exhibition of a living artist in the history of the Albertina Museum in Vienna. 250,000 people saw the retrospective of the artist from June to October 2013.

Click here to view Gottfried Helnwein’s gallery

The Dmirty Krymov’s exhibition in Manege, the largest exhibition hall in Moscow , showed the maquettes and works from Krymov’s Theatre Laboratory in June 2013.

The book on the artist and his work as the visionary theatre director of the so called Artist’s Theater was published at the same time.

Click here to see Krymov's gallery

David Hockney’s highly anticipated iPad drawings from The Arrival of Spring series are expected to be published in 2014 in a small edition of 25.

Dmitry Krymov’s Artist’s Theatre Laboratory performed at Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford- upon- Avon.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It)” was commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival dedicated to London’s Olympics.
Ian Shuttleworth of “Financial Times” wrote: The more I think about the piece, the more profundity and joy I find in it, intertwined like lovers, at once silly and euphoric”.

Later the performance moved to the most prestigious Edinburgh International festival where it was awarded with Herald Angel, the highest festival award.

Scene from “Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It)”. With another Puppet Pyramus.

To see other Dmitry Krymov’s works click here to view his gallery.

Yuri Kuper’s “ Book of Job” is part of the Hermitage Museum exhibition “Book as Art” that opened in St. Petersburg in September 2012.

Click here to view all 22 hand painted lithographs of “Book of Job” in Yuri Kuper’s Gallery.

Brigitte Maria Mayer’s video installation "Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome", starring Jeanne Moreau was presented on September 26, 2012 at Theatre de la Ville in Paris.

For the entire video installation of ´Anatomie Titus´ click here to view Brigitte Maria Mayer’s gallery.

Brigitte Maria Mayer with Jeanne Moreau and Anna Muller in Paris.

19 October 2012
The Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City will open

´FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY´ - ONE MAN SHOW by GOTTFRIED HELNWEIN

The Museum contains works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Parmigianino, Frans Hals, Anthony Van Dyck, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Auguste Rodin and other well-known European painters and sculptors.

Recently the museum hosted the exhibition of the extravagant contemporary British artist Damien Hirst.

Click here to view Helnwein gallery

As someone who has been a longtime friend and client of the iconic American artist LeRoy Neiman , we are pleased to share some very exciting news with you. LeRoy´s long awaited memoir will finally be published in time for his 91st birthday this June, 2012 and available at retail booksellers and online.

All Told: My Art and Life Among Athletes, Playboys, Bunnies, and Provocateurs by LeRoy Neiman

Click here to see the artist´s gallery

The new theatre production "In Paris" by Dmitry Krymov with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the lead reflects the celebrated visual arts background of Krymov, a leader among the new generation of Russian directors.

Designed in black and white with giant photographs that serve as both scenery and props- Krymov´s staging creates a dynamic setting for a haunting piece of poetic theater.

Called "a theatrical visionary" by San Francisco Chronicle, Krymov received rave reviews for his production in Paris, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles and Berkley.

"In Paris" will also participate in the Lincoln Center summer theater festival in New York.

Next, Dmitry Krymov Laboratoty will be part of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre festival to celebrate London Olympics.

Click here to see the artist´s gallery

Now in its fifth edition, Art HK, May 17-20, 2012, with 260 galleries from 38 countries, is better than ever, transforming Hong Kong overnight from a sleepy backwater of contemporary art into Asia´s art capital and the third greatest art market. With half of the galleries from Asia , it is a great way to get a sense of art in the region, usually not included in New York fairs, given the scale of the market here and the wealth of local talent.

Hong Kong, due to its colonialist history, is a very comfortable place for foreigners to spend money, and that´s exactly what is making Art HK such a success.

The rage over Modern and Contemporary art spread to Asia, including a new auction record at Christie´s Hong Kong in May, 2012. Zhang Xiao-Gang with his reputation as one of China´s hottest Contemporary painters set a record: his Bloodline-Big Family: Family No. 2, 1993 was sold for $6.7million, twice its pre-sale estimate.

Record Sales at New York Spring auctions 2012
WELCOME TO THE NEW BOOM

Records were shattered at Sotheby´s Impressionism and Modern Art auction on May 2 , 2012 when "The Scream" by Edvard Munch sold for $119.9 million — making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

Of the four existing versions of this world famous image, this was the only one still in private hands, while others are in Norwegian museums.

As one of the most recognizable, the most often reproduced artworks of our time, The Scream has become almost a brand unto it self, a sort of priceless icon.

Pablo Picasso´s "Femme Assise Dans un Fauteuil", a 1941 portrait of Dora Maar, was sold at the same auction for more than $29 million, making it the second most expensive item of the evening.

Mark Rothko, Orange, Red, Yellow, oil on canvas, painted in 1961 and sold for $86,882,500 set world auction record for any contemporary work of art and world auction record for the artist at Christies New York POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART SALE IN MAY 2012

Strong Sales Revive Art Market
Autumn Auctions 2011

The record was set for Pablo Picasso’s graphic work.

“La Femme Qui Pleure, I”, the 1937 drypoint aquatint etching was sold for the record price of $ 4,5 million excluding buyer’s premium against the estimate of $1,5 -2,5 million.

See our Pablo Picasso inventory of graphic works

Late Picasso paintings have been winners for several seasons now.

“L’Aubade,” from 1967, the artist’s homage to Manet’s “Olympia” was sold at Sotheby’s for $23 million against an estimate of $18 million to $25 million.

Henri Matisse ‘s 1938 drawing “Femme Assise” set a record price at the current Impressionist and Modern Art auctions selling for $700,000 excluding buyer’s premium.

See our Henri Matisse inventory including the 1935 drawing of a Spanish woman

Postwar and Contemporary Artworks Draw Record Prices at Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

“People would rather have art than gold or paper,” suggested the Los Angeles financier Eli Broad.

Pop Art stills rules. Topping the evening was Lichtenstein’s “I Can See the Whole Room! ... and There’s Nobody In It!” a black canvas from 1961 with a man’s face peering through a peephole.

The successful bidder paid $38.5 million, or $43.2 million with fees. It was the record price for the artist at auction..

See our Alex Katz, Robert Rauschenberg and Ellsworth Kelly inventory

Return Of The Rich
Spring Auctions 2011

In the Impressionist and Modern auctions, Sotheby’s and Christie’s were both gambling on major works by Pablo PICASSO (ten Picassos at Sotheby’s and five at Christie’s).

Sotheby’s offering Femme Lisant (Deux Personnages) estimated $25m – $35m was sold for $19 million.

See our Picasso inventory

The top lot at Christies was a set of four Andy Warhol photo-booth self portraits done in shades of pale blue and lavender in 1963-64, which set a record and was sold for $38.4 million.

Roy Lichtenstein “Bathroom Interior” fetched a high price of $3 million at Sotheby’s contemporary auctions.

See our new acquisitions of Pop Artists Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly and Roy Lichtenstein.

We are excited to announce our new project with the prominent Berlin video artist and photographer Brigitte Maria Mayer.

The new project with the title “Work on Myth” has been photographed in Ethiopia and will be premiered in London next year.

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Layering images of the Parisian landscapes (Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde) Chagall creates an extremely romantic and iconic work with Romeo and Juliet. Created in 1964, this work was adapted by Charles Sorlier from a preliminary study created by Chagall for the new ceiling of the Opera Garnier in Paris. This particular image was intended as a tribute to Berlioz for his rendition of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’

Hand signed by Marc Chagall in pencil and numbered in the lower right.
39 ? x 25 5/8 in

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A rare shape linoleum cut in three colors
9 x 10, 5 in / 22 x 26,5 cm
Edition: 50

Signed and numbered. In Bloch catalogue # 1020

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Blue Skies and Blue-Chip Sales at Art Basel Miami

“The art market is back!” was the chorus in early December among most of the major dealers at the fair, even though some combination of canceled flights and the new economic reality kept the number of attendees down from prefinancial crisis years. Many dealers had come feeling cautiously optimistic after November’s successful auctions, but they were thrilled to see the new buoyancy playing out.

Autumn auction sales 2010: Return of Competition!

The New York November 2010 sales doubled the revenue total from the same sales in 2009.

This year’s New York sales generated a total of 1.1 billion dollars (vs. $524m a year earlier) and five of them crossed the $100m threshold compared with just one last year. Such high totals have not been seen since May 2008.

Six Evangelic Scenes

We are pleased to announce our first publication of the art portfolio “Six Evangelic Scenes” by a prominent artist and theatre director Dmirty Krymov, whose art we represent exclusively in the US.

Portfolio of six signed and numbered MIXED MEDIA ARCHIVAL C-PRINTS ON EPSON VELVET RAG PAPER WITH HAND EMBOSSING (edition of 25) was printed in Los Angeles and comes in the linen box with silkscreen cover. Paper size is 22 x 32 in.

For further information or to purchase the portfolio or individual works for pre-publication price, please contact Dr. Marina Ochakoff.

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Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome

We were honored to participate in the important project of the video installation by Brigitte Maria Mayer “Anatomie Titus: Fall of Rome”, featuring cinema icon Jeanne Moreau (appearing as Goth queen Tamora), which premiered at the Berlin Academy of Arts and then traveled to the REDCAT Theatre in Los Angeles and through Europe and Asia.

Frankfurter Allgemaine Zeitung called it “An adventurous, independently designed work on the process of civilization, the collateral damages of progress, and everyday media overflow.”

It has been released already as a full 3-channel version and can be acquired that way together with the equipment or may be seen on one channel as well.

We also produced 12 stills and they can be acquired as a set or purchased separately.

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Golden Mask Award

In April 2010 Dmitry Krymov has been awarded Golden Mask, the highest Russian theatre art award for his Artist’s Theatre extravaganza “OPUS # 7”, vaguely based on the drama of life and work of the world famous Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich.

The work was highly praised by the widow of Shostakovich, Irina.

In May 2010 the artist also opened the International Chekhov Theatre festival in Moscow with his allusion to Chekhov plays called “TARARABUMBIA”.

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Holocaust Children Remembered In Israel Dramatic Arts

Famous Austrian designer and artist Gottfried Helnwein designed the set and costumes for “The Child Dreams” at The Israeli Opera. Helnwein says his work and the playwright’s have a strong internal connection.

Gottfried Helnwein: “In my work, the center of everything was always the child, the child versus the world of death, the world of corruption, the world of greed and destruction, and the child standing for innocence, purity, and I think that's a spirit of the play.”

The artist also presented his work outside the Opera House.

The Installation in memory of "Kristallnacht" 1938, was for the first time presented in Israel.

Helnwein erected this art-installation originally in fall 1988 in the city of Cologne in Germany, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the pogrom-night of November 9, 1938 with large images of children's faces, in a seemingly endless row.

For Israel occasion the artist also included faces of children living in Israel in 2010.

The Installation “The Ninth November Night” has just been acquired by the Holocaust Museum in Israel and will stay there forever.

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Art Market Is Strong And Solid

Very good sales at recent auctions and art fairs worldwide.

Invest in art now and participate in soaring prices.

Since the start of 2010, frenetic activity characterized the market, as two world records were set in February and May, first by Alberto Giacometti’s Walking Man I at Sotheby’s London with ?65 million ($104.3 million), followed by Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust that stole the title, selling for a staggering $106.5 million at Christie’s New York. Strong results were also recorded at Art Basel in June, setting the stage for the highly-touted and heavily marketed London sales, whose parallel impressionist and modern art sales in New York in May achieved outstanding results. Only two weeks ago a Modigliani bust was sold at Christie’s Paris for nearly 10 times its high estimate at $ 52.6 million, a new record for an auction in France and a record for the artist, further fueling expectations.

Works on paper by Picasso and Matisse fetched unparallel prices at recent Paris and London auctions, sometimes 10 times their initial estimate.

SEE BELOW

Pablo Picasso

PORTRAIT DE FEMME
Ink, gouache and wash drawing on paper
27, 5 x 22 cm; 10 7/8 x 8 5/8 in.

ESTIMATE: 250,000—350,000 EUR
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's
Premium: 1,139,950 EUR

Pablo Picasso

LE REPOS DU SCULPTEUR

Ink and wash drawing on paper
22, 6 x 28, 7 cm

Estimate: 400,000—600,000 EUR
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 3,760,750 EUR

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Henri Matisse

SOUTY (PREMIER ETAT)
Signed Matisse and dated 45 lower left
Charcoal and estompe on paper
20 1/2 by 15 7/8 in.
52.5 by 40.5 cm
Executed in October 1945.

ESTIMATE 400,000 - 600,000 USD
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 2,322,500 USD

Henri Matisse

ETUDE POUR 'NU ROSE'
Charcoal on paper
Signed and dated 35
47.8 by 67.5cm; 18 7/8 by 26 1/2 in.

Estimate: 1,500,000—2,500,000 GBP
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's
Premium: 5,865,250 GBP

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