By Scott Reyburn - Jul 4, 2012 6:00 AM GMT+0700
Paintings by Constable and Rembrandt starred at a $133 million auction in London last night that set a record total for any sale of Old Masters.
Constable’s 1824 landscape “The Lock” sold for a top price of 22.4 million pounds ($35 million), a record for the artist at auction, as Christie’s International found buyers for 84 percent of 64 lots.
"The Lock" by John Constable. The 1824 landscape was sold by Christie's International in its auction of Old Master and British paintings in London on July 3. Source: Christie's Images Ltd. 2012 via Bloomberg.
"A Bust of a Man in a Gorget and Cap" by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn. The 1626-27 panel painting was one of 15 Dutch Old Masters from the collection of Pieter and Olga Dreesmann being sold by Christie's International in London on July 3. Source: Christie’s Images Ltd. 2012 via Bloomberg.
"Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan," a 1610 oil-on-copper painting by Dutch Mannerist artist Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael. It was bought by a telephone bidder for 4.6 million pounds with fees in an auction of Old Master paintings at Christie's International in London on July 3 2012. Source: Christie's Images Ltd. 2012 via Bloomberg
"The Kiss" by Rodin. This bronze version of the marble group, cast during the artist's lifetime, was sold by the Sladmore Gallery for $2 million at the Masterpiece fair in London, running through July 4, 2012. Source: Sladmore Gallery via Bloomberg
The pair of JAR earrings was sold for $500,000 by the dealers Symbolic & Chase at the Masterpiece fair in London. The event, now in its third year, runs through July 4, 2012. Source: Symbolic & Chase via Bloomberg
A painting of a man with horse in a landscape by George Stubbs. The 1768 work is being offered by the Bond Street dealers Colnaghi, priced at about 1 million euros, in the Master Paintings promotion in London, running through July 6, 2012. Source: Colnaghi via Bloomberg
An pencil study of the U.S. writer James Lord by Alberto Giacometti. This 1954 work is being exhibited by the St. James's-based dealer Stephen Ongpin in the Master Drawings promotion in London, running through July 5, 2012. Source: Stephen Ongpin Fine Art via Bloomberg
In recent years, totals at auctions of historic European paintings -- traditionally the most expensive of artworks -- have lagged behind those at sales of Impressionist and contemporary pieces. Demand last night was bolstered by new bidders from emerging economies, said Christie’s, which had showed some of the pictures in Doha, Moscow, New York, Hong Kong and Amsterdam.
“We’re seeing the internationalization of the Old-Master market,” Jussi Pylkkanen, president of Christie’s Europe, said after the sale. “Asian and Russian clients are now buying.”
Christie’s confirmed that an Asian client was the lone telephone bidder for the 1626-27 Rembrandt painting “A Man in a Gorget and Cap,” at 8.4 million pounds. The work was one of 11 paintings being sold by Pieter Dreesmann, the son of the late Dutch department-store heir Anton Dreesmann.
All the Dreesmann lots sold, raising 25.3 million pounds. Most had been acquired within the last 15 years from the Maastricht-based dealer, the late Robert Noortman.
Taste Tribute
“It was a tribute to Noortman’s taste,” the Paris-based dealer Robert Haboldt said. “The market is good for quality pictures in fine condition that haven’t been overestimated.”
The Constable was the most highly valued lot, at 20 million pounds to 25 million pounds, and was consigned by Baroness Carmen ‘Tita’ Thyssen-Bornemisza, a former Miss Spain, who became Baron Hans Thyssen-Bornemisza’s fifth wife in 1985. It had been acquired by him at Sotheby’s (BID) in 1990 for 10.8 million pounds, then a record for any British painting sold at auction.
The work was guaranteed to sell courtesy of a third party “irrevocable bidder” that dealers identified as one of the auction house’s Russian clients. There were no other bidders and the unidentified guarantor was the buyer, Christie’s said.
“There just aren’t any private collectors for this kind of picture at the moment,” the New York-based dealer Richard L. Feigen said. “The Constable sold for the price of a second-tier Warhol. It’s ridiculous.”
The event raised 85.1 million pounds with fees against an estimate of 61.8 million pounds to 88.3 million pounds, based on hammer prices. It surpassed the 68.4 million-pound previous high for an Old Master auction at Christie’s in December 2009.
Masterpiece Sale
Elsewhere, a Rodin bronze of “The Kiss” was snapped up at the Masterpiece London fair.
Now in its third year, Masterpiece is billed as the U.K. capital’s equivalent of the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, with the addition of luxury brands such as Rolls- Royce cars, Ruinart champagne and Vacheron Constantin watches.
More than 160 dealers are exhibiting in a temporary structure on the Chelsea Embankment. Sheikh Saud al Thani of Qatar and Charles Saatchi were among 5,175 VIPs at the preview.
Sladmore Gallery sold a bronze of “The Kiss,” cast during Rodin’s lifetime, to a Swiss collector for $2 million. A Middle East client bought a pair of earrings by the Parisian jeweler JAR from Symbolic & Chase for $500,000.
A hand-signed 1895 lithograph of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” -- one of just 26 made -- is being offered by the Oslo- based dealer Kaare Berntsen, priced at 1.7 million pounds. The fair runs through tomorrow.
Pace Space
Pace Gallery is the latest New York contemporary-art dealership to announce that it’s opening a London space to coincide with the Frieze Art Fair in October.
It has commissioned the U.K. architect David Chipperfield to renovate a gallery in 6 Burlington Gardens, part of the Royal Academy of Arts. The space was previously occupied by Christie’s dealership, Haunch of Venison.
Pace joins fellow New York dealers Per Skarstedt, Michael Werner and David Zwirner scheduling to open spaces for Frieze.
(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Muse, the arts and culture section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)
Muse highlights include James Russell on architecture and Hephzibah Anderson on books.
To contact the writer on the story: Scott Reyburn in London at sreyburn@hotmail.com.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
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