The agenda of art lovers in the month of September will be full of important appointments for the art market, with regard to both ancient art and modern and contemporary art.   Various sales will be held by the different international auction houses.  All ready to start a second semester wondering what it will be like.
If Sotheby’s has decided to start the autumn season with a marketing sale entirely dedicated to Damien Hirst, their competitor Christie’s has decided to start business with a much more modest auction.  Indeed, on 9th September the “First Open – Post War and Contemporary Art” will be presented in New York, a good occasion in which the public will be offered 232 lots by authors who have become part of the second nineteenth-century art Olympus.  Looking through the catalogue we can see great names and extraordinary works.   From Willem de Kooning’s drawings presented with an estimate fluctuating between a minimum of 3 thousand to a maximum of 30 thousand dollars to the beautiful works by Sol Lewitt (7 works estimated between 10 and 30 thousand dollars).  But even works by Tom Wesselmann, Joseph Beuys,  Sam Francis, right up to more contemporary figures such as Marina Abramovic, Luc Tuymans, Sarah Lucas, Jeff Koons and many more.
During the auction, great attention should be paid to “Untitled Film Still #13” by Cindy Sherman, which will start with an estimate of 300-500 thousand dollars.   A typical shot of US photography which, through these conceptual self-portraits, recalls the attention towards the stereotype of the woman as she appears in cinematography, on television or the newspapers.  Precisely the series “Untitled Film Stills” encloses black and white photographs in which Sherman places herself as an unknown actress in shootings that evoke foreign films, Hollywood images, B-movies and noir films. 
Among the 232 lots that will be presented in the New York venue, there is one that stands out, “1978 BMW 320 Art Car”, a sort of model of the famous German car, in which the floral design was taken care of by Pop Art genius Andy Warhol (furthermore, in the same offer there is the print that bears the same decorative motif). A work executed in 1978, auctioned by Christies’s for an estimate included between 250 and 350 thousand dollars.
Moreover, the New York auction has selected other works that are very interesting for their aesthetic quality.  Among these we find a beautiful work by David Salle, renowned American artist belonging to the eighties, famous for his reproductions of some parts of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.   We are referring to “Nouns”, a work executed in 2003, which comes from the Spike Gallery in New York, and will be auctioned by Christie’s for 200-300 thousand dollars.
On the other hand, if your passion is the art from the sixties do not miss out on “Modern Painting in Porcelain” by Roy Lichtenstein (estimate 200-300 thousand dollars).  Another interesting work is Peis Art Garden [Anagram (A Pun)]”  executed in 1997 by Robert Rauschemberg, estimated at 200-300 thousand dollars.
This selection of works also includes “Afro Muses: Harem 6” by Chris Ofili, English artist who made the public become aware of him with his pictures of complex construction that deal with various themes: from cultural politics to black culture stereotypes. The work presented by Christie’s is a series of 9 drawings (watercolour and graphite on paper) executed between 1995 and 2005, which will be put on sale with an estimate included between 100 and 150 thousand dollars. (translated by Giorgina Arcuri)