A painting by the Italian Futurist artist Gino Severini sold for $29.6 million including fees, a record for the artist, at a Sotheby’s auction of Impressionist and Modern art in London on Wednesday. The sale brought in a total of more than $200 million.
The brightly colored 3-foot, 3-inch-high canvas, “Danseuse” (1915) had not been seen on the auction market for more than 80 years. It had been expected to fetch up to $20 million, Sotheby’s said. The seller of the painting had been guaranteed a minimum price, the New York-based auction house said. The previous record for Severini was $3.6 million, the saleroom result tracker Artnet said.
There were four telephone bidders for the work, which sold to a senior specialist in Impressionist and Modern art at Sotheby’s Europe, Philip Hook, taking instructions from a client. Mr. Hook was underbid by Mark Poltimore, who presides over Sotheby’s Russian auctions.
The 1939 Pablo Picasso oil-on-canvas portrait, “Tête de Femme (Dora Maar),” measuring 16 inches high, sold for $15.6 million.
It was one of five works being sold from the estate of the Norwegian dealer and collector Haaken Christensen to benefit the charity Médecins Sans Frontières. Never offered at auction before, the portrait of Picasso’s mistress had been expected to fetch up to $10 million, Sotheby’s said.
A sculpture by Alberto Giacometti sold for $18 million with fees, by telephone, to a New York-based Sotheby’s Contemporary art specialist, August Uribe, who was also taking instructions from a client.
The 2-foot, 4-inch-high bronze, “Trois Hommes Qui Marchent I,” had been estimated to sell for between $8 million and $12 million.
The 1948 sculpture was cast during the artist’s lifetime in an edition of six, Sotheby’s said. (Bloomberg News)

CHELSEA PATRON HAS DISCOVERED A PASSION FOR ART COLLECTIONS THANKS TO NEW FIANCÉ

translated by Giorgina Arcuri

Roman Abramovich, the forty-year old businessman of Russian origins, seems to be tired of dealing only in real-estate properties, yachts and football teams (for Chelsea he has so far spent a billion dollars). As for many Russian oligarchs, Abramovich’s new “toy” is art. Indeed, on 12th June 2008 the super-billionaire inaugurated in Moscow a new gallery centre, event that attracted to the Russian capital great names of worldwide art, such as the famous art gallery owner Larry Gagosian, director of the Tate Modern and of the Hermitage, but also many VIPs of the International Jet Set.

translated by Giorgina Arcuri

On 25th June, Sotheby’s London auction house will open the “Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale”, an extraordinary event for collectors of masterpieces by the most famous names of the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. The success of this auction seems to be anticipated by the artistic figures that will be presented. In a period when we keep on waiting for the signs of the art market crisis to surface, Sotheby’s makes the right choice, that is to auction 56 pieces of undoubted quality executed by the greatest names of the history of art. A very wise strategy that even collectors should pursue, as important works are not affected by devaluations and even if the market may slow down due to the latter, it will certainly never fail.

Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

On 7th May the “Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale” was held at Sotheby’s New York. It was an important occasion for art enthusiasts of celebrated masterpieces from the end of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century. The sale demonstrated that the art market still holds a record of 75% of sales given that it totalled 235,333,000 dollars (compared to 278.5 million from last year).

The 6th May auction brought about some confirmations, but also gave rise to creeping fears that have been circulating on the art market for a while. The top lot of the evening was the splendid painting by Claude Monet “Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil” which went under the hammer for 41,481,000 dollars. With this sale Monet exceeded the previous record at auction, realised last June during the Sotheby’s auction in London; on that occasion, “Ninphéas” from 1904 went under the hammer for 36.7 million dollars.