Impressionist And Modern Art Sale Tops $130 Million

Monday, 07 November 2005 15:05

NEW YORK.-There was applause at Sotheby’s when Pablo Picasso’s Nu Jaune, a study for the artist’s groundbreaking work, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, from the collection of Josephine and Walter Buhl Ford II, sold for $13,736,000, far eclipsing the pre-sale high estimate of $4 million, and highlighting a highly successful sale of Impressionist and Modern Art which totaled $130,126,000 (est. $90.2/125.5 million). The Picasso was one of six works from the Ford Collection which brought a total of $23,726,400, far above the pre-sale estimate of $6.8/9.1 million. Thirty works sold above their high estimates with 32 works bringing more than $1 million each. The sale was 95% sold by value and 87% sold by lot. Auction records were established for Berthe Morisot, whose Cache-Cache sold for $5,168,000 (est. $3/4 million); and Conrad Felixmuller whose Clemens Braun sold for $1,136,000 (est. $300/400,000). “This was an absolutely outstanding as well as profitable sale,” said David Norman, Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Department Worldwide. “The market was strong across the board, with spirited bidding on many of the lots. Much of the success was due to the reasonable estimates we were able to put on property, which was primarily fresh to the market. Buying tonight was dominated by American Private Collectors, although there was depth in the bidding internationally.” Property From the Collection of Josephine and Walter Buhl Ford II Competition was fierce for works from the collection of Josephine and Walter Buhl Ford II, many of which had been off the market for many decades. Pablo Picasso’s Nu Jaune sold for $13,736,000 after a heated battle between a bidder in the room and on the telephone, a record for a work on paper by the artist at auction. Executed in 1907, the early gouache of a brilliant yellow nude had been acquired by the Fords in 1965 and thus had been off the market for 40 years. Le Grand Canal by Claude Monet, which came from another private collection, was an additional highlight of the evening selling for $12,896,000 to a bidder on the telephone. One of 37 Venetian views that the artist painted in the autumn of 1908 during a trip to the Italian city with his wife Alice, the oil on canvas depicts Santa Maria della Salute seen from the steps of the Palazzo Barbaro. Also among the top ten lots this evening was Henri Matisse’s sensuous Robe jaune et robe arlequin (Nezy et Lydia), which brought $10,936,000. Depicting two of his favorite models: Lydia Delectoriskaya and Nezy Hamid Chawat.The offering was highlighted by Amedeo Modigliani’s Portrait of Manuel Humbert Estève, a Spanish landscape painter from Barcelona whom Modigliani met in Paris, which brought $5,504,000. Figurine, a well-modeled rendition of the most important motif in Alberto Giacometti’s career, was another highlight of the evening, selling for $3,040,000 . Max Ernst’s painting, La Mer, from 1925, sparked furious competition from as many as eight bidders, finally selling to a bidder on the phone for $968,000, more than five times the high estimate of $180,000. An iconic work by Marc Chagall, Le Jongleur, brought $4,048,000 . Painted in 1943 when the artist was living in exile in New York during the Second World War, this highly imaginative composition combines all of Chagall’s best-known motifs from the prime of his care. Claude Monet’s Le Pont Japonais was sought after by five bidders, selling for $5,168,000, more than double the high estimate $2 million. One of the artist’s favorite motifs, Monet painted nearly two dozen brilliantly colorful depictions of the Japanese foot bridge from his garden at Giverny. The painting had been in the family of the present owner for the last 50 years. An additional Impressionist highlight was Berthe Morisot’s Cache-Cache, one of the artist’s best known works, which sold for $5,168,000 (est. $3/4 million), a record for the artist at auction. Depicting the artist’s sister and niece playing hide-and-seek, the painting was included in the first Impressionist group show in 1874 -- the exhibition that heralded the innovative style that would revolutionize the art world. Five different bidders in the room and on the telephone competed for Pablo Picasso’s jewel-like Tête de Femme which soared past a pre-sale estimate of $800,000/1.2 million to bring $3,376,000. Acquired by the present owner in 1945, the canvas depicts Olga Kokhlova, the Russian ballerina, and the artist’s wife.

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