LONDON--Christie's sold the most expensive work in this week's
Impressionist and Modern evening sales Tuesday: Juan Gris' 1915
still life "The Checked Tablecloth," for $56.7 million.
This high-water mark was reached after a dramatic salesroom tug
of war between two Western art dealers that highlighted the absence
of aggressive Asian bidding at Christie's and Sotheby's for the
type of work by Camille Pissarro, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van
Gogh that Eastern collectors have favored in the past.
Lefevre Fine Art, a London dealership, beat out trans-Atlantic
dealer Alexander Apsis for the Gris. Unusually, Mr. Apsis stood up
several times during the bidding, phone in hand, and at one point
bid right as auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen slammed down his hammer at
$49 million, prompting an awkward pause before bidding
continued.
The $56.7 million price was unprecedented for Gris, besting the
previous record of $28 million for "Violin and Guitar," sold at
Christie's New York in 2010.
Sotheby's also set a record with its top work Wednesday, Camille
Pissarro's "Boulevard Montmartre, Spring Morning," which at $32
million smashed Pissarro's record of $7 million set at Sotheby's in
November 2009.
The house estimated it between $11.3 million and $16.1 million,
but at least nine bidders fought to push the price up before it
finally went to a phone bidder via a Sotheby's specialist who
usually handles U.S.-based clients.
Art history met modern technology during the bidding as art
dealer Thomas Seydoux filmed his business partner Lionel
Pissarro--the artist's great-grandson--who bid steadily before
stopping around $19 million.
The Pissarro received high publicity before the sale, as it was
restituted recently to the heirs of Max Silberberg, a Jewish
industrialist and prominent collector from whom the work was stolen
by the Nazis.
Until last year it hung in the Israel museum as part of the
restitution deal, meaning that the work came to market fresh, from
a prominent collection, and having been placed in a respected
museum--a rare combination that helped push up the price.
Dealers in London predicted that the Pissarro would receive
aggressive Asian interest as is common for iconic examples of
Impressionist works often passed over by edgier Western
collectors.
But the house's Chinese-speaking specialists didn't place any
aggressive bids on the work, and Patti Wong, Sotheby's
Mandarin-speaking chairwoman of Asia who fields bids for
high-profile Asian clients, departed mid-sale.
After the auction, Helena Newman, Sotheby's recently named
co-head of Impressionist and Modern art, demurred on the topic,
citing only the "deep breadth" of bidding from 44 different
countries.
Bidders at both houses proved Picasso to be in high demand;
Christie's earned $27.5 million for the 1955 painting "Woman in
Turkish Costume in an Armchair," while Sotheby's saw a surprise hit
in "Minotaur Composition" a 1936 work on paper depicting cavorting
naked ladies and a virile Minotaur.
The piece once belonged to collector Jan Krugier and sold for
$19.9 million, a record for a work on paper far above its $1.8
million to $2.5 million estimate. Charlie Moffett, a
Manhattan-based specialist who typically works with U.S.-based
clients, took the winning bid.
"It had the right ingredients: two similar works are in the
Musée Picasso in Paris and it was completely fresh to the market,"
said Ms. Newman.
Overall both houses fared well, staving off concern from dealers
that the success of the Impressionist and Modern sales last
November in New York was a one-off in the midst of a financial
crisis, rather than a sign that the art world is emerging from a
slump.
Christie's revised their total auction estimate to between $184
million and $266 million after they withdrew $49 million worth of
Miró works following a botched consignment of works from the
Portuguese government. It sold 86% of its 76 offered lots, totaling
$288 million.
Sotheby's sold 89% of their works for $266 million total, the
highest ever total for a London evening sale, but a figure that
fell shy of Christie's despite packing 89 lots into a marathon
three-hour event.
Next week both houses will hold sales of postwar and
contemporary art.
Write to Mary M. Lane at mary.lane@wsj.com
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