John Constable rediscovered preparatory sketch Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) sold for $5,300 in 2013 and is now estimated at $2–3 million for Sotheby’s New York sale on January 29; the work is linked to Constable and Tate Britain. The piece is described in Sotheby’s catalog as a rediscovered preparatory study for Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, with provenance tracing to the Hambleden collection and prior sale history at Christie’s and Foster’s in London.
The case concerns a still life by Paul Cezanne and six other paintings stolen from Michael Bakwin in the Berkshires in 1978. Robert Mardirosian, 73, of Falmouth, goes to trial on federal charges of possessing and transporting stolen goods related to the paintings, including Cezanne's Bouilloire et Fruits, as investigators traced the artworks to Monaco and Geneva over decades.
Claude Monet, Les Peupliers à Giverny (1887) is set to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London with a pre-sale estimate of $13.8–18.4 million. The sale includes multiple Monet works, including Le Grand Canal (1908), and proceeds from Les Peupliers will benefit MoMA’s acquisitions fund; the painting has been at MoMA since 1951 and previously belonged to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Jesús Rafael Soto is discussed as a leading kinetic artist with a thriving market, recent museum shows, and Perrotin Gallery representing the Soto estate. The piece mentions the 1999 Pénétrable BBL bleu, Soto’s retrospective activity at the Guggenheim and major museums, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston showcasing Houston Penetrable (1996).
Sotheby’s won a lawsuit over the attribution of The Cardsharps, a painting once claimed to be by Caravaggio and later valued at £10 million ($15.8 million). Lancelot William Thwaytes had sued Sotheby’s for undervaluing the work, which was authenticated by Sotheby’s experts but ultimately dismissed; the piece has been on loan to the Museum of the Order of St. John.
The London High Court dismissed the case brought by Bill Thwaytes alleging professional negligence by Sotheby’s over a misattribution of a Cardsharps painting, originally sold for £42,000 in 2006 though valued as possibly by Caravaggio. Experts and Sotheby’s maintained it was not by Caravaggio, and the court ruled the painting’s quality did not indicate attribution to the master, noting expert attestations and the department’s unanimous opinion that it was an anonymous copy.
Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale Attese (1965) is estimated at $7.5–10.6 million. The Hoglund collection includes works by Lucio Fontana, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jean Tinguely, among others, to be offered at Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale in London. Other highlighted works include Rauschenberg Untitled (small oil on canvas #4) (1963) estimated at $1.2–1.8 million and John Chamberlain’s Swans-52 (1976) estimated at $529,000–681,000.
Christie’s reported 2014 art sales of £5.1 billion, about $7.7 billion, up 12% from 2013, with postwar and contemporary art contributing £1.7 billion (~$2.6 billion) of the year’s £4.2 billion ($6.4 billion) public sales. The NY sale of contemporary works in New York grossed $852.9 million, a new high for any art auction, with Warhol’s Triple Elvis (Ferus Type) selling for $81.9 million.
The Center for Art Law post discusses a court dispute involving Ronald O. Perelman and Larry Gagosian over a Jeff Koons sculpture and a Cy Twombly painting, with background on the sale tensions and related claims including breach of contract, fraud, and unjust enrichment.
The German art adviser Helge Achenbach was ordered by a district court in Düsseldorf to pay €19.4 million in damages to the heirs of Aldi heir Berthold Albrecht. The civil case concerns alleged defrauding of up to €23 million; Achenbach is also involved in a separate criminal trial. Van Ham will auction artworks from Achenbach Art Consulting, with Sotheby’s securing around 100 pieces for a New York auction, and a broader collection of about 1,600 pieces to be sold in Düsseldorf and Cologne.
Francis Bacon, Two Studies for Self-Portrait, (1977) is the top lot at Sotheby’s London Contemporary Art Evening sale on February 10, with an estimate of £13 million to £18 million. The work is one of three rare diptychs created after the death of George Dyer and is the only double self-portrait among those sold at auction; it has previously sold for £353,500 in 1993, and Sotheby’s notes its dark palette and mature period in Bacon’s career.
The ceramic mosaic Hong Kong Phooey by French street artist Invader sold at Sotheby's in Hong Kong for $307,000, a world auction record for Invader. The piece, Alias_HK 58, measures 1.3 by 2.1 meters and was created after its removal from a Hong Kong wall; the sale also included Tracey Emin's turquoise neon work, which fetched $88,277.
Gerhard Richter’s Vierwaldstätter See (Lake Lucerne), 1969 and Cy Twombly’s Untitled (New York City), 1970 lead Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London, with additional works and a charity donation component linked to Goldsmiths. The sale is highlighted by a world-record precedent for Twombly and includes a second highest pre-sale low estimate for the Europe Evening Auction at £95 million across 64 lots.
Monet doubles and a Francis Bacon self-portrait headline Sotheby’s London display for an estimated £265 million; highlights include five Monets, a Bacon double self-portrait, Matisse, Fontana, and Toulouse-Lautrec, with various estimates up to £30 million for Le Grand Canal and other works.
John Constable Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows discussed in the article. The work sold for $5.2 million at Sotheby’s, and was confirmed as Constable’s work thanks to the buyer who purchased it for $5,300 in July 2013.
John Constable is confirmed as the creator of a painting originally believed to be by a follower. The oil sketch, measuring 18 by 24 inches, sold at auction in New York for about £3.4 million after restoration and confirmation by Tate Britain expert Anne Lyles that it is a lost Constable.
Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (2010) sold for $4.5 million, setting a new record for the artist. Mark Bradford’s Biting the Book (2013) realized $3.9 million, more than double its low estimate. The sales occurred at Phillips London during the contemporary art evening sale totaling $27.3 million.
Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild sold for $46.3 million at Sotheby’s London, setting a new auction record for a living European artist. The painting was valued at $21.3 million to $30.5 million, and the overall Sotheby’s contemporary-art sale in Europe realized $188 million.
Christie’s linked works in its February Impressionist and Modern sales to the progression from Fauvism to Cubism, including André Derain’s Bateaux au Port de Collioure and Georges Braque’s Paysage à L’Estaque, returning to auction after more than half a century.