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June 2023 fine-art market intelligence

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Fine art

A Picasso portrait consigned by his ex wife’s estate sets record at German auction house

usaartnews.com

Pablo Picasso's Buste du femme (1971) sold for €3.4 million hammer price and €4.35 million with premium at Van Ham in Cologne, the highest ever for the auction house and the German auction season; the work depicts Picasso’s second wife Jacqueline Roque and was consigned from the artist’s ex-wife’s estate, selling to a Swiss collector for €4.35 million, with total evening sale at €13.9 million for multiple works including Bourgeois, Klee, Polke, Schiele, and Schwitters.

Fine art

A Picasso sale in Cologne sets a record in the frothy German auction market

usaartnews.com

The German auction house Van Ham in Cologne reported a record sale for Picasso, with Buste du femme (1971) selling for €3.4 million before fees, then a premium-inclusive €4.35 million to a Swiss collector. The sale also featured works by Louise Bourgeois, Paul Klee, Sigmar Polke, Egon Schiele and Kurt Schwitters, totaling €13.9 million for the evening, a Van Ham record. The event underscores the strength of the German auction market, with more than 15 international bidders and a broader context of rising activity in Germany’s fine-art market.

Fine art

German city restitutes a Renoir to the heirs of a Jewish banker and buys it back

theartnewspaper.com

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, View of the Sea from Haut Cagnes (around 1910) is restituted by the city of Hagen to the heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt and repurchased to remain in the Osthaus Museum. The painting will be displayed with information about its former owner, Jakob Goldschmidt. The restitution was funded by North Rhine-Westphalia, the German culture ministry and the Cultural Foundation of the States.

Fine art

German commission backs restitution of Kandinsky painting owned by Bavarian bank to Jewish heirs

apnews.com

The independent German commission recommends returning the 1907 Kandinsky painting The Colorful Life to the heirs of Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann and Irma Lewenstein Klein, who originally owned the work. The painting is currently owned by Bayerische Landesbank, and the commission’s non-binding recommendations are usually followed when parties request resolution in Nazi-confiscated art cases.

Fine art

Ownership settled on art stolen by Nazis – The Forward

forward.com

The Forward reports that ownership of two artworks taken during the Nazi era has been settled. One painting, Customers Conversing in a Tavern by Adriaen van Ostade, will be displayed at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, with compensation to the heirs of the Jewish art dealers who were forced to sell it. The other painting, Das Bunte Leben by Wassily Kandinsky, is recommended by the Germany Advisory Commission to be returned to a Dutch Jewish family.

Fine art

Klimt’s last portrait expected to sell for over £65 million at Sotheby’s

artnews.com

Gustav Klimt’s Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) is planned for auction at Sotheby’s with an estimate over £65 million ($80 million). The painting, dated 1917, is described as a star of the summer London sale and one of the finest Klimt works offered in Europe. It last sold at Sotheby’s New York in 1994 for $11.6 million with fees.

Fine art

A Kandinsky painting sold during World War II should be returned to the heirs of its Jewish owners, an advisory panel ruled

usaartnews.com

The article reports that an advisory panel for the German government ruled that Kandinsky's Colorful Life (1907) should be returned to Hedwig and Emanuel Albert Lewenstein's heirs. The painting was owned by the Amsterdam-based Lewensteins, sold in 1940 after being moved to Frederik Muller & Co., and later owned by BayernLB. The panel found the work was seized as a result of persecution, though not conclusively showing who initiated the sale.

Fine art

Klimt’s last masterpiece sells for record-breaking £85.3 million ($108.4 million) at Sotheby’s

cnn.com

Gustav Klimt’s portrait Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) sold for £85.3 million ($108.4 million) at a European auction, setting a new record for Klimt and for the artist’s works. The painting, considered Klimt’s last portrait completed before his death in 1918, was bought by an unidentified bidder in Hong Kong following a 10-minute bidding battle at Sotheby’s in London.

Fine art

German restitution commission recommends Bavarian bank return Kandinsky painting to heirs of former Jewish owners

theartnewspaper.com

The German Advisory Commission recommended that Wassily Kandinsky’s A Colorful Life (1907) be restituted to the Lewenstein heirs. The painting, which had belonged to Emanuel and Hedwig Lewenstein, was sold in an Amsterdam auction in 1940 after their family fled the Netherlands; Bayerische Landesbank owns it and has loaned it to Munich’s Städtische Galerie.

Fine art

Commission recommends Bavarian State Bank return Kandinsky painting

artnews.com

Wassily Kandinsky, The Colorful Life (1907), is recommended for restitution to the heirs Hedwig Lewenstein Weyermann and Irma Lewenstein Klein. The commission notes the painting entered the Lewensteins’ collection in 1927, was sold in 1940 during the Nazi occupation, and was later acquired by the Bavarian state bank in 1972; it emphasizes persecution and lack of clear provenance.

Fine art

The Back Room split decision

news.artnet.com

The article covers Art Basel 2023 highlights with a focus on blue-chip sales, including Louise Bourgeois works at Hauser and Wirth and a Cecily Brown piece at Gagosian, as part of a broader market recalibration. It notes higher-end market activity and day-one transactions, with mention of a major Rothko returning to market and other market dynamics.

Fine art

Sultry Klimt portrait smashes European auction record selling for £85.3m in London

usaartnews.com

Gustav Klimt's Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) (1917) sold at Sotheby’s in London for £85.3m (including fees), accounting for about half of the £199m Modern and Contemporary evening auction total. The work had a pre-sale estimate of £155.5m to £197.5m and surpassed Europe’s previous top auction price for a single work. Patti Wong bid on behalf of a Hong Kong-based client, with auctioneer Helena Newman guiding the sale.

Fine art

Klimt’s Lady With a Fan sets auction record at $108.4 million

nytimes.com

Gustav Klimt’s painting Lady With a Fan sold at Sotheby’s in London for £85.3 million with fees, about $108.4 million, setting an auction record for the artist and the highest public sale in Europe. The work was bought by Patti Wong, a Hong Kong-based art adviser, for a Hong Kong collector after competition from bidders.

Fine art

Sultry Klimt portrait sells for £85.3m in London at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary sale

theartnewspaper.com

The Klimt work Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) (1917) sold at Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary evening sale in London for £85.3m (fees included), accounting for about half of the sale total of £190.3m. The work was guaranteed by an irrevocable bid and was hammered at £74m initially, with bidding led by Patti Wong and auctioned by Helena Newman; the final price exceeded most estimates, marking a European auction record.

Fine art

Klimt's Lady with a Fan: the painting that sold for £85.3m

bbc.com

Klimt's Lady with a Fan is described as the most expensive painting auctioned in Europe, selling for £85.3m (£108.4m). The article notes Klimt’s long career, contrasts this work with his other masterpieces, and describes the painting’s square format and the enigmatic subject.

Fine art

Klimt's Lady With A Fan sets auction record at Sotheby’s with US$108.4 million

businesstimes.com.sg

The painting Lady With A Fan by Gustav Klimt sold at Sotheby’s in London for £85.3 million (S$146.5 million) with fees, setting an auction high for Klimt and for a public sale in Europe. The final price surpassed Klimt’s previous high of US$104.6 million for Birch Forest at Christie’s New York, and the sale was led by Hong Kong-based adviser Patti Wong. The work depicts an unidentified young woman against a backdrop of oriental textiles.

Fine art

Christie’s June 20th / 21st Century: London Evening Sale Totals £63,824,100 / $81,184,255 / €74,099,780

press.christies.com

Paul Signac’s Calanque des Canoubiers (Pointe de Bamer), Saint-Tropez sold for £8,015,000 and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pablo Picasso) sold for £6,462,500 in the London Evening Sale. Diane Dal-Pra’s It Belongs to You and Sahara Longe’s Self-Portrait both achieved £113,400, with the latter marking the artist’s Evening Sale debut.

Fine art

Signac’s vision of Saint-Tropez and Basquiat’s Picasso portrait lead 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale

christies.com

Signac’s vision of Saint-Tropez and Basquiat’s Picasso portrait lead the 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale at Christie’s, with the sale totaling £63,824,100 / $81,184,255 / €74,099,780. The top lots include Paul Signac’s Calanque des Canoubiers (Pointe de Bamer), Saint-Tropez, 1896, sold for £8,015,000, and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pablo Picasso), 1984, sold for £6,462,500.

Fine art

Late Klimt work shatters European auction record with $94.3 million sale

artforum.com

Gustav Klimt’s Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan), 1917–18, oil on canvas, fetched £74 million ($94.3 million) at Sotheby’s London modern and contemporary evening auction on June 27, setting a European auction record. The sale, including £14.1 million in fees, totaled $108.4 million and surpassed the previous European auction painting record, held by Claude Monet’s Le basin aux nymphaes (2008).

Fine art

yayoi kusama and ben sledsens lead christie’s post-war and contemporary art day sale

press.christies.com

Yayoi Kusama and Ben Sledsens led Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale. Kusama’s Pumpkin sold for £504,000 and Sledsens’ Throwing Dice sold for £504,000; other Kusama works included Deep Sea Necklace (£126,000) and Flower O.W.E. (£100,800). The total achieved was £12,665,520 / $15,971,221 / €14,641,341 with 90% sell-through by lot and 93% by value.

Fine art

Klimt painting sets European record with $108 million price tag at Sotheby’s London

antiquesandthearts.com

Gustav Klimt’s late-life portrait Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) sold at Sotheby’s in London for 85.3 million pounds ($108.4 million), setting a European auction record. The hammer price was 74 million pounds ($94.35 million) with buyer’s premium included, surpassing the previous European record and presale estimates.

Fine art

Sotheby’s Market Update: Uncovering Lost Histories in Partnership with the Louvre | Restitution

Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s documents the market development behind Uncovering Lost Histories in Partnership with the Louvre | Restitution. Its account reports that olivier Gabet: We’ve researched the provenance of 1,162 works of art that troubled us – including acquisitions, bequests and donations – but most have turned out to be fine.

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