Considered a prime example of Monet’s skill and power, La Gare Saint-Lazare, vue extérieure sold for an impressive $32 million. Completed over a three month period of intense creativity in 1877, La Gare is one of a series of 12 paintings depicting the oldest railway station in France. Monet’s bold brush strokes capture the bustling energy of the Parisian train station and the vibrant power of the steam engine forging towards the platform. Of the 12 Gare paintings, 9 are in public institutions and 3 are in private hands.
Art News
One of the most valuable illustrated books ever produced, a first edition of John James Audubon’s “The Birds of America,” went up for auction at Christie’s in New York, June 14th, and sold for USD $9,650,000. This is nearly $2 million more than when this particular copy had sold to American collector Carl Knobloch in 2012 for $7.9 million.
At their Modern Decorative Art & Design auction this week, Bonhams offers a fine assortment of works from Mid-Century Modern Renaissance man Harry Bertoia. Bertoia was an Italian-born artist who spent most of his life in the US. Originally a painter, Bertoia had a diverse career that included jewelry and furniture design, printmaking, public sculpture, even a series of albums.
On July 4th Sotheby’s London will offer a rare treasure at auction. “The Bust of Peace” (1814), a newly recovered marble bust by Italian Neoclassical master Antonio Canova (1757-1822) will make its debut after nearly 200 years of obscurity.
Christie's continued a streak of record-breaking auctions at their Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on Tuesday. Kazimir Malevich’s "Suprematist Composition" led the sale, achieving nearly $86 million. The 1916 painting is one of his most iconic and is representative of the height of Malevich's Suprematist movement.
Not to be left behind by Christie’s record-breaking Rockefeller sales last week, at Monday evening’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sale, Sotheby’s set new records of its own. The highest auction price in Sotheby’s history went to Modigliani’s nude masterpiece, “Nu couché (sur le côté gauche),” selling for $157.2 million. Modigliani is one of only three artists whose works have achieved over $150 million at auction, the other two being Picasso and da Vinci. “Nu couché” is one of a series of nudes that Modigliani painted between 1915 and 1917.
Christie's started off a big week of auctions with a bang last night. Their 19th & 20th Century Art Evening Sale, the first in a series of auctions of the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, totaled over $646 million dollars. Touted as the most valuable collection ever offered at auction, all proceeds will go to some of the many charities the Rockefellers supported.
Sotheby’s recent auction, "A Beautiful Life: Photographs from the Collection of Leland Hirsch," presented fifty striking photos from Hirsch’s private collection. Richard Avedon’s iconic "Dovima with Elephants" led the auction, selling for $375,500, one of the highest prices of the season.
Sotheby’s recent American Art auction included works by seven important female artists in a range of styles from classical sculpture to cubism and folk art. Self-taught artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses, known as “Grandma Moses,” painted "Hurrah for Christmas," one of the highlights of the auction. An autumnal success story, Grandma Moses didn't start painting until 75, becoming one of the most famous folk artists of the 20th century.
On February 27th, Fernand Léger’s (1881-1955) L’usine or Motif pour le moteur sold at Christie’s London at the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale for over 1.9 million pounds ($2.9 million), far exceeding the auction house’s estimate of nine hundred thousand to 1.2 million pounds.
