LONDON.- Sotheby’s February series of Impressionist & Modern Art sales in London concluded this afternoon having realised a combined total of £43,857,125, against pre-sale expectations for the series of £48,857,000-67,116,000. The Evening Sale brought £32.6 million while the strong performance of the Day Sale yielded £11.3 million (pre-sale estimate of £8.2-11.4 million) and saw a sold-by-lot rate of 83% and a sold-by-value rate of 90%. The series established a new world auction record for a sculpture by Degas as well as saw two works command prices in excess of £5 million and six lots achieve more than £1 million.

Commenting on the sales, Melanie Clore, Co-Chairman, Impressionist & Modern Art, Sotheby’s Worldwide, said: “This series of sale was the first test of the market in this field this year and we’re delighted that the strategy we employed in assembling two tightly edited sales achieved the highest sell-through rates since last summer -- 76% sold-by-lot for the Evening Sale and 83% sold-by-lot for the Day Sale. In addition, we’re extremely pleased with the new world auction record price established for a Degas sculpture of £13.3 million, an excellent price given that the same sculpture sold in 2004 for £5 million. The sales clearly demonstrate that the market continues to respond to quality and rarity.”

The top price of the series was for Edgar Degas’s Petite danseuse de quatorze ans (lot 8), which was competed for by three bidders before selling - to a round of applause - to a private Asian collector for £13,257,250. This price, which surpasses pre-sale expectations, establishes a new auction record for a Degas sculpture. The bronze captures a young ballet dancer assuming a delicate and subtle pose and it is one of the most ambitious and iconic works by Degas. One of only a handful of casts that had remained in private hands, the consignor of the sculpture was Sir John Madejski, one of Britain’s leading arts philanthropists whose generosity has helped to transform many cultural institutions in the UK, including The Royal Academy of Arts and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sir John purchased the sculpture at Sotheby’s London in February 2004 for £5 million/$9.1 million

Discussing the record-price achieved for the Degas sculpture, Helena Newman, Vice Chairman, Impressionist & Modern Art, Sotheby’s Worldwide, comments: “Petite danseuse de quatorze ans is the most important sculpture by Edgar Degas and it is undoubtedly one of the most iconic sculptures of the Impressionist period. The recordbreaking price achieved for this exceptional sculpture tonight is a testament to the strength of the market for rare works of exceptional quality.”

The £5,417,250 achieved for Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Strassenszene (Street Scene) from 1913 (lot 13) demonstrates the extraordinary growth that the German Expressionist market has witnessed in recent years. The painting - which captures a Berlin street scene, a theme which occupies a central position in Kirchner’s oeuvre - is one of the quintessential images of the German Expressionist movement. Kirchner produced only eleven Berlin street scenes in oil during the years 1913-15 and Strassenszene was the last of these important paintings from this series and date in private hands.

Further highlights of the Evening Sale included:
• Joan Miró’s monumental oil Femmes et oiseaux dans la nuit (lot 26) which performed well selling for £2,001,250 – double its pre-sale estimate of £750,000-1,000,000.
• Sculpture was highly sought-after with strong prices for Auguste Rodin’s Les Bourgeois de Calais (lot 7) - which realised £657,250, comfortably within estimate - and Aristide Maillol’s Flore Nue (lot 16) - which made £433,250, against an estimate of £300,000-400,000. These prices were – of course – in addition to the record price achieved for a sculpture by Degas.

Evening Sale Statistics:
• More than 125 bidders registered for the sale
• 22 of 29 lots were sold
• Sale fetched £32,564,300 against a pre-sale estimate of £40,620,000-55,680,000
• Six lots sold for over £1 million and eight lots for over $1 million
• New auction record was achieved for a sculpture by Edgas Degas (lot 8)
• 40% of lots sold achieved prices above their pre-sale high estimates
• Broad geographic pool of buyers: 64% from Europe, 23% from USA, 9% Asia and 4% Other

Georgina Fletcher, Deputy Director and one of the specialists in charge of the Day Sale, said: “Today’s success was an affirmation of our strategy of putting together a tightly curated sale focused on quality, freshness and competitive pricing. A number of new buyers were active today and there were as well many more established collectors re-entering the market. We were delighted to be able to offer so many works that had never been offered at auction before, which achieved strong prices, particularly Deux Têtes by Pablo Picasso and Abstract Head by Alexj von Jawlensky.”

Among the highlights of the Day Sale were:
• The top-selling lot of the Day sale was Pablo Picasso’s Deux Têtes (lot 139), a late work from 1964, which had never before been offered at auction. The painting comfortably exceeded its high estimate to sell for £646,050 (est. £380,000–450,000). Tete d’Arlequin by Picasso (lot 137) also performed well, selling for £481,250 against an estimate of £200,000–300,000.
• Au Moulin Rouge by Louis Anquetin (lot 106) sold for £493, 250, surpassing its high estimate of £300,000 and establishing a new auction record for the artist.
• Abstract Head by Alexej von Jawlensky (lot 150) realised £385,250, against an estimate of £220,000–280,000. The painting had never before appeared at auction, having been given to the consignor’s grandfather by the artist in 1933.

Day Sale Statistics:
• More than 334 bidders registered for the sale
• 124 of 150 lots were sold
• Sale fetched £11,292,825 against a pre-sale estimate of £8,237,000-11,436,000
• 55.6% of lots sold achieved prices above their pre-sale high estimates

Works restituted to the heirs of Oskar Federer:
A group of works that were recently restituted to the heirs of the Oskar Federer, a prominent industrialist in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, realised a total of £1,814,900, handsomely within pre-sale expectations (£1,559,000-2,333,000). Oskar Kokoschka’s striking panoramic view of Istanbul (lot 4 in the Evening Sale) was the highest selling work of the group when it made £1,497,250, against an estimate of £1.2-1.8 million.