NEW YORK, NY.- This November,
Christie's presents a spectacular line-up of fine art auctions, featuring the best examples of Impressionist & Modern and Post-War & Contemporary Art available on the auction market. Over the course of a fortnight, Christie's will offer over 850 works of art, beginning with its major Evening Sale of 85 works of Impressionist and Modern Art on November 3 and continuing with its Works on Paper and Day sales on November 4. The following Wednesday, November 10, Christie's will host its major Evening Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art with 76 items, followed by two Day sale sessions on November 11. The combined total of the full two weeks of sales is expected to achieve in excess of $500 million.
Marc Porter, Chairman of Christie's Americas, commented, “This season, Christie's is the auction house of choice for virtually all of the major private collections of fine art to come to market – a testament to Christie’s excellent track record and customized, client-focused approach to this category. We are honored to present rare and important works by the great masters of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Juan Gris, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Gerhard Richter, among others. Our highly-successful May Evening Sales in New York demonstrated the tremendous depth and strength of the global art market, and we have great expectations for the exceptional selection of works to be offered over the course of the next two weeks.”
Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale – November 3, 2010
HENRI MATISSE, Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV). Conceived circa 1930. Estimate: $25,000,000 – 35,000,000
“This is truly an unprecedented opportunity for the many collectors who recognize Matisse’s Back series as a milestone in modern sculpture. Over the course of 20 years, from Back I to Back IV, Matisse traced the gradual shift in our collective visual language from figuration to abstraction. With Back IV, the final sculpture in the most sustained project of his career, Matisse conceived a starkly powerful, singular expression of the human form that defined a new era in 20th century art.” – Conor Jordan, Head of Department, Impressionist and Modern Art
Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale – November 10, 2010
ANDY WARHOL, Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable), casein and graphite on linen. Painted in 1962. Estimate: $30,000,000 – 50,000,000
This Autumn is the Season for Andy Warhol, thanks to an extraordinary selection of his key works. Christie’s New York leads this group with the sale of Andy Warhol’s hand-painted masterpiece, Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable), 1962. An icon of Pop Art, it is one of the largest examples of Warhol’s most famous and beloved images of a Campbell’s Soup Can. Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Deputy Chairman, Laura Paulson notes: “Warhol’s Big Campbell's Soup Can with Can Opener (Vegetable) is a cultural icon and a pivotal image that changed the face of art history. With its impeccable provenance and freshness to the market, Christie’s anticipates the painting to be the most sensational highlight of the Season.”
Impressionist and Modern Evening Sale – November 3, 2010
FERNAND LÉGER, La Tasse de Thé. Oil on Canvas. Painted in 1921. Estimate: $8,000,000 – 12,000,000
Property from the Collection of Max Palevsky
Highlights from The Collection of Max Palevsky within Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale include five works by Fernand Léger. Most notable is Léger’s La Tasse de Thé, which features a depiction of a voluptuous curvilinear woman against a geometric background of contrasting forms in primary colors. It belongs to Léger’s pivotal series of the early 1920s, which culminated in his seminal masterpiece Le Grand Déjeuner, on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
FERNAND LÉGER, Femme sur fond rouge, Femme Assise, oil on canvas. Painted in 1927 Estimate: $5,000,000 – 7,000,000
Property from the Collection of Max Palevsky Femme sur fond rouge, Femme Assise shows Léger in his most daring and reductive style, placing a woman in tones of steely gray and black against a flat crimson background. The woman depicted in this striking work is a study in formal reduction and purification, having been rendered into a compactly succinct and perfect form.
GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE, La seine à Argenteuil, oil on canvas. Painted in 1882. Estimate: $5,000,000 –7,000,000
The Walter & Phyllis Shorenstein Collection
Of the many excellent examples of Impressionist painting in the Shorenstein Collection, a standout is La Seine à Argentueil – a magnificent 1882 work by Gustave Caillebotte. With its high-keyed color palette and dynamic compositional structure, this superb depiction of racing yachts on the Seine captures the essence of Impressionist technique and ranks among the finest of the artist’s many exquisite works.
JUAN GRIS, Violon et guitare. Oil on canvas. Painted in Ceret, September 1913. Estimate: $18,000,0000 – 25,000,000
Property from a Distinguished Private Collection: Four Modern Masterpieces
Leading this esteemed collection is Juan Gris’ spectacular Violon et guitare. Widely recognized as one of the most significant Cubist still lifes to come to auction and a personal favorite of the artist himself, the painting bears a record estimate of $18-25 million. The previous record was set in November 2008 at Christie's New York with the sale of Gris’ Livre, pipe et verres of 1915 for $20.8 million.
JOAN MIRÓ, L’Air. Oil on canvas. Painted in 1938. Estimate: $12,000,000 – 18,000,000
Property from a Distinguished Private Collection: Four Modern Masterpieces
L’Air is a Surrealist landscape of blue sky and yellow mountains that evokes Miró’s native Spain. Laden with symbols and subtext both celebratory and ominous, the colors in this whimsical landscape echo those of the Spanish national flag and that of Miró’s native region of Catalunya. The work has been featured in major retrospectives of Miró’s works at the Grand Palais in Paris and the MoMA in New York.
PAUL KLEE, Pflanze und Fenster Stilleben, oil on canvas. Painted in 1927. Estimate: $3,000,000 – 4,000,000
Property from a Distinguished Private Collection: Four Modern Masterpieces
Pflanze und Fenster Stilleben is an enigmatic view of Klee’s own surroundings at the Bauhaus in Dessau where he was an instructor alongside with his contemporaries and colleagues Wassily Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger, among others. The painting was completed in 1927, during a period of financial stability and success for Klee, who found himself free to experiment with concepts of time and space in his art. The upcoming sale marks the painting’s first appearance at auction.
PABLO PICASSO, Tête d'homme, pastel on paper. Drawn in Fontainebleau, Summer 1921 Estimate: $5,000,000-7,000,000
Property from a Distinguished Private Collection: Four Modern Masterpieces
Rounding out the collection is Tête d'homme, one of one of several important works by Pablo Picasso that are included in the sale. Tête d'homme, a pastel on paper, belongs to Picasso’s celebrated series of neoclassical figures created during the summer of 1921, when he vacationed at Fontainebleau near Paris, with his then-wife Olga Khokhlova, and their infant son Paulo. Post War & Contemporary Evening Sale – November 10, 2010
ROY LICHTENSTEIN, Ohhh...Alright..., oil and magna on canvas. Painted in 1964. Estimate on Request
Pop Art masterpiece Ohhh...Alright…., 1964 by Roy Lichtenstein is the top lot in the auction and is expected to realize more than $40 million. This work characterizes the artist’s captivation and inspiration with techniques of commercial printing and reproduction articulated in his signature Ben-Day dots. The stunning blue-eyed, flame-haired beauty that fills the frame has been lifted from the pages of a romance, comic and forms part of the iconic cast of dream-girls painted between 1961-1965 that saw Lichtenstein attain international prominence as one of America's most exciting and controversial artists.
JASPER JOHNS, 0 through 9, acrylic resin and emulsion, paper and printed paper collage, encaustic and lithograph laid down on panel. Painted in 1961. $9,000,000 –12,000,000
0 through 9 is one of a small number of paintings on canvas and paper that Johns created during his astonishing creative burst between 1965 and 1963. Works from the series reside mostly in museums including the Tate Gallery in London and the San Francisco Museum of Art. This work has been in a private collection since the 1960's. The 0 through 9 compositions play with different ways of making abstract paintings from lack and white to vivid color. This work has a lush painterly quality with an overlay of pointillistic flecks, offering the work a celebratory feeling akin to confetti or polka dots.
GERHARD RICHTER, Zwei Kerzen, oil on canvas. Painted in 1982. $12,000,000 –16,000,000
Gerhard Richter’s most monumental and iconic picture, Zwei Kerzen, is an image that is totally universal and transcends every boarder for collecting. It will be offered at auction in November for the first time and is expected to realize $12,000,000 – 16,000,000.
JEFF KOONS, Balloon Flower (Blue), high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating. Executed from 1995-2000. Estimate: $12,000,0000 –16,000,000 Property from the Daimler Art Collection
Balloon Flower (Blue) is one of Jeff Koons’ most important outdoor sculptures and belongs to his acclaimed and beloved Celebration series, which has contributed to the artist’s global status and taken his market to the highest level at auction. In July 2008 Koons’ Balloon Flower (Magenta), 1995-2000, another unique version of this sculpture, broke a world record for the artist at auction, selling at Christie’s London for $25,752,051. There are only five Balloon Flowers in existence, each a different color.
ALEXANDER CALDER, Tableau noire (The Blackboard), stabile–painted steel. Executed in 1970. Estimate: $2,500,000 – 3,500,000
Property from the Collection of Max Palevsky
Tableau noire (The Blackboard), a monumental and joyous sculpture, forms a cornerstone of Max Palevsky’s collection and stands as a lasting monument to an artist who dedicated his life to redefining the status quo and forging new ways of solving very modern problems. Tableau noire contains many of Alexander Calder’s signature motifs — his embrace of color, his intense interest in structure and an added touch of whimsy, all combined into an outstanding work.
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, Untitled, acrylic, oil stick and graphite, 1987. Estimate: $5,000,000 – $7,000,000
The Collection of Dennis Hopper
The top lot in The Dennis Hopper Collection is Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled 1987, executed in acrylic, oil stick and graphite. The stylized composition is coated in numerous images including, visages, text and mixed media. The visual use of text riffs from the textual “cut-up” style of Beat generation writer William Burroughs in the 1950’s.
ANDY WARHOL, Portrait of Dennis Hopper, 1971, synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink. Estimate: $800,000 – $1,200,000
The Collection of Dennis Hopper
Andy Warhol’s Portrait of Dennis Hopper, 1971, in synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink, with shades of grey, blue and ecru is another Hopper highlight. Warhol photographed Hopper, immortalizing his friend and subject in the vein of his other famous subjects including, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.
