Alberto Giacometti
“Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego)” (1955)
$50,005,000 at Sotheby’s
Alberto Giacometti
“Diego en chemise écossaise” (1954)
$32,645,000 at Christie’s
Giacometti highlights modern art auctions Alberto Giacometti was the star of the Impressionist and Modern art auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York, November 2013. ‘Grande tête mince’ realized $50 million at Sotheby’s, and ‘Diego en chemise écossaise’ sold for $32,6 million at Christie’s.]]>
November 7 2013, source: Christie’s / Sotheby’s
The Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale at Sotheby’s on 6 November 2013 realized a total of $290.2 million, which marks the second-highest total for an evening auction of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s worldwide, following the May 2012 auction in which Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” set a new world auction record for any work of art at $119.9 million. The top lot of the auction was Alberto Giacometti’s “Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego)” that achieved $50,005,000, meeting its high estimate.
Like usual, some works by Pablo Picasso were sought after, led by his “Tête de femme”, a 1935 portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter that fetched $39,925,000. “Mousquetaire à la pipe” set a new auction record for a late work by the artist at $30,965,000. “Automobile in corsa” by Giacomo Balla -arguably the most important painting to be offered at the market this week- set a new auction record for the artist, selling for for $11,477,000, leading the “Futur! Masterworks of the Avant-Garde” collection that totaled $64.3 million. Claude Monet’s beautiful “Glaçons, effet blanc” fetched $16,125,000.
Alberto Giacometti was also the star at the Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale at Christie’s on 5 November 2013, which realized a total of $144,299,000. His “Diego en chemise écossaise” (1954) fetched $32,645,000, setting a new world auction record for a painting by the artist. “Schwarz und Violett”, a strong abstraction by Wassily Kandinsky, was sold for $12,597,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $4,5-7,5 million. One of the most important works at the auction was “La maison de Vincent à Arles (La maison jaune)”, a drawing by Vincent van Gogh which includes a page of a letter from Vincent to his brother Theo. The drawing realized $5,485,000.
The previous day, Christie’s had held “A Dialogue Through Art: Works from the Jan Krugier Collection Evening Sale”, which realized $92,533,000. “Claude and Paloma” (1950) by Pablo Picasso was sold for $28,165,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $9-12 million, a strong price that contrasts with the failure of “Tete (Maquette pur la sculpture en plein air du Chicago Civic Center)”, an important maquette by Picasso, which had an estimate of $25-35 million and was passed at $19 million. Even more inexplicable was the failure of “Herbstlandschaft” (1911), an excellent painting by Wassily Kandinsky, passed at just $14 million.
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Monet and Kandinsky lead auctions in London, June 2013
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