Top Results for Picasso & Co – Big Bang for Street-Art Star Banksy

Pablo Picasso

Arturo Martini

Banksy

Otto Prutscher

There was plenty of cause for celebration at the Vienna Dorotheum following the tercentenary auctions of „Modern Art“ and „Contemporary Art“ on the evening of 29th, respectively 30th May 2007. For the auctions that were held on these two days were distinguished by a record turn-over: 5,4 million Euro, far in excess of all previous totals in these already booming categories.

Famous names brought in a veritable deluge of top sales. On the strength of the large number of clients who registered their interest in advance of the auction, and with its prominent provenance in the Beyerler Gallery, Pablo Picasso's still life of 1920 took off at break-neck speed. From a lower estimate of 180.000 Euro it raced to 264.000 Euro, for which sum it was finally knocked down to the most tenacious of the telephone bidders (Cat. No. 34).

The greatest increase in relative terms occurred during the sale of a terracotta torso of a youth by Arturo Martini (circa 1929) which started out at a lower estimate of 20.000 Euro and after a heated exchange of bids eventually went to a telephone bidder from Italy for 132.000 Euro (No. 71).

In line with expectations, Max Liebermann likewise proved highly sought-after. His Groom with horse dating to 1912 went past the pole at 84.000 Euro ("Reitknecht mit Pferd", No. 30). Another equestrian contender, Emil Nolde's Still life with horseman of circa 1930, a watercolour of superb luminousness won the prize with 120.000 Euro („Stillleben mit Reiterfigur“, No. 54).

As the auction continued its roll-call of prominent names, local greats also earned their share of the success. A very fine View of Schwarzsee Lake and the Wilder Kaiser mountain, by Alfons Walde circa 1930, was secured by a 'Sensal' representative for his principal for the sum of 168.000 Euro (No. 89). The out-and-out contest for Oskar Kokoschka's watercolour of a horse-chestnut branch, 1964, was in the end decided by the resolution of one of the bidders personally present, who was prepared to pay 108.000 Euro, or more than six times the valuation price (No. 102). Gustav Klimt's portrait of "Margaret Stonborough-Wittgenstein“ (1904/1905) attracted a large number of bids. This fine drawing, a study for the painting of the same title currently in the collection of Munich's "Neue Pinakothek", rose from its lower estimate of 18.000 to an excellent 66.000 Euro (No. 4). This bid, too, came in by telephone.

Several drawings by Egon Schiele sold for many times their valuation price. To cite a typical selection, Cat. No. 1, a landscape with rows of trees and hills in the background (1914), sold for 102.000 Euro, a portrait of a seated woman (1909) sold for 84.000 Euro (No. 12), while the Houses of Krumau, a study in coloured chalk for the oil painting of the same title, also sold for 84.000 Euro (No. 13). Egon Schiele's small oil painting Winter landscape with willows (1907), was sold to a telephone bidder for 144.000 Euro („Winterlandschaft mit Weiden“, No.14).

On the following evening of 30th May, the auction of „Contemporary Art“ continued in an even more successful vein, presenting a wide range from Street Art to Action Art.

Arriving with a Big Bang of his own, a work by the anonymous Street Art star Banksy, the „Gangsta Rat“ (2004) kept rapping until it reached 76.800 Euro (No. 345), while another of his pieces, called „Christ with shopping bags” pillorying the effects of contemporary society, was very favourably received at 31.700 Euro (No. 344).

Rainer Fetting's large scale In the bathtub (1986) climbed to 78.000 Euro („In der Badewanne I“ No. 310) and „Infinity field, torine Series III, No 1“ by Theodoros Stamos underwent a similarly remarkable appreciation, trebling its original estimate with a final bid of 60.000 Euro (No. 321).

Furthermore, the auction shone with grand Italian names, such as a particularly contested Giacomo Manzu, whose Cardinal, though seated, rose to the outstanding amount of 72.000 Euro (No. 212); „Passo di Danza“, 1954, went for an equally exceptional 60.000 Euro (No. 213).

The bidding grew heated when a gold brooch by Lucio Fontana, 1962, came up to the block, more than quintupling its estimate of 15.000 to a final 81.600 Euro (No. 221). „Op Art“ connoisseurs pushed up the price for  Victor Vasarely’s great and almost hypnotic „Retze“ to 144.000 Euro (1975/89, No. 232). Nor did two other works by the same artist disappoint: The collage „Sirt-MC“ going for 34.200 Euro (No. 233) and „Biocta-T“, 1976, for 45.600 Euro (No. 235).

Friedensreich Hundertwasser's „Peinture sur ancien Rainer II“/Painting on an Old Rainer II“ from 1958 succeeded with 180.000 Euro (No. 263), while his „Lila Dampfer“ found a proud new owner for 113.800 Euro (No. 201).

At the ”Art Nouveau” auction, also on 30th May, the top seller proved to be a mosaic by Otto Prutscher made in 1905 for the XVII. Furniture Exhibition in Vienna, a splendid work of art made of glass tesserae backed with gold and a rich hue of colours. A telephone bidder eventually managed to outbid his numerous competitors, paying 54.000 Euro, in the process multiplying the original estimate of 6.000 Euro (No. 145).

The beautiful dancer „Etoile de mer“ by Demetré Chiparus, 1930, never looked back either. With grace and elegance, this gilt bronze belied its patina when it charmed a bidder into paying 48.000 Euro, or seven times the estimate (No. 312). The most spectacular appreciation, however, was experienced by a large vase by Eduard Klablena (1914), going from 4.000 to 26.900 Euro (No. 4). Of true museum quality, two white lacquer bedside tables, designed by Koloman Moser for the Stonborough-Wittgenstein Family in Berlin, sold for 24.400 Euro (No. 177). They shared their success with Kolo Moser's small silver basket, a 1905 design manufactured by the "Wiener Werkstätte", which achieved 19.500 Euro (No. 223).

Press Office: Mag. Constanze Werner, Tel. + 43 1/515 60-406, constanze.werner@dorotheum.at

	Pablo Picasso
	Arturo Martini
	Banksy
	Otto Prutscher
	Giacomo Manzu
	Press Information