Download images: Please click on the preview image (to be used free of charge only for media reports on Dorotheum auctions, Photocredit: Dorotheum Vienna)
Glamorous Finish with Modern Art - Record Result for Werner Berg
Chaim Soutine, Maison aux environs de Paris,
1918, realized price € 340.800
Giorgio de Chirico, Cavallo e zebra in riva al mare,
1963, realized price € 151.050
Werner Berg, Bifurcation, 1958
realized price € 116.200
Bronze Figure, Demetre H. Chiparus, Egyptian dancer,
ca. 1930, realized price € 19.820
Prominent names were the focus of the Vienna Dorotheum auction of Modern Art on 26. 11. 2009. The Dorotheum auction week closes with another major success.
At 340.800 Euro, the evening's starred lot was a large (55,2 x 38 cm) 1918 oil painting of a house near Paris by Chaim Soutine. The White Russian artist (b. 1893) escaped the poverty of his native country to go to Paris where he became one of the foremost proponents of the Ecole de Paris, in the distinguished company of Amedeo Modigliani and Marc Chagall (Cat. No. 282).
All of the works from Giorgio de Chirico's late period saw serious bidding, a French buyer winning the contest for an oil painting of a horse and a zebra by the seaside with an excellent final bid of 151.050 Euro (Cat. No. 239). The dynamic abstract title lot by the Futurist Giacomo Balla stirred things up to the order of 51.540 Euro (Cat. No. 236).
Classic Austrian modern art likewise brought in results that far exceeded valuations, pride of place going to the evocative Crossroads by Werner Berg. At 116.200 Euro, the painting, according to the price databank „artnet“, achieved the highest price yet for a work by this artist („Weggabelung“, Cat. No. 261). Berg's Winter Still Life reached 73.500 Euro („Winterstillleben“ Cat. No. 268).
The Art Nouveau auction in the afternoon similarly exceeded expectations. Fin de siècle applied art, from Josef Hoffmann to Demetre Chiparus, was received with enthusiasm by international bidders.
Press Office:
Doris Krumpl, Tel. + 43 1/515 60-406
doris.krumpl@dorotheum.at
