Contemporary Week 2017: highlights and sneak peek

Contemporary Week 2017: modern art, contemporary art, jewellery, and watches

Modern and contemporary works of art take centre stage at Dorotheum Contemporary Week 2017 from 30 May-2 June. The auctions include works by Enrico Castellani, Alberto Burri, Marino Marini, Sigmar Polke, Paolo Scheggi, Giorgio de Chirico, Bruce Nauman and Lucio Fontana.

A highlight amidst the contemporary art offerings on 31 May: a statement piece by the Pop Art eroticist Tom Wesselmann, whose robot-like, cigarette-smoking “American Nudes” on colourful backdrops made him famous. The Wesselmann in the auction depicts a cigarette dramatically streaming smoke.

Another of the lots in the auction is equally quirky. From the earliest portrayals of the Virgin Mary, the history of Western art is rife with depictions of mother and child. Fernando Botero, who achieved renown for his oversized portraits, makes an unapologetically profane contribution to this genre.

Contemporary Week 2017 highlights

Adolf Luther, Spherical concave mirror object, 1968, € 50,000 - 70,000

Agostino-Bonalumi, Blu, 1971, € 90,000 - 120,000

Alberto Burri, Nero combustione, 1973, € 240,000 - 280,000

Bruce Nauman, Maquette for 5 foot 8 inch figure, 1998, € 75,000 - 90,000

Enrico Castellani, Superficie Rossa, 2005, € 200,000 - 300,000

Enrico Castellani, Superficie verde, 1991, € 200,000 - 300,000

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Shepherds with cow at the Stafelalp, 1918, € 90,000 - 120,000

Fernando Botero, Mother and child, 1994, € 180,000 - 220,000

Franz West, Untitled, 1987/89, € 45,000 - 70,000 — Franz West, Untitled, 1987/89, € 45,000 - 70,.000

Giorgio de Chirico, Vita silente con frutta, ca. 1964, € 60,000 - 80,000

Giulio Evola, Tendenze di idealismo sensoriale, 1919/20, € 40,000 - 60,000

Giuseppe-Uncini, Cementamento, 1962, € 110,000 - 160,000

Jean Arp, Le Dame de Delos, 1959, € 50,000 - 70,000

Joan Miro, Untitled, 1964, € 40,000 - 60,000

Josef Albers, Study for Homage to the Squaren: Earthen I, 1955, € 170,000 - 220,000

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, 1960, € 150,000 - 200,000

Marc Quinn, The Extra Tropical Troposphere, 2006, € 80,000 - 100,000

Maria Lassnig, self porträt, 1962, € 35,000 - 50,000

Marino Marini, Piccolo Miracolo, 1955-56, € 220,000 - 320,000

Otto Muehl, Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1989, € 40,000 - 60,000

Paolo Scheggi, Zone riflesse, 1963, € 170,000 - 250,000

Pier Paolo Calzolari, Untitled, 1976, € 130,000 - 180,000

Roberto Sebastian Matta, Untitled, 1970, € 65,000 - 85,000

Sigmar Polke, Untitled, 1998, € 250,000 - 300,000

Tom Wesselmann, Smoking Cigarette #2, 1980, € 380,000 - 480,000

Victor Vasarely, Barson 2, 1966, € 50,000 - 70,000

“Informalism”

The art style know as Informalism or Art Informel is a major focus of the contemporary art auction. The process of making art and the use of spontaneous brushstrokes are central to these abstract works, which were produced in the spirit of post-war Modernism and hence with a drive towards renewal.

Art Informel features broadly in the auction, ranging from gestural drawings by Hans Hartung and dynamic calligraphic pieces by Georges Mathieu and Emilio Vedova to the thick impastos of Nicolas De Staël.

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