An homage to severe geometric form? A genuflection to amorphous art constructs? An ovation to curvaceous lines? All are among what the upcoming Dorotheum auction week has to offer. The visual range of the auctions to be held at Dorotheum between 13th and 17th May 2013 covers the entire spectrum, from a pictorial version of Josef Albers' „Homage to the Square“, to a Polyester chair by Tom Dixon, and a ceramic figure of Daphne by Dagobert Peche. Modern and contemporary art, design, art nouveau, silver, jewellery, as well as wrist- and pocket watches will all feature among the scheduled events.

Auction Week 13 - 17 May 2013

Art nouveau & 20th cent. arts and crafts
Monday, 13th May 2013, 5 P.M.
Silver
Tuesday, 14th May 2013, 1 P.M.
Design
Tuesday, 14th May 2013, 6 P.M.
Jewellery
Wednesday, 15th May 2013, 2 P.M.
Modern Art
Wednesday, 15th May 2013, 6 P.M.
Contemporary Art
Thursday, 16th May 2013, 6 P.M.
Wrist- and Pocket Watches
Friday, 17th May 2013, 4 P.M.

Public Viewing:
from Saturday, 4th May 2013

Venue:
Palais Dorotheum, Wien 1, Dorotheergasse 17

Press:
Doris Krumpl, Tel. +43-1-515 60-406, doris.krumpl@dorotheum.at

Online Catalogues:
www.dorotheum.com
 

OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD
Contemporary Art Auction 16th May 2013

International pedigree continues to be the key phrase as far as contemporary art is concerned. There will be a particularly strong presence of the German and Italian modernists who started out at “Zero” during the 1960s. This includes Alberto Burri's „Bianco Nero“ (€ 100.000 – 150.000), along with Enrico Castellani's „Superficie nera“(€ 80.000 – 120.000), Günther Uecker's tightly-packed nail image „Feldschlacht“ (Field Battle, 1982, € 80.000 – 100.000), and a canvas by Otto Piene. Dating to the same period is Josef Albers' green-grey version from the famous „Homage to the Square“ series, by the title „Spring In“. In this series, the artist uses industrial paints to depict several nested squares. Depending on its neighbours, the same colour has different effects, serving as the basis for Albers' theory about the subjective nature of visual perception – "Only appearances do not deceive". Trained at the German Bauhaus before emigrating to the United States in 1933, the artist went on to pave the way for Hard Edge painting and for Op Art (€ 160.000 – 220.000).

An explosive sculpture of a three-dimensional whale beached at the Dorotheum belongs to the Moby Dick series of the American star painter Frank Stella, one of the pioneers of Colourfield and Hard Edge painting (€ 200.000 – 250.000). „Miss Polka Dot“, Yayoi Kusama, naturally adds her characteristic dots to a pumpkin object measuring 40 cm in diameter (€ 70.000 – 100.000). Mathias Weischer combines outrageously good painting, oscillating somewhere between abstraction and representationalism, with an unusual field of view when he allows the viewer a glimpse into his „Bath“ (Bad, 2002), or rather, the shower. The painting by this adherent of the New Leipzig School is valued at 60.000 - 80.000 Euro. Piero Manzoni's multiple „Corpo d’Aria“ (Air Body) is informed by the same kind of subversive humour underlying some of this artist's other works, such as his balloons filled with artist's breath or his canned artist's excrement. The object presented at Dorotheum consists of a wooden box containing a plastic balloon, that can be inflated and placed on a metal stand when needed.

The selection of Austrian art ranges from the ornamental colourfulness of the early Friedensreich Hundertwasser („Das Postschiff kommt“, 1960, € 130.000 – 160.000), to Gottfried Helnwein's evil portrait of Mickey Mouse, and to the work of Erwin Wurm, Franz West, and Heimo Zobernig.

ADVENTURES IN THE SKY
Modern Art Auction 15th May 2013

Dating from the thirties, Fernand Léger's painting „Composition au fond jaune“ will be one of the top lots of the modern art auction on 15th May 2013. Several paintings by Giorgio Morandi, master of the lyrical still life and abstract landscapes, have already successfully sold a previous Dorotheum events. The May auction will feature two more works by the artist, one a „Natura Morta“ depicting a bowl and some vases (ca. 1948, € 250.000 – 300.000), the other a landscape (€ 300.000 – 400.000).

The atmospheric Nolde watercolour „Herbstabend“ (Autumn Evening, € 80.000 – 120.000), a „Biergarten – Restaurationsgarten“ (Beer Garden, € 160.000 – 200.000) captured by Max Liebermann's seemingly casual, free brushstrokes, along with Giorgio de Chirico's horses in the manner of antiquity (1965 € 110.000 – 160.000) and a „Portrait of Raissa“ (€ 150.000 – 200.000) from his metaphysical phase will provide just some of the highlights of the international art selection. Gino Severini's „Le Crabe e le pot orange“ has been valued at 45.000 to 65.000 Euro.

In addition, the auction also promises „adventures in the sky“, under the heading aereopittura: Four paintings/collages by Italian Futurists (Crali, Di Bosso, Tato, D‘Anna) who from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s captured the aviation craze on canvas, producing remarkable odes to technology and speed.

Modern art from Austria is, among other works, represented by a mountain trooper valued at 200.000 - 280.000 Euro, the „Kaiserschützen (Dolomitenwacht)“ by Albin Egger-Lienz, as well as by the expressive small-format „Trauernde Frauen" by Kolo Moser (Mourning Women, € 32.000 – 42.000). Gustav Klimt's 1897/98 portrait of a lady in coloured chalk and 'lost profile' manner is lent additional charm by a frame made by Klimt himself (€ 60.000 – 80.000). Despite the fact that it is named after a single season, Alfons Walde's „Alpine Summer“ is a painting for all seasons, "the epitome of a landscape painting" according to Gert Ammann (Alpensommer, € 140.000 – 220.000).

PLEASE BE SEATED!
Design Auction 14th May 2013

Even though a great variety of objects at the design auction on 14th May 2013 claim to be seats of one sort or another – ranging from the fin de siècle to contemporary prototypes – many of them are considered to be art, with only a fine line dividing the everyday object from the work of art. Gaetano Pesce combines sculpture and painting in his Pratt-Chair, produced in 1984 in New York, in nine different versions. Number 7, now available at Dorotheum, has been valued at 12.000 - 16.000 Euro. The Monofilo-Chair, designed in 1955-62 by Luciano Grassi, Sergio Conti and Marisa Forlani recalls the drawings of the nineteen-fifties (€ 7.500 – 8.500).

Tom Dixon's amorphous green-yellow MAK chair was actually created from shaped plastic at the Vienna Museum of Applied Art (€ 12.000 – 18.000). Famous for his unfolding DDR (GDR) egg-seat, the Hungarian-born designer Peter Ghyczy shows a different aspect of his work at this auction. In the late 1960s, he created the Design-Center Lemförde in Germany, which produced the seat ensemble - consisting of a settee, two armchairs, and two stools – now offered at auction. The set of seats is one of only four prototypes (€ 12.000 – 15.000).

The auction will also feature a particularly extensive selection of glasses, ceramic objects, and carpets. One rather amusing example being „Sunny Side up“, (2001) by the Dutch designer Isabelle Leijn: A carpet like fried eggs, the yolks functioning as inflatable seats or cushions (€ 3.000 – 4.000).

VIENNA, ZURICH, AND PARIS
Art Nouveau Auction 13th May 2013

A seven-part toiletry set, designed in 1905 by Josef Hoffmann for Paul Wittgenstein, will be one of the top-lots of the art nouveau auction on 13th May 2013. The ensemble, in the perfect production of the Wiener Werkstätte is valued at 50.000 - 70.000 Euro. The showrooms of the Zurich branch of the same legendary Wiener Werkstätte were designed by the artist Dagobert Peche and once displayed that artist's wooden sculpture of „Daphne“. The auction is happy to be able to present a hitherto unknown ceramic version of this sculpture (€ 40.000 – 60.000). Yet another attractive female figure, the „Danseuse au cothurne“ by Agathon Leonard, comes in the form of a 60 cm tall lamp and is estimated at 20.000 and 25.000 Euro.

MANUFACTUM EST
Silver Auction 14th May 2013

The highlight of the silver auction on 14th May 2013, presenting historical silver from all the major European manufactories, will be a gilt silver lidded tureen by Jean Baptiste Odiot belonging to the Borghese-Service. Made in Paris between 1798-1809, this magnificent piece of silverware is valued at 40.000 - 60.000 Euro.