All eyes on Spring art auctions

12 April 2010
Edvard Munch (1863-1945) Fertility, oil on canvas.  Estimate: $25,000,000 - 35,000,000

click to enlarge

Edvard Munch (1863-1945) Fertility, oil on canvas. Estimate: $25,000,000 - 35,000,000
(Christie's International)

The May and June sales at the major auction houses will be closely watched to see if the art market is truly rebounding from the credit crisis-induced slump.

Following the winter surprise of the record-smashing $104.3 million Giacometti price, hopes are high for strong sales of important works.

Among the headliners at the Sotheby's New York sale is Matisse's "Bouquet pour le 14 juillet 1919," estimated at $18 million to $25 million and a late self-portrait by Warhol. Christie's is offering Pablo Picasso's blue period "Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto" and a rare-to-market Edvard Munch masterpiece, "Fertility" (estimate: $25-35 million), from a private collection.



Categories: european art, American art

More News Feed Headlines
  • Julien Hudson, 1811-1844 American.  Creole Boy With A Moth, 1835, oil on canvas, courtesy of a private collection; photo courtesy of Fodera Fine Art Conservation, Ltd.
    A groundbreaking exhibition opened Dec. 9 at the Worcester Art Museum entitled “In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre-Civil War New Orleans.” Julien Hudson (1811-1844) is the second-earliest documented portrait painter of African descent to work in the United States. Little-known today, Hudson died an untimely, somewhat mysterious death, and only fragments of his oeuvre survive to tell his story.
  • 'May,' by Alexander Motyl, $25/month to rent ($550 to buy), artsicle.com.
    A bevy of new online ventures are helping to streamline the process of buying art for both beginners and established collectors, facilitating keyboard-click access to information and galleries.
  • An installation view of the new Tuscaloosa Museum of Art: Home of the Westervelt Collection.
    Last week, the Tuscaloosa Museum of Art opened its doors, finally giving a home to the art collection assembled by Jack Warner. Earlier this year, the Jack Warner Foundation and Westervelt Company separated, leaving the fate undetermined as to where their respective collections would be housed. Several key works were sold by the Westervelt Co. at auction and privately. Now, more than 800 pieces...
  • Portrait of a Man and Woman in an Interior, painted about 1666, by Eglon van der Neer (Dutch, 1634–1703).  Oil on panel.  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Seth K.  Sweetser Fund.
    At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Victoria Reed is the first and only endowed curator of provenance at an American museum. Since 2010, her role has been to research objects in the museum's collections, and new acquisitions, in order to determine the right of ownership. At times, Reed's findings have led to restitution...

Enter e-mail address to receive art news daily.
Subscribe

ArtfixDaily Blogs