“Several auction records were set” – Kommersant FM

Kommersant FM columnist Dmitry Butkevich talks about the highest results obtained at the auction.

The October auction at Christie’s, as observers note, “gave some confidence to the art market.” The evening consisted of two parts: “XX/XXI Century” and “The Sam Josefowitz Collection”.

The total turnover was $117.7 million, and several auction records were set, in particular for Felix Vallotton and Aristide Maillol (interestingly, for a painting by this famous sculptor).

The highest price was achieved for a painting from the Sam Josefowitz collection, A Quiet Life (1918) by Kees van Dongen: two intertwined figures, one dark blue, the other a bright purple-red. It caused intense trading.

Previously, the work was in the collection of stylist Paul Poiret, who hung right above his bed. The painting went for $13 million, twice the estimate. It is now the second most expensive work by van Dongen on the open auction market.

Other notable results at Christie’s: Perennial market leader Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Future Sciences Against Man,” which was offered at auction for the first time after being owned successively by the Gagosian and Templon galleries, reached $12.6 million.

Peter Doig’s House of Pictures, a monumental three-metre panorama featuring a solitary silhouette in front of a dark gallery window, sold under its asking price for $7.3 million.

Felix Vallotton’s Cinq heures (Five Hours) (1898) reached $4.45 million. Couple embracing in a red chair; gouache on cardboard of impressive dimensions (36 x 58.1 cm). The result was a new auction record for the artist.

And the top lot is not in price, but in significance – the magnificent portrait of Mademoiselle Jeanne Faray (1888-1889) by Aristide Maillol, which set a new auction record for a painting by the artist, who is generally known as a sculptor. After a flurry of international offers, the film more than doubled its estimate and reached $2.9 million.