Following Christie’s underwhelming Impressionist and Modern Art, Sotheby’s pulled off a respectable Impressionist and Modern Art with a sale total US$315m, despite failing to sell a US$30m Hartley painting. The sale was headlined by Magritte’s Le Principe Du Plaisir, which was sold for US$26.8m, a new auction record for the surrealist master.
Fifteen of 65 lots offered were bought-in, including the leading lot, Marsden Hartley’s Pre-War Pageant with presale estimate of US$30m. It is an important work by Hartley, one of the first American artists to adopt an abstract approach to painting, to ever appear at auction.
Marsden Hartley’s Pre-War Pageant (1913)
The auctioneer, Harry Dalmeny, opened the bidding at US$20m and saw cold reception from the bidders. The painting went unsold after the auctioneer failed to get bids higher than US$24m. The current auction record for the artist was only US$6.3m, set by his 1915 work Lighthouse at Christie’s in 2008. It seems that bidders found US$30m an ambitious price to ask for. Nonetheless, Pre-War Pageant is a guaranteed artwork, so the auction house will continue to find a new owner through private sales.
Rene Magritte’s Le Principe Du Plaisir (1937)
Surrealist artist Rene Magritte
The star of the night was Rene Magritte’s Le Principe Du Plaisir, a portrait commissioned by Patron Edward James, estimated at US$15m-20m. Painted in 1937, Le Principe Du Plaisir represents a man whose head is a light, showing a characteristic twist of paradox as light is expected to reveal, not conceal.
Rene Magritte’s Le Principe Du Plaisir heated up the bidding atmosphere in the telephone banks
James Mackie (left), Head of Impressionist & Modern Art in London
With an opening bid of US$11m, the surrealist portrait elicited an intense bidding battle in the telephone banks. The telephone client represented by James Mackie, Head of Impressionist & Modern Art in London, prevailed in the bidding war with a winning bid of US$23.5m. The painting was sold for US$26.8m after premium, setting a new auction record for René Magritte.
Rene Magritte's L’empire des lumières previously held the auction record for the artist
The previous auction record for the Belgian surrealist artist was set by L’empire des lumières that was sold for US$20.56m at Christie’s New York in 2017.
Oskar Kokoschka’s Portrait of Joseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac was sold for a new auction record for the artist
Ludwig Meidner Apokalyptische Landschaft was sold for a new auction record for the artist
The sale also achieved two new auction records for Oskar Kokoschka and Ludwig Meidner. Oskar Kokoschka’s Portrait of Joseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac fetched US$20.4m, five times the previous record of US$4.1m. Ludwig Meidner's prophetic painting Apokalyptische Landschaft fetched US$14.1m, four times the previous record of US$3.1m.
Egon Schiele's Dämmernde Stadt (Die Kleine Stadt Ii) (City in Twilight (the Small City Ii)) (1913)
The second top lot of the sale fell to a 1913 painting by Egon Schiele. Dämmernde Stadt (Die Kleine Stadt Ii) (City in Twilight (the Small City Ii)), one of the few townscapes paintings by the artist in private hands, was estimated at US$12m-18m. The painting was sold during the Nazi occupation without the owner’s consent. It has now restituted to the heirs of its original owner.
Samuel Valette (right), Senior Specialist, Impressionist & Modern Art Department
The auctioneer opened the bidding at US$8m and received subsequent bids from both telephone bidders and a gentleman in the room. The painting was hammered down at US$21.5m and sold for US$24.57m after premium. The painting was secured by Samuel Valette, Senior Specialist, Impressionist & Modern Art Department for his client.
Wassily Kandinsky's Improvisation auf Mahagoni (Improvisation on Mahogany) (1910)
Wassily Kandinsky's Zum Thema Jüngstes Gericht (on the Theme of the Last Judgement) (1913)
Other highlights of the sale include a trio works by Wassily Kandinsky, all carried in-house guarantees. Leading the group was Improvisation auf Mahagoni (Improvisation on Mahogany) from 1910, which achieved US$24.2 million after a prolonged bidding battle between two telephone bidders; Zum Thema Jüngstes Gericht (on the Theme of the Last Judgement) from 1913 was hammered down at US$20m, below its estimate US$22m-35m, and sold for US$22.8m; and the 1939 Le Rond Rouge was sold for US$20.6m, within its estimate between US$18m-25m.
There are altogether seven paintings sold for prices exceeding the US$20m, all featured in the first half of the sale. However, the sale was wrapped up with a disappointing ending in which only six of the last fifteen lots were successfully sold.
Top five paintings
René Magritte. Le Principe Du Plaisir
Lot no.: 35
Painted in: 1937
Size: 73 x 54.5 cm
Provenance:
- Edward James, United Kingdom (acquired from the artist circa 1937)
- Edward James Foundation, United Kingdom (acquired from the above circa 1964 and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 28, 1978, lot 45)
- Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired at the above sale)
- Acquired from the above in 1979
Estimate: US$15,000,000-20,000,000
Hammer price: US$23,500,000
Price realised: US$26,830,500
Egon Schiele. Dämmernde Stadt (Die Kleine Stadt Ii) (City in Twilight (the Small City Ii))
Lot no.: 19
Painted in: 1913
Size: 90.5 x 90.1 cm
Provenance:
- Hubert Jung, Vienna (acquired from the artist in a deal brokered by Gustav Klimt in March 1913)
- Adolf Marx, Vienna
- Karl Grünwald, Vienna (acquired from the above in 1921)
- Elsa Koditschek, Vienna (acquired in 1928 at the Hagenbund and sold without her consent in 1942)
- Galerie Würthle (Friedrich Welz), Vienna
- Karl Schulda, Vienna (acquired by 1948)
- Sale: Dorotheum, Vienna, September 26-28, 1950, lot 84
- Viktor Fogarassy, Graz (probably acquired at the above sale)
- Acquired from the above by the family of the present owner
Estimate: US$12,000,000-18,000,000
Hammer price: US$21,500,000
Price realised: US$24,572,500
Wassily Kandinsky. Improvisation Auf Mahagoni (Improvisation on Mahogany)
Lot no.: 6
Painted in: 1910
Size: 63.5 x 100.2 cm
Provenance:
- Nina Kandinsky, Paris (until at least 1963)
- Galerie Beyeler, Basel
- Acquired from the above on June 15, 1972
Estimate: US$15,000,000-20,000,000
Hammer price: US$21,200,000
Price realised: US$24,233,800
Wassily Kandinsky. Zum Thema Jüngstes Gericht (on the Theme of the Last Judgement)
Lot no.: 8
Painted in: 1913
Size: 47 x 52 cm
Provenance:
- Gabriele Münter, Murnau (acquired from the artist)
- Gabriele Münter und Johannes Eichner-Stiftung, Munich (acquired by 1961)
- Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York (acquired by 1967)
- Robert Schwarz, Jr., New Jersey
- The Norton Simon Foundation, Los Angeles
- Leonard Hutton Galleries, New York
- Acquired from the above on March 5, 1979
Estimate: US$22,000,000-35,000,000
Hammer price: US$20,000,000
Price realised: US$22,879,000
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Das Soldatenbad (Artillerymen)
Lot no.: 22
Painted in: 1915
Size: 140 x 150 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Ludwig Schames, Frankfurt
- Alfred Flechtheim, Dusseldorf (acquired from the above in 1919)
- Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf (acquired by donation in 1928-29)
- Alfred Flechtheim, Dusseldorf (acquired from the above by exchange in 1930 and left in the custody of his niece, Rosi Hulisch, on his departure from Germany in 1933)
- Kurt Feldhäusser, Berlin (acquired in 1938)
- Marie Luise Feldhäusser, Berlin (by inheritance from her son, above, in 1945)
- Erhard Weyhe Gallery, New York (acquired from the above in 1949)
- Mr. & Mrs. Morton D. May, St. Louis (acquired by 1952)
- The Museum of Modern Art, New York (a gift from the above in 1956)
- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (by exchange from the above in 1988)
- Acquired by restitution from the above in 2018
Estimate: US$15,000,000-20,000,000
Hammer price: US$19,200,000
Price realised: US$21,975,800
Leading lot bought-in
Marsden Hartley. Pre-war Pageant
Lot no.: 28
Painted in: 1913
Size: 105.7 x 86.5 cm
Provenance:
- The artist (and sold: Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, Seventy-Five Pictures by James N. Rosenberg and 117 Pictures by Marsden Hartley, May 17, 1921, lot 47)
- Charles Daniel, New York (acquired at the above sale)
- Alanson Hartpence, New York (acquired from the above by 1945)
- Mrs. Robert F. Denniston, New York (by descent from the above in 1946)
- Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York (on consignment)
- Jon & Barbara Landau, New York (acquired by 1988)
- Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York (on consignment)
- Halsey Minor, San Francisco
- Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York (on consignment)
- Acquired from the above in 2002
Estimate: US$30m
Bought-in
Auction summary:
Auction house: Sotheby’s New York
Sale: Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale
Lots offered: 65
Sold: 49
Unsold: 16
Sold by lot: 75.4%
Sale total: 315,478,500
Date: 12 November 2018｜7pm