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22 June 2016

RESULTS | ‘20TH CENTURY AT CHRISTIE’S’ CONTINUES WITH THE IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART EVENING SALE BRINGING THE RUNNING TOTAL TO DATE TO £46,677,900/ $68,325,567/ €60,382,899

London EMEA 22 June 2016

 
20TH CENTURY AT CHRISTIE’S’

CONTINUES WITH THE

IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART EVENING SALE BRINGING THE RUNNING TOTAL TO DATE TO

£46,677,900/ $68,325,567/ €60,382,899

 

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale Welcomes

Registered Bidders from 34 Countries across 4 Continents

London Christie’s Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art, in London on 22 June, realised £25,612,500/ $37,573,538/ €33,296,250, bringing the running total to date for ‘20th Century at Christie’s’ (20-30 June) to £46,677,900/ $68,325,567/ €60,382,899. The top price of the evening was achieved by Madame Hanka Zborowska by Amedeo Modigliani, which sold for £8,258,500/ $12,115,220/ €10,736,050 (estimate: £5-7 million). In total, 11 works of art sold for over £1 million / 12 for over $1 million. One artist’s record was achieved for Bernard Buffet’s Les clowns musiciens, le saxophonist, and one record was set for a work on paper by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Blaue Artisten.  

 Jay Vincze, International Director and Head of The Impressionist and Modern Art Department, Christie’s London: “This sale welcomed continued global participation with registered bidders from 34 countries across 4 continents. While there was selective bidding, solid prices were realised across price levels, styles and periods, with notable works exceeding their high pre-sale estimates: from the 1882 Renoir landscape which opened the sale; to Kirchner’s 1914 pastel which set a new record for a work on paper by the artist; and Modigliani’s 1917 portrait of Madame Hanka Zborowska; through to a 1991 Buffet which set a new record for the artist at auction. Building on the Modern British & Irish Art sales results, ‘20th century at Christie’s’ will continue with attractive estimates at all price levels in our King Street, South Kensington and online Impressionist & Modern Art sales, followed by the remarkable Henry Moore, ‘Festival Reclining Figure‘ which will be offered in our 250th anniversary sale Defining British Art on 30 June.” 

  The top lot of the sale:

The cover lot of the sale, a portrait of Madame Hanka Zborowska, 1917, by Amedeo Modigliani, which was offered at auction for the first time, sold for £8,258,500/ $12,115,220/ €10,736,050 (estimate: £5-7 million). Having been in the same collection since 1937, this portrait perfectly exemplifies Modigliani’s mature style and depicts one of the artist’s favourite and most frequent sitters: the beautiful, dark-featured Hanka or Anna Zborowska, wife of the artist’s dealer and supporter Léopold Zborowski.

 Further leading highlights of the evening include:

Wassily Kandinsky’s Esquisse pour Autour du cercle, from a private Swiss collection of works by Kandinsky and Paul Klee, sold for £1,762,500/ $2,585,588/ € 2,291,250 (estimate: £1.5-2.5 million).

 With its dreamlike atmosphere and deep, blue colour palette, Marc Chagall’s Le petit flûtiste, painted in 1967, sold for £1,426,500/ $2,092,676/ €1,854,450 (estimate: £700,000-1million).

                                                                                                                                                             

For the overall top ten lots please see below, page three.

 

A press update for ‘20th Century at Christie’s’ will be available on Friday 24 June, following the sales of Modern British & Irish Art and Impressionist & Modern Art sales this week. A full wrap-up post-sales press release for ‘20th Century at Christie’s’ will be available following the works offered in the Post War and Contemporary Art sales and Defining British Art Evening Sale.

 

Notes to Editors: 

 

Artist Records:

Lot 22

Bernard Buffet (1928-1999)

Les clowns musiciens, le saxophoniste

signed and dated 'Bernard Buffet 1991' (centre left)

oil on canvas

88 3/4 x 106 1/4 in. (225.4 x 270 cm.)

Painted in 1991

Estimate: £700,000 - 1,200,000

Price realised: £1,022,500 / $1,500,008 / €1,329,250

WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST

(Previous artist’s record: $996,300 in Feb 2016)

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Record for the Medium:

Lot 32

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938)

Blaue Artisten

signed 'E L Kirchner' (upper left)

pastel on paper

26 3/4 x 20 in. (68 x 50.8 cm.)

Executed in 1914

Estimate: £700,000 - 1,000,000

Price realised: £1,082,500 / $1,588.028 / €1,407,250

WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR A WORK ON PAPER BY THE ARTIST

(Previous artist’s record for the medium: £881,250 in 2010)

 

                                                                                                                                                                                     

PRESS CONTACT: Hannah Schweiger | +44 (0)207 389 2964 | hschweiger@christies.com

 

 

Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Auction

London, Wednesday 22 June 2016, Sale 11792  

 [All sold prices include buyer’s premium]

 

 

21 lots sold

Total: £25,612,500/$37,573,538/€33,296,250

     64% sold by lot

33 lots offered

$1.467 = £1 / €1.300 = £1

   63% sold by value

Lot  

Description

Estimate (£)

Price Realised

Buyer

11

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), Madame Hanka Zborowska, Painted in 1917

5,000,000 - 7,000,000

£8,258,500

$12,115,220

€10,736,050

Anonymous

6

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Esquisse pour Autour du cercle, Painted in April 1940

1,500,000 - 2,500,000

£1,762,500

$2,585,588

€2,291,250

Anonymous

21

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Le petit flûtiste, Painted in 1967

700,000 - 1,000,000

£1,426,500

$2,092,676

€1,854,450

Anonymous

8

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Zersetzte Spannung (Disintegrated Tension), Painted in April 1930

1,000,000 - 1,500,000

£1,314,500

$1,928,372

€1,708,850

Anonymous

9

Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Verschleiertes Glühen (Veiled Glow), Painted in January - February 1928

1,200,000 - 1,800,000

£1,258,500

$1,846,220

€1,636,050

Anonymous

33

Alexej von Jawlensky (1864-1941), Sitzende Frau, Painted circa 1909

700,000 - 1,000,000

£1,258,500

$1,846,220

€1,636,050

Anonymous

10

Fernand Léger (1881-1955), Deux figures, Painted in 1929

1,200,000 - 1,800,000

£1,202,500

$1,764,068

€1,563,250

Anonymous

25

Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Le voyageur, Painted in 1980

1,000,000 - 1,500,000

£1,202,500

$1,764,068

€1,563,250

Anonymous

1

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), Rochers de l'Estaqu, Painted in 1882 

300,000 - 500,000

£1,082,500

$1,588,028

€1,407,250

Anonymous

32

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), Blaue Artisten, Executed in 1914

WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A WORK ON PAPER BY THE ARTIST

700,000 - 1,000,000

£1,082,500

$1,588,028

€1,407,250

Anonymous

 

Next Sale: Impressionist and Modern Art Day Auction – 23 June 2016, London.

 

Please click here to view the full international schedule of upcoming Impressionist and Modern Art auctions at Christie’s.

Estimates do not include buyer’s premium.

Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, third-party financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.

 

       

 

 

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* Please note when quoting estimates above that other fees will apply in addition to the hammer price - see Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of the sale catalogue. *Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium.