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La Baigneuse
Beautiful: Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Baigneuse, debout, en pied, in which the young woman coyly conceals herself from the viewer, clasping a white cloth to chest, her cheeks and lips delicately flushed.
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Tonight, At Christie’s
Here is a sneak peek at Christie’s highly anticipated Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, which is happening tonight in London. Estimated at US $18,850,141 - $25,133,521, carrying the highest estimate is Wassily Kandinsky’s Studie zu Improvisation 3 (pictured). Impressive works by Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Signac are also starring in this multimillion sale.
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New York Auctions
Sotheby’s New York evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art marked the start of this year’s big spring auctions. Artworks by Cézanne, Braque, and Léger beat expectations, with the sale totaling an impressive US$230 million. The top lot last night was Paul Cezanne’s 1889 work, Les Pommes, which, estimated at US$25 to $35 million, was then sold to a telephone bidder for US$37 million.
Rapper LL Cool J, Donald L. Bryant Jr., and a few members of the Nahmad family (David Nahmad was absent) were among the crowd.
Rival Christie’s New York Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale is happening today.
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Impressionist & Modern Art
It’s a very important week for Impressionist and Modern Art lovers, with Sotheby’s and Christie’s hosting their Spring Auctions in New York. Soutine’s Le Petit Patissier, (The Little Pastry Chef) carries the highest estimate at Christie’s evening sale on Wednesday, at US$16–22 million. The auction house hopes it will set a record for the Russian-born French artist.
However, Andre Derain’s 1905 Portrait de Madame Matisse au kimono, estimated at US$15–20 million, will probably be one of the main attractions. Derain’s painting of Matisse’s wife is “the most important portrait” ever auctioned by the artist and “an unparalleled collecting opportunity for fine art connoisseurs worldwide,” according to Christie’s.
Get a sneak peek at the entire Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Auction.
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Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity
The Paris fashion scene didn’t simply inspire beautiful designer collections—it also influenced several impressionist artists in the late 1800s.
Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibit, which opens today, explores the extent to which artists such as Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir responded to the dictates of fashion from the 1860s to the 1880s, when Paris emerged as the fashion capital of the world.
Alongside beautiful costumes, a full complement of period photographs and illustrations will afford a sense of the late 19th-century Parisian milieu that inspired, provoked, and nurtured the talents of the painters of modern life.
Brush up on Impressionist and Modern Art.
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Remembering Renoir
“Why shouldn’t art be pretty? There are enough unpleasant things in the world.” -Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Happy birthday Pierre-Auguste Renoir! The famed artist was born on this day in 1841 in in Limoges, France. He is celebrated as a prominent leader of the Impressionist circle, best known for his radiant paintings of French leisure scenes. Renoir’s work always seems to be about pleasurable occasions, and reveals no great seriousness in his subjects.
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Modigliani’s Doomed Lover
A Modigliani painting of his lover sold Tuesday night for 26.9 million pounds (US $42.1 million), the most highly valued of 74 lots at Christie’s International in London.
The painting is of Amadeo Modigliani’s common-law wife. When the Italian painter died destitute, at the age of 35, in 1920, a grief-stricken Hebuterne committed suicide the following day, killing their unborn child.
The work was bought by a Christie’s Russian-speaking client services representative, bidding on the telephone on behalf of a client, against opposition from at least three others, according to Bloomberg.
Browse all of the results from Christie’s record-breaking Impressionist/Modern Evening Sale.
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Record for Kandinsky
Christie’s kicked off New York’s major fall auction season Wednesday by selling its top lot, Claude Monet’s Nymphéas, to an anonymous American collector for US$43.8 million.
Wassily Kandinsky’s 1909 Study for Improvisation 8 was sold to a European collector for US$23 million, a new record for Kandinsky.
Check out more results from Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale.
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Nazi Loot at Auction
A disputed artwork by Russian artist Wassily Kandinksy will be auctioned at Christie’s next week after the grandchild of a collector, who said it was stolen from her by the Nazis, agreed to share the sale proceeds with the current owner.
The 1923 Abstract painting Zwei Schwarze Flecke will be auctioned in New York at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale on November 7, 2012, where it is estimated to fetch US$1.8 million to 2.4 million.
The Kandinsky work once belonged to Sophie Lissitzky- Kueppers, a German art historian. Her grandchildren say the watercolor was one of 16 works that Lissitzky-Kueppers loaned to Hanover’s Provinzialmuseum. Those works were later seized by Nazis and termed “degenerate,” reports Bloomberg.
Browse Christie’s entire Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale.
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Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s
Out of consideration for those affected by Hurricane Sandy, Sotheby’s is moving its important fall Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale from Monday November 5, 2012 to Thursday November 8, 2012.
This revised timeline will give international clients greater flexibility to view the exhibition and participate in the auction. The exhibition will open today at 10:00 a.m., as scheduled.
Preview the entire auction online.
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Gustave Caillebotte
French Impressionist artist Gustave Caillebotte was born on this day in 1848.
We used artnet Analytics to take a closer look at the artist’s growth vs. the S&P 500.
His most expensive work at auction was Le Pont d’Argenteuil et La Seine, which sold on November 2, 2011 for US$18,002,500 at Sotheby’s New York.
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Meet artnet Auctions Specialist Eric Winkler
We sat down with artnet Auctions’ Eric Winkler, specialist for Impressionist ad Modern Art, to talk American Scene, appetizers with Andy Warhol, and his new show at David Zwirner.
1. What were you doing before you came to artnet?
Before this I was the Fine Arts specialist at the New York office of Bloomsbury Auctions. Like our auctions, they started strong in 2008. Unfortunately, the strain of the economic crisis forced them to close the office after only three years of auctions. During that time, I was fortunate to work with a lot of talented individuals, and I gained a good deal of experience in a variety of areas.
2. Did you always want to work in the art world?
Actually when I was a kid I wanted to be a paleontologist. That’s probably what got me into art though because I would draw dinosaurs constantly.
3. Tell us about what you do at artnet
I find the art, evaluate it, price it, and then sell it. It’s like fishing. Lots of waiting and anticipating. But when you hook something, that’s when the work really begins.
5. How do you like the new artnet office?
Have you seen where I sit?!? I can see all the way up 5th Avenue to the Chrysler Building from my desk! Believe me, I like it.
You and the art world1. What is your favorite art period?
American Scene
2. Who is your favorite artist?
Probably Thomas Hart Benton; he’s like the Mark Twain of painting.
3. If you could own any artwork, which would you choose?
Raft of the Medusa by Géricault, but I’d need to get a bigger apartment first.
4. Which events are you looking forward to this year?
The George Bellows exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
5. What is the latest art show you attended?
Dana Schultz at Friedrich Petzel.
6. What are some of your favorite museums/galleries in New York?
The Brooklyn Museum is about five blocks from my house so I tend to pop in there a lot.
7. On top of loving the art world, what do you do?
I collaborate with the performance artist Bryan Zanisnik a lot. I just wrote and drew some comics for his recent exhibit called Every Inch A Man. We’ve also got something coming up this weekend at the new David Zwirner space.
8. If you could have dinner with any three artists living or dead, whom would you choose?
Dinner with three artists seems like a bit of a nightmare, even if they were all from the land of the living, so I think I’m going to have to break this into courses. I’d have soup for the appetizer with Andy Warhol, Thanksgiving style dinner with Norman Rockwell, and candy and sweet cakes for dessert with Wayne Thiebaud.
9. How do you imagine the art world in 25 years?
Probably just like it is today, except everyone will have hoverboards and be mostly robots.
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Celebrating Edgar Degas
French artist Edgar Degas, one of the founders of Impressionism, though he preferred to be called a Realist, was born on this day in 1834.
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Remembering Pissaro
Famed French Impressionist painter Camille Pissaro was born on this day in 1830, on the island of St. Thomas.
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The Story Of Impressionism
An amazing Documentary on the Impressionists by the BBC.
