Source: www.artdaily.com6 November, 2004
NEW YORK.- Tonight at Sotheby's a masterpiece by Paul Gauguin, Maternité (II), sold for $39,208,000, a record for the artist at auction. The Tahitian scene was the highlight of a sale of Impressionist and Modern Art which totaled $194,289,600, the highest total for a various owner's sale at Sotheby's in 14 years. The evening's auction also featured Amedeo Modigliani's sublime painting of his wife, Jeanne Hébuterne (Devant une Porte), which brought $31,368,000, also a record for the artist at auction. Additional artist records were established for Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Chaïm Soutine and Dame Barbara Hepworth. With three works exceeding $20 million, the sale was 89.1% sold by value and 78.7% sold by lot.
"Tonight we saw a healthy market with a powerful appetite for great works, as evidenced by the records set for major blue-clip Modern artists such as Paul Gauguin, Amedeo Modigliani and Piet Mondrian," said David Norman, Co-Chairman of Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Department Worldwide. "It was also a fantastic night for sculpture, with records achieved for Henry Moore and Dame Barbara Hepworth. There was strength across the market from Impressionist works right through to late Picasso."
Highlighting the sale was Paul Gauguin's Maternité (II) from 1899, which sold for a record-breaking $39,208,000, with three bidders competing for this great work. Painted while the artist was living in the Punaauia district of Tahiti, the work was completed around the time that Gauguin's 17-year-old Polynesian mistress, Pahura, gave birth to the couple's son in April 1899. The iconic work, which captures the artist's fascination with the mystique of the tropics and its people, is one of only a handful of great works by Gauguin remaining in private hands.
Amedeo Modigliani's Jeanne Hébuterne (Devant une Porte), consigned by the Estate of Wendell Cherry, was another outstanding highlight of the evening, selling for $31,368,000, also a record for the artist at auction. As many as five bidders fought for the elegant three-quarter length portrait which Charles Moffett, Co-Chairman of Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Department Worldwide, has referred to as "without question, one of the best works Modigliani ever produced." Also from the Estate of Wendell Cherry was Chaïm Soutine's Le Chasseur de Chez Maxim's which sparked frenzied bidding, driving the final price to $6,728,000, a record for the artist at auction, and tripling the previous record. This quintessential image by Soutine, depicting one of his favorite subjects, a uniformed employee from one of the most famous restaurants in Paris, had been estimated to sell for $2.5/3.5 million.*
New York/ Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian, from the collection of Hester Diamond, sold for $21,008,000, a record for the artist at auction. The first of the artist's legendary Boogie-Woogie series, considered the most innovative works of his career, the present work was completed during the years that he lived in New York (1940-1944). Also from the Diamond Collection was The Kiss by Constantin Brancusi from circa 1908, the only version of this work remaining in private hands, which sold for $8,968,000; and Pablo Picasso's still-life, Dés, verre, bouteille de Bass, carte à jouer et carte de visite, a jewel of Synthetic Cubism, which inspired spirited bidding, finally selling for $4,264,000, above a high estimate of $2.5 million.
"Sculpture across the board performed exceedingly well tonight, continuing a trend of the past five years, commented Mr. Moffett." Among the highlights of the evening was one of Henry Moore's greatest large-scale figures, Three-Piece Reclining Figure: Draped, from the Collection of Philip and Muriel Berman of Allentown, Pennsylvania, which sold for $8,408,000, a record for the artist at auction. Conceived in 1975 and acquired by the Bermans directly from the artist on January 18, 1980, the monumental bronze had been estimated to sell for $4/6 million. Also by Moore was Reclining Figure: Angles which brought $3,592,000. In addition to Henry Moore, the Bermans' enthusiasm for British sculptors is evidenced by their holdings of works by Dame Barbara Hepworth. Tonight's Hepworth's The Family of Man: Figure 1, Ancestor 1 sold for $1,128,000, establishing a record for the artist at auction. Completed in 1970, only five years before her death, the towering vertical structure had been estimated to sell for $400/500,000. Virtually every work from this collection sold over its high estimate.
Also from the Berman Collection was a late work by Pablo Picasso, L'Aubade, from a series of oils completed during the first half 1967 that depict a flutist playing his instrument rhapsodically for his lover, which sold, after a lengthy bidding battle, for $5,384,000. It had been estimated to sell for $2/3 million. Another late work by Picasso which exceeded expectations was Femme nue assise dans un fauteuil, which sold $5,048,000, above the high estimate of $3.5 million.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir's ravishing Les Rosiers à Wargemont, a view of the rose garden at the home of his patron Paul Bérard, brought $7,512,000, despite having been on the market as recently 1999 when it sold for $6.2 million. Another Impressionist highlight, also by Renoir, was a portrait of Paul Bérard, painted in 1880, which was sought-after by as many as four bidders, finally selling for $2,696,000, above a high estimate of $1.5 million.
