By Carter B. Horsley
Although Phllips de Pury & Luxembourg garned enormous attention when it was consigned the Smooke Collection of more than 70 Impressionist and Modern Art paintings and sculptures (see The City Review article) for this fall season, Christie's won the consignment of the smaller but no less impressive collection of Surrealist and Modern Art of René Gaffé, a Belgium perfume magnate who died in 1966 and whose widow, xxxxx, who died in 2000, put the collection up for auction to benefit the United Nations Children's Relief Fund.
The Gaffé collection comprised the first 25 lots of the 64 offering at this evening auction. The Gaffé works had a pre-sale high estimate of about $40 million. All the Gaffé lots sold for an astounding total of $73,325,775! The remaining 39 lots in the auction fared less well with 15 not being sold. The sales total for the entire auction was $108,900,000, not too far below its pre-sale high estimate of $118,000,000.
The auction was one of the liveliest in many years with many active bidders both in the packed room and on the telephone. Lot 9, "Le Moteur," by Fernand Léger (1881-1955), shown above, set a world record for the artist of $16,726,000, including the buyer's premium as do all prices mentioned in this article, more than four times its low estimate. The crowd burst into applause when Christopher Burge finally knocked his gavel down after recognizing more than 10 different bidders willing to pay millions of dollars for this very fine, impressive and colorful work. The 54 by 46 1/2-inch oil on canvas was painted in 1918.
The highlight of the auction, however, came a few lots later when "Danseuse Espagnole," Lot 16, shown above, by Joan Miró (1893-1983) sold after a very protracted bidding battle for $8,916,000 in what had to be the funniest performance by an auctioneer ever. Mr. Burge has long been a grand master at this high-stakes game with a fine and beguiling wit, but here for once he was flummoxed by the dogged determination of a couple of bidders who tested the patience of the attendees and Mr. Burge to the limits in what was probably the longest auction of an individual lot in the memory of those present.
A great auctioneer is able to finesse and cajole his audience to bid, but Mr. Burgee's exasperation in extracting bids from the two major telephone bidders was hilarious. "Slow, but effective," he murmured early in the bidding war. "What can you be talking about?" he soon demanded of one of the auction house staff who was standing to his right speaking on the phone with a bidder. The staff member had his right hand place on the edge of the dais he was standing behind along with a couple of offer staffers also working the phones. As the bidding proceeding, his hand would slide forward, towards Mr. Burge, along the edge of the dais making him begin to crouch and bend forward a bit. His hand would then rise slightly and slowly off the dais, attracting Mr. Burge's attention, but its motion was tentative and cautious and uncertain while the staffer kept talking with the bidder. "Come on," Mr. Burge insisted. The staffer's hand would then move upwards a bit but then be pulled in towards his chest and then the fingers would be raised in a plea for more time. Mr. Burge stared him down and finally the staffer would extend his arm outwards and signal a bid and Mr. Burge would then instantly turn to the other telephone bank where the other contestant was much quicker to respond with yet another bid. "We have a few lots to do," Mr. Burge blurted out, almost at a loss of words after incanting several times the most recent bid. In the mid-millions, the bidding rose only $100,000 at a time, but at one point the recalcitrant bidder permitted the staffer to "jump" the bid a couple of hundred of thousand dollars, which brought forth a burst of applause from the curious and fascinated audience. "Give me 8 million," Mr. Burgee demanded a few minutes later hoping to move the bids along at bigger jumps, but the bidders reverted back to smaller increments. "I'm going to sell it," Mr. Burge said with resignation, and eventually the lot sold for $8,916,000, but not to the agonized staffer whose gesturing while not balletic was highly theatrical. At the news conference after the auction, Mr. Burge announced that he thought he must have won "the Guinness record for selling the longest lot." The charcoal, colored crayon, pastel, sanguine, white chalk and pencil on primed (blanc de Meudon) canvas, 94 1/4 by 58 5/8 inches, was executed in 1924 and had an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000.
Lot 16 was one of three major Mirós in the Gaffé collection and proved to be the "cheapest." Lot 14, shown above, "Portrait of Mme. K," is a similar work of art painted the same year as Lot 16 but only 45 3/4 by 35 7/8 inches. It had once been in the collection of Max Ernst and had an estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. It sold for $12,656,00, a world auction record for the artist. "Wow," exclaimed Mr. Burge after bringing down his gavel on the lot.
Lot 18, the third Miró, sold for $11,006,000, apparently to the frustrated bidder on Lot 14 who also had battled for Lot 16. Entitled "Paysage sur les bords du fleuve Amour," it was a more "conventional work by this founder of Surrealism and much less complex than the other two works. It was an oil and encaustic on canvas that measured 51 1/8 by 77 inches and was executed in 1927 and was more colorful and a bit more lyrical and less intellectual than the other two Mirós. It had an estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000.
One of the most beautiful works in the Gaffé Collection was Lot 6, "Femme au Chapeau Rose et Collier de Perles," shown above, by Jean Metzinger (1883-1956). The painting is an oil on canvas that measures 36 1/4 by 25 5/8 inches and was executed in 1912. It is one of the most accessible Cubist paintings with its bright palette and the flourish of gray feathers in the woman's hat. It had a most estimate of $300,000 to $400,000 and sold for $644,000.
While the Léger was clearly the most attractive lot in the auction and the two early Mirós the most intellectual, the most important painting in the auction was Lot 5, shown above, "Etude pour 'Nu dans une foret" or "Etude pour 'La Dryade,' a 1908 work by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). The 24 1/8-by-14 1/2-inch gouache, black ink and pencil on paper laid down on board laid down on cradled panel was executed a year after Picasso completed his famous "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and is study for work in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. This is an extremely powerful work and it was estimated for $4,000,000 to $6,000,000 and sold for $6,826,000 and was once in the collection of Gertrude Stein.
Another very important Gaffé Picasso is Lot 7, "Tête de femme (Fernande)," a 16 1/8-inch high bronze sculpture. The original clay model was executed in1909 and this version was cast in a small edition for Ambroise Vollard shortly afterwards, according to the catalogue. It had an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000 and sold for $4,956,000, a world auction record for a sculpture by the artist.
Lot 11, "Buste de femme a La Chemise," is a nice oil on canvas, 21 3/4 by 18 1/8 inches, by Picasso that was executed in 1922. It had an estimate of $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 and sold for $6,826,000.
A very fine, small, neo-Classical-style Picasso is Lot 50, "Trois Femmes a La Fontaine," an oil on canvas, 7 5/8 by 9 1/2 inches, that was painted in 1921 and is not part of the Gaffé Collection. It had an estimate of $1,400,000 to $1,800,000. This handsome work, which is shown above, was once in the collection of the Norton Simon Foundation in Pasadena, California, and it was not sold and "passed" at $850,000.
An earlier and very sweet, small Picasso oil on canvas, "Germaine," Lot 46, shown above, had an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. The 8 1/2-by-6-inch oil was painted in 1900 and was once in the collection of Justin K. Thannhauser and sold for $831,000.
The most important non-Gaffé work in the auction was Lot 26, "Deux Negresses," a superb, 18 1/4-inch bronze sculpture by Henri Matisse (1869-1954), number 7 of an edition of 10, that was conceived in 1907 and completed in 1908 and this bronze version was cast circa 1930. It had an estimate of $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 and sold for $7,596,000. The work was influenced by Gauguin and was most likely based on a photograph in an ethnological magazine.
The auction had two very fine floral still lifes by Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), Lots 28 and 41. The former, shown above, was formerly in the collection of William S. Paley and is a 18 1/4-by-15 3/4-inch oil on canvas that was painted in 1883. An unusually bright and exquisite work by this superb painter, the painting, entitled "Roses," had an estimate of $500,000 to $700,000 and sold for $611,000.
The latter, show above, Lot 41, is entitled "Nature morte (Dahlias dans un vase vert)" and is a 20 1/4-by-19 1/4-inch oil on canvas that was executed in 1868. It had an estimate of $1,200,000 to $1,800,000 and was unsold and "passed" at $950,000.
Works by Edvard Munch (1863-1944) are very rare at auction and Lot 47 is a large and very beautiful "Madonna," an oil on canvas, 39 5/8 by 27 3/4 inches, that was executed circa 1895. The catalogue's entry provides the following commentary:
"Munch's images of the Madonna are among the most haunting and evocative female icons in the history of European art. Originally conceived in Berlin between 1893 and 1894, the figure of Munch's Madonna stands aat the crossroads between the symbolist art of the late nineteenth century and the modernism of the early twentieth century. The Madonna encapsulates all of the ambivalence that exists between fear and desire in a single instantly memorable and resonant image. Munch's Madonna is an embodiment of the mystic nature of life and an evocation of the miracle of existence infused with love and expressive emotion.. Munch's intent was to present "Woman" from the point of view of her lover at the moment she conceives a new life within." The are four other versions of this work, which had an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 and sold for $2,866,000.
Another equally rare and important artist is Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) and Lot 48, shown above, is one of his landscapes and was painted in 1900. Entitled "Baernhaus mit Kirkin," it is a 31 5/8-inch square canvas and had and estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It failed to sell and was "passed" at $4,600,000. The painting hung for many years at the Austrian Belvedere in Vienna and was seized by the Nazis and later returned to the heirs of its rightful owners.
Another highlight of the auction was Lot 43, "Ma Mere a Normandie," a large and brightpainting of the artist's mother seweing beside a tall window in Normandy, by Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940). The painting had an estimate of $900,000 to $1,200,000 and was "passed" at $650,000.
Lot 38, shown above, "Danseuse au Tambouri," is a pleasant small oil by Edgar Degas (18834-1917) that measures 13 by 16 1/8 inches. Executed circa 1897, it had an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000, but sold for only $611,000.
The auction had two excellent examples of the work of Paul Signac (1863-1935), Lots 37 and 45. Signac is currently the subject of a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and both these lots compare very favorably with many of the best in that show.
Lot 37, shown above, is entitled "Moulin d'Edam," and is a 25 3/4-by-32-inch oil on canvas that was painted in 1896. It had an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000 and sold for $633,000.
The other Signac, Lot 45, "Le Pont de Viviers," shown above, is a 28 3/4-by-36 1/4-inch oil on canvas. Executed in 1928, it had an estimate of $700,000 to $900,000 and was "passed" at $550,000!
Given the remarkably strong showing of the Gaffé pictures, the rest of the auction was suprisingly soft. Certainly the auction must be considered a resounding success. Fifteen paintings sold for more than a million dollars each and 28 sold for more than their high estimates. Geographically, 49 percent of the buyers were American, 42 percent were European, 2 percent were Asian, and 6 were "other."
Mr. Burge explained the "extraordinary" and "thrilling" results as a reflection of the great quality of many of the works that were "fresh to the market," adding that "there is an enormous hunger for top quality works. "It's very hard to say what effect if any September 11, 2001 had," he said, adding that "the appetite of collectors for quality has not changed."