Christie's New York
7 PM, November 15, 2016
Sale 12156
Lot 8, "Untitled XXV," by Willem de Kooning, oil on canvas, 77 by 88 inches, 1977
By
Carter B. Horsley
The November 15, 2016 Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Christie's New York is highlighted by a large abstract painting by Willem de Kooning, a big painting by Jean Dubuffet, two impressive works by Adrian Ghenie, a Gerhard Richter owned by Eric Clapton, and good works by Peter Doig, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joan Mitchell and Alberto Burri.
Lot 8, "Untitled XXV," is a large abstract oil on canvas by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) entitled "Untitled XXV." Prior to the auction, Brett Gorvy, chairman and international head of Christie's Department of Post-War and Contemporary Art, said that the painting was "an unequivocal Abstract Expressionist tour de force," adding that it is "a pinnacle picture from one of the most remarkable years in de Kooning's career."
"Untitled XXV comes from a remarkable series of large canvases that de Kooning made in a sudden burst of activity in the mid 1970s. In the spring of 1975, a comparatively long dry period of painterly inactivity for the artist suddenly came to an end. In a flood of activity that lasted until 1978, de Kooning found himself once again reveling in the act of painting., Fresh and revitalized by his recent exploration into sculpture and rejuvenated by an ever-deepening love affair with a young woman, Emilie Kilgore, de Kooning was able to sustain his output for a period of nearly four years. 'I made those paintings one after the over, no trouble at all,' he said. 'I couldn't miss. It's a nice feeling. It's strange. It's a man at a gambling table (who) feels that he can't lose. But when he walks away with the dough, he knows that he can't do that again.'"
After the auction, Sara Friedlander, senior vice president, head of department, Post-War & Contemporary Art in New York, said that "there was tremendous confidence in the market this evening, with very strong bidding from a widely international audience, including registrants from 41 countries." The lot has an estimate on request and was expected to sell for about $40 million. It sold for $66,327,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article. It was a world auction record for the artist. It had sold for $27.1 million at Christie's New York in 2006, then setting an auction record for the artist but also for any postwar and contemporary work.
The sale total was $276, 972,500 with 89 percent of the offered lots selling.
Lot 29, "Untitled VI," by Willem de Kooning, oil on canvas, 77 by 88 inches, 1985
Lot 53, "Woman in Landscape," by Willem de Kooning, oil on canvas, 60 by 48 inches, 1968
Lot 17, "Les Grandes Arteries," by Jean Dubuffet, oil on canvas, 44 3/4 by 57 1/2 inches, 1961
Lot 3, "Flight Into Egypt," by Adrian Ghenie, oil on canvas, 47 1/4 by 83 7/8 inches, 2009
Lot 19, "The Bridge," by Adrian Ghenie, oil on canvas, 94 by 78 5/8 inches, 2015
Lot 28, "Abstraktes Bild (809-2)," by Gerhard Richter, oil on canvas, 88 1/2 by 78 3/4 inches, 1994
Lot 26, "Olin MK IV Part 2," by Peter Doig, oil on canvas, 114 1/8 by 78 3/4 inches, 1996
Lot 9, "Number 7, 1951," by Jackson Pollock, ink and gouache on Japanese paper, 24 7/8 by 39 1/8 inches, 1951
Lot 48, "Untitled," by Joan Mitchell, oil on canvas, 76 by 73 inches, 1958
Lot 20, "Untitled," by Jean-Michel Basquiat, acrylic and enamel on blanket mounted on wood supports with twine, 67 by 60 1/4 inches, 1982
Lot 34, "Rosso-Combustione Plastica," by Alberto Burri, plastic, acrylic, fabric and combustion on canvas, 49 by 34 1/2 inches, 1957
Lot 52, "Curvinal," by Franz Kline, oil on canvas, 78 7/8 by 59 1/4 inches, 1961
Lot 36, "Untitled," by Giuseppe Gallo, oil, acrylic and encaustic on board, 53 3/8 by 98 3/8 inches, 2011
The November 15, 2016 Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Christie's New York is highlighted by a large abstract painting by Willem de Kooning, a big painting by Jean Dubuffet, two impressive works by Adrian Ghenie, a Gerhard Richter owned by Eric Clapton, and good works by Peter Doig, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joan Mitchell and Alberto Burri.
Lot 8, "Untitled XXV," is a large abstract oil on canvas by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) entitled "Untitled XXV." Prior to the auction, Brett Gorvy, chairman and international head of Christie's Department of Post-War and Contemporary Art, said that the painting was "an unequivocal Abstract Expressionist tour de force," adding that it is "a pinnacle picture from one of the most remarkable years in de Kooning's career."
"Untitled XXV comes from a remarkable series of large canvases that de Kooning made in a sudden burst of activity in the mid 1970s. In the spring of 1975, a comparatively long dry period of painterly inactivity for the artist suddenly came to an end. In a flood of activity that lasted until 1978, de Kooning found himself once again reveling in the act of painting., Fresh and revitalized by his recent exploration into sculpture and rejuvenated by an ever-deepening love affair with a young woman, Emilie Kilgore, de Kooning was able to sustain his output for a period of nearly four years. 'I made those paintings one after the over, no trouble at all,' he said. 'I couldn't miss. It's a nice feeling. It's strange. It's a man at a gambling table (who) feels that he can't lose. But when he walks away with the dough, he knows that he can't do that again.'"
After the auction, Sara Friedlander, senior vice president, head of department, Post-War & Contemporary Art in New York, said that "there was tremendous confidence in the market this evening, with very strong bidding from a widely international audience, including registrants from 41 countries." The lot has an estimate on request and was expected to sell for about $40 million. It sold for $66,327,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article. It was a world auction record for the artist. It had sold for $27.1 million at Christie's New York in 2006, then setting an auction record for the artist but also for any postwar and contemporary work.
The sale total was $276, 972,500 with 89 percent of the offered lots selling.
Lot 29, "Untitled VI," by Willem de Kooning, oil on canvas, 77 by 88 inches, 1985
Another large, but later de Kooning is
Lot 29, "Untitled VI." An oil on canvas, it measures 77 by 88
inches and was painted in 1985. It was included in "Willem de
Kooning,
The Late Paintings, the 1980s" exhibition in 1997 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (see The City Review article). At the November 8, 2008 auction at Sotheby's New York, it had an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 and sold for $4,562,000. At this auction, it has an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $5,399,500. "Untitled VI" has the rhythms of Matisse's floating dancers, anchored by exquisite control of color and line. In the closing chapter in his prolific and brilliant artistic career, this supremely painterly artist said: "I feel that I have found myself more, the sense that I have all my strength at my command. I think you can do miracles with what you have if you can accept it....I am more certain the way I use paint and the brush."
The Late Paintings, the 1980s" exhibition in 1997 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (see The City Review article). At the November 8, 2008 auction at Sotheby's New York, it had an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000 and sold for $4,562,000. At this auction, it has an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $5,399,500. "Untitled VI" has the rhythms of Matisse's floating dancers, anchored by exquisite control of color and line. In the closing chapter in his prolific and brilliant artistic career, this supremely painterly artist said: "I feel that I have found myself more, the sense that I have all my strength at my command. I think you can do miracles with what you have if you can accept it....I am more certain the way I use paint and the brush."
Lot 53, "Woman in Landscape," by Willem de Kooning, oil on canvas, 60 by 48 inches, 1968
A third de Kooning painting, "Woman in
Landscape," is Lot 53, an oil on canvas that measures 60 by 48
inches. It was painted in 1968. It has an estimate of
$3,000,000 to $5,000,000. It
sold for $3,367,500.
Lot 17, "Les Grandes Arteries," by Jean Dubuffet, oil on canvas, 44 3/4 by 57 1/2 inches, 1961
Lot
17 is a large and riotous oil on canvas by Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985)
entitled "Les Grandes Arteries." It measures 44 3/4 by 57 1/2
inches and was painted in 1961.
The catalogue provides the following quotation from the artist:
"I want my streets to be crazy, my broad avenues, shops and buildings to join in a crazy dance,, and that is why I deform and nature their contours and colors."
The catalogue also provides the following commentary:
"An optical bacchanal transcribed to canvas, Les Grandes Arteries is a faithful testament to Dubuffet's cry for intoxification and delirium in art - the agitated brushwork and composition providing no rest for the roving eye."
It has an estimate of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000. It sold for $23,767,500.
The catalogue provides the following quotation from the artist:
"I want my streets to be crazy, my broad avenues, shops and buildings to join in a crazy dance,, and that is why I deform and nature their contours and colors."
The catalogue also provides the following commentary:
"An optical bacchanal transcribed to canvas, Les Grandes Arteries is a faithful testament to Dubuffet's cry for intoxification and delirium in art - the agitated brushwork and composition providing no rest for the roving eye."
It has an estimate of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000. It sold for $23,767,500.
Lot 3, "Flight Into Egypt," by Adrian Ghenie, oil on canvas, 47 1/4 by 83 7/8 inches, 2009
Lot
3 is a very large oil on canvas by Adrian Ghenie (b. 1977) entitled
"Flight Into Egypt." It measures 47 1/4 by 83 7/8 inches and was
painted in 2009.
The catalogue entry provides the following commentary:
"In Flight Into Egypt, Ghenie's haunting, panoramic portrayal of two stranded figures set amidst a beautiful but ruinous, tableau produces a strange and powerful reaction with the viewer. The painting's lavish surface is nothing short of dazzling. The result of Ghenie's genius, it takes inspiration from such disparate sources as Chaim Soutine, Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter, Jackson Pollock and Gustave Klimt. Areas of scraped and squeegeed paint - especially in Ghenie's depictions of the decrepit wooden plants and round wooden beams - create a vivid, sensuous surface, while areas of dark black define the deep. shadowy recesses of Ghenie's sinister world."
The lot has an estimate of $800,000 to $1.200,000. It sold for $1,387,400.
The catalogue entry provides the following commentary:
"In Flight Into Egypt, Ghenie's haunting, panoramic portrayal of two stranded figures set amidst a beautiful but ruinous, tableau produces a strange and powerful reaction with the viewer. The painting's lavish surface is nothing short of dazzling. The result of Ghenie's genius, it takes inspiration from such disparate sources as Chaim Soutine, Francis Bacon, Gerhard Richter, Jackson Pollock and Gustave Klimt. Areas of scraped and squeegeed paint - especially in Ghenie's depictions of the decrepit wooden plants and round wooden beams - create a vivid, sensuous surface, while areas of dark black define the deep. shadowy recesses of Ghenie's sinister world."
The lot has an estimate of $800,000 to $1.200,000. It sold for $1,387,400.
Lot 19, "The Bridge," by Adrian Ghenie, oil on canvas, 94 by 78 5/8 inches, 2015
Another
large and striking Ghenie work is Lot 19, "The Bridge," an oil on
canvas painted in 2015 that measures 94 by 78 5/8 inches.
The catalogue entry provides the following quotation from an article in Artillery magazine by Kristen Osborne-Bartucca:
"No since Anselm Kiefer has a painter dealt so explicitly with the heavy, fraught history of 20th Century Europe, and like Francis Bacon, his visages are rendered as swirling, gaping horrors....Ghenie's work is strikingly original in its mingling of pleasure and dread, it's almost cheeky engagement with the horrors of history, and its unabashed sensousness of material and form."
The lot has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,500,000. It sold for $3,943,500.
The catalogue entry provides the following quotation from an article in Artillery magazine by Kristen Osborne-Bartucca:
"No since Anselm Kiefer has a painter dealt so explicitly with the heavy, fraught history of 20th Century Europe, and like Francis Bacon, his visages are rendered as swirling, gaping horrors....Ghenie's work is strikingly original in its mingling of pleasure and dread, it's almost cheeky engagement with the horrors of history, and its unabashed sensousness of material and form."
The lot has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,500,000. It sold for $3,943,500.
Lot 28, "Abstraktes Bild (809-2)," by Gerhard Richter, oil on canvas, 88 1/2 by 78 3/4 inches, 1994
Lot 28, "Abstratkes Bild (809-2) is a
large and colorful abstration by Gerhard Richter (b. 1932)(see The City Review article). An oil on
canvas, it measures 88 1/2 by78 3/4 inches and was painted in
1994. When it was auctioned at Sotheby's New York November 14,
2001, the lot, which also included two other similar sized paintings by
the artist, sold for
$3,415,750, more than twice its
high estimate.
The catalogue entry provided the following quotation from Robert Storr:
"None of the available precedents or labels - most obviously Fauvism and Expressionism - account for the stridency of Richter's combinations of chlorophyll greens, sulfuric yellows, ice-cool blues, raw vermillions, and all the raggedy and gritty combinations they achieve when dragged across one another."
The catalogue entry provided the following quotation from Robert Storr:
"None of the available precedents or labels - most obviously Fauvism and Expressionism - account for the stridency of Richter's combinations of chlorophyll greens, sulfuric yellows, ice-cool blues, raw vermillions, and all the raggedy and gritty combinations they achieve when dragged across one another."
At this auction, the lot, which was
consigned from the collection of Eric Clapton, a guitar player, has an
estimate of $18,000,000 to $25,000,000. It sold for $22,087,500.
Lot 26, "Olin MK IV Part 2," by Peter Doig, oil on canvas, 114 1/8 by 78 3/4 inches, 1996
Lot
26 is an oil on canvas by Peter Doig (b. 1959) entitled "Olin MK IV
Part 2." It measures 114 1/8 by 78 3/4 inches and was painted in
1996. It has been widely exhibited. The title comes from a
brand of skis popular in the artist's youth. The lot has an
estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $5,847,500.
Lot 9, "Number 7, 1951," by Jackson Pollock, ink and gouache on Japanese paper, 24 7/8 by 39 1/8 inches, 1951
Lot
9 consists of swirls of ink and gouache on Japanese paper by Jackson
Pollock in a work entitled "November 7, 1951. It measures 24 7/8
by 39 1/8 inches and was executed in 1951. It has been widely
exhibited. It has an estimate of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. It sold for $4,503,500.
Lot 48, "Untitled," by Joan Mitchell, oil on canvas, 76 by 73 inches, 1958
Lot
48 is a good, swirling abstraction by Joan Mitchell that is an oil on
canvas that measures 76 by 73 inches and was painted in 1958. It
has an estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. It sold for $5.399,500.
Lot 20, "Untitled," by Jean-Michel Basquiat, acrylic and enamel on blanket mounted on wood supports with twine, 67 by 60 1/4 inches, 1982
Lot
20 is an untitled work by Jean-Michel Basquiat that is more striking
for its presentation than its image. It is an acrylic and enamel
on blanket mounted on wood supports with twine and measures 67 by 69
1/4 iuches. It was created in 1982. It has been widely
exhibited and published. It has an estimate of $5,000,000 to
$7,000,000. It sold for
$5,847,500.
Lot 34, "Rosso-Combustione Plastica," by Alberto Burri, plastic, acrylic, fabric and combustion on canvas, 49 by 34 1/2 inches, 1957
Lot
34, "Rosso-Combustione Plastica," is a work by Alberto Burri
(1915-1995) that measures 49 by 34 1/2 inches and was created in
1957. It is plastic, acrylic, fabric, and combustion on
canvas. It has been widely published. The artist was given a
retrospective in 2015 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
It has an estimate of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. It sold for $4,951,500.
Lot 52, "Curvinal," by Franz Kline, oil on canvas, 78 7/8 by 59 1/4 inches, 1961
Lot
52 is a very fine abstraction by Franz Kline (1910-1962) entitled
"Curvinal." An oil on canvas, it measures 78 7/8 by 59 1/4 inches
and was painted in 1961. It has an estimate of $6,000,000 to
$8,000,000. It was withdrawn.
Lot 36, "Untitled," by Giuseppe Gallo, oil, acrylic and encaustic on board, 53 3/8 by 98 3/8 inches, 2011
Lot 36 is a large, sumptuous and very
colorful, untitled abstraction by Giuseppe Gallo (b. 1954). An
oil, acrylic and encaustic on board, it measures 53 3/8 by 98 3/8
inches and was painted in 2011. It has an estimate of $40,000 to
$60,000. It sold for $367,500.
See The City Review article on the Fall 2015 Contemporary Art evening auction at Christie's New York
See The City Review article on the Fall 2015 Contemporary Art evening auction at Sotheby's New York
See The City Review article on the Spring 2015 Contemporary Art evening auction at Christie's New York
See The City Review article on the Spring 2015 Looking Forward to The Past auction at Christie's New York
See The City Review article on the Spring 2015 Impressionist and Modern Art auction at Sotheby's New York
See The City Review article on the Looking Forward to the Past auction May 11, 2015 at Christie's New York
See The City Review article on the Fall 2014 Impressionist & Modern Art auction at Christie's New York
See The City Review article on the Spring 2014 Impressionist & Modern Art auction at Sotheby's New York
See The City Review article on the Spring 2014 Impressionist & Modern Art auction at Christie's New York
See The City Review article on the Fall 2013 Impressionist & Modern Art auction at Sotheby's New York
See The City Review article on the Spring 2013 Impressionist & Modern Art auction at Christie's New York
See The City Review article on the Spring 2013 Impressionist & Modern Art evening auction at Sotheby's New York
See
The City Review article on the
Fall 2012 Impressionist & Modern
Art auction at Sotheby's New York
See The
City
Review article on the Fall 2012 Impressionist & Modern Art day
auction at Sotheby's New York
See The
City Review article on the Spring 2012 Impressionist & Modern
Art auction at Sotheby's
See The
City Review article on the Spring 2012 Impressionist & Modern
Art auction at Christie's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2011 Impressionist & Modern Art
auction at Sotheby's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2011 Impressionist & Modern Art
auction at Christie's
See The
City Review article on the Spring 2011 Impressionist & Modern
Art auction at Sotheby's
See The
City Review article on the Spring 2011 Impressionist & Modern
Art auction at Christie's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2010 Impressionist & Modern Art
evening auction at Sotheby's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2010 Impressionist & Modern Art
evening auction at Christie's
See The
City Review article on the Spring 2010 Impressionist & Modern
Art evening auction at Sotheby's
See The
City Review article on the Spring 2010 Impressionist & Modern
Art evening auction at Christie's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2009 Impressionist & Modern Art
evening auction at Sotheby's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2009 Impressionist & Modern Art
evening auction at Christie's
See The
City
Review article on the Spring 2009 Impressionist & Modern Art
evening auction at Sotheby's
See The
City Review article on the Spring 2009 Impressionist & Modern
Art evening auction at Christie's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2008 Impressionist & Modern Art
evening auction at Christie's
See The
City Review article on the Fall 2008 Impressionist & Modern Art
evening auction at Sotheby's
See The City Review article on the Christie's evening sale of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art May 8, 2000
See The City Review article on the Christie's evening sale of Twentieth Century Art May 9, 2000