Portrait by Gustav Klimt and artworks by iconic modernists offered for forthcoming Sotheby's auction
Sotheby’s auction house places Dame Im Fauteuil (Woman in an Armchair) by Gustav Klimt for sale. This important work is expected to fetch an estimated $7−9 million. Last time the canvas showed up on the market in 2001. In May, auction will also offer a selection of outstanding works by Degas, Chagall, Picasso, Monet, Malevich, Soutine. We are talking about paintings typical for their distinctive styles.
Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale will take place in New York on 16 May 2017. In total, 22 exclusive paintings and sculptures will be offered to buyers.
Marc Chagall’s Scène de Cirque (1970) at a pre-auction exhibition
Woman in an Armchair by Gustav Klimt attracts huge attention of art lovers and partially because of the recent auction record of $59 million set by another artist’s painting. At Sotheby’s London in 2001, this portrait sold for £2,8 million (the current estimate is £5.6−7.2 million). The canvas, painted circa 1897−98, refers to the early period of the Vienna Sezession’s founder.
Wearing an opulent, vermillion feathered hat and matching rich velvet dress, the unknown lady seated in an armchair seemingly comes from the Viennese haute bourgeoisie. Although the woman remains unidentified, she bears a striking resemblance to Melanie Cambras, whom Klimt painted the same year.
Wearing an opulent, vermillion feathered hat and matching rich velvet dress, the unknown lady seated in an armchair seemingly comes from the Viennese haute bourgeoisie. Although the woman remains unidentified, she bears a striking resemblance to Melanie Cambras, whom Klimt painted the same year.
The woman in the chair
1897, 52×52 cm
The sitter is posed in a formal manner — with rigid back, her gaze is directed forward while her eyes looking into herself at the same time, and hands clasped on her lap. At the same time, the dominant, viscous reds on the canvas suggest a more passionate, freer character behind the formality of the scene. In overall, the composition and painting technique, as well as the choice of colors indicate a strong influence of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Most likely, Klimt saw reproductions of the American colleague in art magazines of the time, like The Studio and The Art Journal.
"In the magnificent female portraits [by Klimt], we often notice — in addition to the deliberate use of contrast effects — the desire to glorify women through means of painting," notices Gerbert Frodl, the ex-director of the Austrian Gallery Belvedere.
The most expensive painting by Gustav Klimt is the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (Golden Adele). In June 2006, the artwork has been purchased for the Neue Galerie in Manhattan by the cosmetics magnate Ronald S. Lauder for $135 million, the highest sum ever paid for a painting (it equals to $160 million now if estimate inflation). Bloomberg reports that Oprah Winfrey, the US talk show legend, sold the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I for $150 million to an unnamed Chinese collector last February. And on March 1st, Bauerngarten (Flower Garden) by Gustav Klimt fetched a record price of £48 million ($59,3 million) at Sotheby’s and became the artist’s highest-priced landscape
work.
Claude Monet, Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas (ca. 1917−1920). Estimate $14−18 million
Meanwhile, the portrait by the Austrian will not be the most expensive lot at the May 16th auction. Preliminary estimates of 22 works offered by Sotheby’s quantify in seven-digit numbers. The auctioneers place their greatest hopes on the landscape
from The Water-Lily Pond series by Claude Monet and Suprematist Composition With Plane In Projection by Kazimir Malevich. The upper limit of the estimate of both works is $18 million.
Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition With Plane In Projection (1915). Estimate $12−18 million
A little lower is estimate of the Buste De Diego by Alberto Giacometti, it’s $10−15 million. It is followed by the portrait Tête D’homme (Head of a Man) by Pablo Picasso ($ 8−12 million). Two other canvases by the same artist — Palette, Pinceaux, Livre De Victor Hugo (1911) and Le Peintre Et Son Modèle Dans Un Passage (1963) — were estimated from 4 to 7 million dollars by specialists.
Left: Alberto Giacometti, Buste De Diego (1957−58).
Marc Chagall, Scène de Cirque (1970). Estimate — $1,8−2,5 million
Besides, wealthy art lovers will be offered to bid for paintings by Edgar Degas, Georges Braque, Chaïm Soutine, Marc Chagall, Camille Pissarro, Giorgio de Chirico, Lyonel Feininger and other artists.
Lyonel Feininger, Fin De Séance (1910). Estimate $6−8 million
Edgar Degas' Le Ballet (1891) at a pre-auction exhibition
Written by Vlad Maslow on materials of Sotheby’s website and other sources.
