Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Baigneuse, 1888
$20,902,500
Maurice de Vlaminck
La Danseuse du 'Rat Mort', 1906
$4,622,500
Edgar Degas
Chanteuse de Café-Concert
ca. 1878
$1,322,500
Balthus
Le Lever, 1975-78
pass at $3.5 million
Paul Cézanne
La Lutte d'Amour,ca.1879-1880
$3,632,500
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artnet auction report: sotheby's impressionist and modern
by Walter Robinson
A pretty girl is like a melody
that haunts you night and day
-- Irving Berlin (1919)
In its Nov. 13 evening sale of Impressionist and modern art, Sotheby's proved once again that you can't go wrong with a pretty girl. The top lot was Renoir's 1888 Baigneuse, an all-but-perfect example of the artist's trademark Rubensian bathing beauty, that soared past its $10 million-$15 million estimate to sell for $20.9 million to an anonymous private collector.
Other lots among the top ten would seem to confirm the equation of art and female beauty. Lot 125, Renoir's La coiffure (1888), sold for $8.8 million. Lot 138, Vlaminck's La Danseuse du 'Rat Mort' (1906), went for $4.6 million. Lot 121, Renoir's La sortie du bain (1889), was bought for $1.4 million. We can even include here lot 163, Henry Moore's Draped Reclining Woman (1889), which sold for $2.6 million. Who said art collectors are politically correct?
Other notable lots were the Monet Nympheas (ca. 1914-17), a work of decorative restraint with a beautifully painted surface, that sold for $5.8 million; and a tiny Degas pastel, Chanteuse de Café-Concert (ca. 1878), with the kind of theatrical lighting that portends today's celebrity spectacle, selling for $1.3 million. The Balthus cult, however, seemed to be absent, as the 89-year-old artist's Le Lever (1975-78), a large and provocative picture of a naked girl presenting a wooden bird to a feral cat, was passed at $3.5 million bid (est. $4 million-$5 million)
The 10 Cézannes in the Pellerin Collection (that we made such a fuss about here) performed modestly. "We had expected higher prices," said Sotheby's expert Anthony Apsis after the sale, "but Cézanne has always been a little too sophisticated for the market." Top lots were the Modern Olympia (ca. 1870), for $5.9 million, and Cinq baigneuses sous des arbres (ca. 1875), for $5.5 million. The Autopsy (1869) went for $1 million and the Battle of Love (ca. 1879-1880) sold for $3.6 million. Cézanne's exceptionally modern view from his apartment window of the industrial-scale wine depot (as opposed to the quainter cafe scenes favored by so many other painters), La Halle aux Vins (1872), was passed at $1.2 million bid (est. $3 million-$4 million).
The overall total was $73.5 million for 42 lots sold out of 56 offered. The presale estimate was $91 million-$120 million. "We feel much, much better than we did yesterday," noted Sotheby's c.e.o. Diana Brooks, referring to the Sharp sale on Nov. 12. Brooks said that the house had a buyer for the unsold Sharp Modigliani nude at a price in excess of $9 million. She put the house's total for the week at almost $160 million, substantially better than the $110 million total of a year ago and the $105 million posted last spring.
Prices given below include the auction house commission of 15 percent on the first $50,000 and 10 percent on the rest.
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ARTIST | TITLE |
ESTIMATE | SALE PRICE |
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| 101. Sisley | L'Etang du Chevreuil | $400,000-$600,000 | $662,500 |
| 102. Pissarro | Les Carriers du Chou... | $600,000-$800,000 | $662,500 |
| 103. Pissarro | Vielles Maisons à Eragny | $400,000-$600,000 | $442,500 |
| 104. Renoir | La Liseuse | $1 million-$1.5 million | $1,212,500 |
| 105. van Gogh | A Park in Arles | $600,000-$800,000 | $607,500 |
| 106. Cézanne | Portrait de Victor Chocquet | $300,000-$400,000 | $305,000 |
| 107. Cézanne | Portrait de Paul Cézanne | $600,000-$800,000 | pass at $325,000 |
| 108. Cézanne | L'Oncle Dominique... | $1.5 million-$2.5 million | $992,500 |
| 109. Cézanne | Cinq Baigneuses | $6 million-$8 million | $5,502,500 |
| 110. Cézanne | Don Quichotte... | $400,000-$600,000 | $1,102,500 |
| 111. Cézanne | La Lutte d'Amour | $4 million-$6 million | $3,632,500 |
| 112. Cézanne | Une Moderne Olympia... | $6 million-$8 million | $5,942,500 |
| 113. Cézanne | La Toilette Funéraire | $700,000-$900,000 | $1,020,000 |
| 114. Cézanne | La Promenade | $500,000-$700,000 | $717,500 |
| 115. Cézanne | Paris: Quai de Bercy... | $3 million-$4 million | pass at $2.1 million |
| 116. Degas | Femme se Coiffant | $350,000-$450,000 | pass at $300,000 |
| 117. Pissarro | La Grange... | $600,000-$800,000 | $1,020,000 |
| 118. Monet | Gêlée Blanche | $500,000-$700,000 | $1,047,500 |
| 119. Sisley | Saint-Mammes: Le Soir | $400,000-$600,000 | $600,000 |
| 120. Renoir | Baigneuse | $10 million-$15 million | $20,902,500 |
| 121. Renoir | La Sortie du Bain | $900,000-$1.2 million | $1,432,000 |
| 122. Pissarro | Le Semeur à Monfoucault | $500,000-$700,000 | $662,500 |
| 123. Monet | Antibes | $2 million-$3 million | 2,037,500 |
| 124. Gaugin | Le Bassin Carré | $700,000-$900,000 | $497,500 |
| 125. Renoir | La Coiffure | $8,000,000-$10,000,000 | $8,802,500 |
| 126. Pissarro | Paysage à Varengeville | $600,000-$800,000 | $497,500 |
| 127. Sisley | Saint-Mammes | $700,000-$900,000 | 662,500 |
| 128. Degas | La Coiffure | $700,000-$900,000 | pass at $425,000 |
| 129. Monet | Effet du Soir sur La Seine | $1 million-$1.5 million | $772,500 |
| 130. Monet | Nymphéas | $6 million-$48 million | $5,777,500 |
| 131. Gaugin | Conversation | $800,000-$1,200,000 | $552,500 |
| 132. Degas | Le Petit Déjeuner Après Le Bain... | $2.5 million-$3.5 million | pass at $1.9 million |
| 133. Pissarro | Avant-Port et Anse des Pilotes... | $500,000-$700,000 | pass at $400,000 |
| 134. Degas | Chanteuse de Café Concert | $1 million-$1.5 million | $1,322,500 |
| 135. Morisot | Marine en Angleterre | $400,000-$600,000 | $332,500 |
| 136. Maillol | L'Eté | $600,000-$800,000 | pass at $375,000 |
| 137. Maillol | Torse de Marie | $400,000-$600,000 | $387,500 |
| 138. de Vlaminck | La Danseuse du "Rat Mort" | $3 million-$4 million | $4,622,500 |
| 139. de Vlaminck | Le Havre, Les Bassins | $1,250,000-$1,750,000 | $1,212,500 |
| 140. Munch | Sommernacht im Studentenhain | $2.5 million-$3.5 million | 2,477,500 |
| 141. Picasso | Femme Nue | $600,000-$800,000 | pass at $525,000 |
| 142. Matisse | Nature Morte au Lièrre | $450,000-$650,000 | $415,000 |
| 143. Picasso | Compotier avec Fruits | $1 million-$1.5 million | pass at $850,000 |
| 144. Laurens | Cariatide Assise | $400,000-$600,000 | $332,500 |
| 145. Laurens | Femme aux Serpents... | $250,000-$300,000 | pass at $150,000 |
| 146. Laurens | La Lune | $400,000-$600,000 | $552,500 |
| 147. Léger | Nature Morte | $700,000-$900,000 | $1,075,000 |
| 148. Kandinsky | Bild im Bild | $700,000-$900,000 | $662,500 |
| 149. Léger | Les Quatre Acrobates | $1 million-$1.5 million | $1,487,500 |
| 150. Klee | Chinesische Novelle | $600,000-$800,000 | $497,500 |
| 151. Magritte | Souvenir de Voyage | $400,000-$500,000 | $607,500 |
| 152. Magritte | Les Tables de La Loi | $1 million-$1.5 million | $1,047,500 |
| 153. Miró | Composition | $300,000-$400,000 | pass at $180,000 |
| 154. Klee | Unstern der Schiffe | $300,000-$400,000 | pass at $225,000 |
| 155. Balthus | Le Lever | $4 million-$5 million | pass at $3,500,000 |
| 156. Giacometti | Portrait d'Annette | $600,000-$800,000 | $607,500 |
| 157. Bonnard | Nu Rose... | $700,000-$900,000 | pass at $525,000 |
| 158. Bonnard | Femme Nue à la Chaise | $600,000-$800,000 | pass at $425,000 |
| 159. Vuillard | Portrait d'Yvonne Printemps | $600,000-$800,000 | $717,500 |
| 160. Chagall | Le Coq au Bouquet | $600,000-$800,000 | $497,500 |
| 161. Chagall | Le Voyage | $500,000-$700,000 | $882,500 |
| 162. Moore | Two Forms | $600,000-$800,000 | $937,500 |
| 163. Moore | Draped Reclining Woman | $1.5 million-$2 million | $2,587,500 |
| 164. Moore | Large Torso: Arch | $700,000-$900,000 | $690,000 |
| 165. Moore | Upright Motive No. 7 | $500,000-$700,000 | pass at $325,000 |
| 166. Moore | Working Model for Standing Figure... | $500,000-$700,000 | $827,500 |
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| WALTER ROBINSON is editor of ArtNet Magazine. |
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