salon selectives
by Paul Jeromack

Sotheby's led the week with a three-session, two-day sale of 514 lots, (272 sold; 242 were bought in) totaling over $20.4 million. Both Sotheby's and Christie's featured several works by the well-loved pompier, William Adolphe Bouguereau, but only the better ones sold.

Sly Stallone's monumental 1883 Bouguereau, Alma Parens, (est. $2.4 - $2.6 million) was the featured lot at Sotheby's on Nov. 10, 1998. Conceived by the artist as an allegory of Mother France nurturing her children, it's an unfortunately jumbled composition showing a succession of plump toddler bottoms. It certainly made an impact, however, selling to a new American collector for a record price of $2,642,500 (est. $2.2 million - $2.6 million). The previous record for the artist was set by The Heart's Awakening, sold by Christie's in 1997 for $1.4 million.

Another big "machine" was The Awakening of Adonis (1899) by Royal Academician John William Waterhouse, a lumpy, literal interpretation of a typical pre-Raphaelite theme devoid of the poetry that Burne-Jones would have given it. Underbid by Connecticut collector Jerry Davis, it sold to a "European collector" on the phone for a record $2,340,000 (est. $800,000 - $1,200,000). Cats composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who collects Victorian paintings, was seen ogling it with great interest earlier in the week.

Davis was undeterred in pursuit of several other lots, notably a double-portrait of Lorna and Dorothy Bell (ca. 1900) by the American expatriate Sir James Jebusa Shannon, which sold for a record $431,500 (est. $250,000 - $350,000).

Davis also purchased the wonderful, sparkling Beach of Scheveningen, Holland (1874) by Frederik Hendrik Kaemmerer depicting a gaggle of thoroughly crinolined ladies taking the sun at this popular Northern resort -- one hopes for their sake it was a chilly day. Making its third appearance at Sotheby's New York, it had been deacessioned by the Corcoran Gallery in 1988 for $1.2 million, sold again for $827,500 in 1994, and finally brought in $992,500 (est. $800,000 - $1,200,000).

A personal favorite was the unique O PTI CIEN (1902) rebus picture from 1902 by Jean-Léon Gérôme, a bizarre foretaste of Duchamp and Margritte that was extolled by Salvador Dalí in the 1960s. Unfortunately, Sotheby's catalogue made no mention of its provenance. Though it would have made a most imaginative and sensible purchase for the Museum of Modern Art, it was bought by an American private collector for $233,500 (est. $80,000 - $120,000).

Christie's "Age of Elegance" sale on Nov. 11 was a more modest affair. Their brace of Bouguereaus featured L'Amour et Psyche, enfants (1890), which was last sold by Christie's London in 1983 for £37,800. A sugary confection of two kissing babies, it has become one of the most-reproduced pictures in recent years, appearing on posters, greeting cards and even checkbooks. There was nothing sweet about Jerry Davis' bare-knuckled, aggressive bidding, however, as he pushed the two collectors who had just bought Stallone's Alma Parens the day before to fork out $1,762,500 (est. $1million - $1.5 million) for this one.

Only slightly less sweet was Charles Burton Barber's Time to Wake Up (1883) -- an image of a frisky Jack Russell puppy bouncing atop his sleepy-eyed mistress, ready for his morning walk. A record price for the artist was set at Christie's in 1997 by the sale of Suspense to an American private collector for $400,000. Apparently that same buyer couldn't get enough, and against strong competition from Davis again, bought Time to Wake Up for $365,000 (est. $200,000 - $300,000).

PAUL JEROMACK is a New York critic and journalist.