Italian art finds a home in Paris and New York
Masters of French art from Impressionism to Informal Art and 13 lots of Italian art were sold in Paris. Purchases within estimates except Fontana and Shiraga
3' min read
3' min read
The internationalisation of the 20th century Italian art market is reflected in the spring calendar of the two major international auction houses in Paris and New York. While Christie's offered 13 lots in its Paris catalogue devoted to the 20th and 21st centuries, Sotheby's presented in Milan during Design Week the works from the Danielle Luxembourg collection that will be auctioned in New York in early May.
Italians in Paris at Christie's
.The catalogue hammered by Christie's on the evening of 9 April in Paris was mainly driven by the established names of French art from Impressionism to Informalism, fetching €30.7m, with a painting byi Toulouse-Lautrect exceeding its estimate of between €2.5m and €3.5m by realising €5.3m. The 13 lots of Italian art in the catalogue achieved the same result overall (€5,260,200), thanks to two 'cuts' byLucio Fontana, a single white one that exceeded expectations by almost doubling its low estimate (€600-800,000) to €1.2m with commissions, and a smaller red one that confirmed its low estimate of €700,000. The four works by Alighiero Boetti brought a total of €1.6m, led by a group of nine tapestries with letters conceived as a single work, which confirmed the high estimate of €750,000; the lot was protected by a third-party guarantee. Instead, an 'Achrome' by Manzoni from 1958 struggled to reach the low estimate, fetching €580,000. A characteristic work with sculptures by Giulio Paolini from 1984 changed hands in the middle of the respective estimates at €227,000, and a canvas by Scarpitta 'Grey Runner' from 1963 fetched €252,000, while a 'Chiocciolo' by Mario Merz from 1976 remained unsold (estimate €50-70,000).
There was also room for the figurative metaphysical painting of de Chirico with two works from the 1960s totalling €550,000, above estimate, and a 1908 portrait of his mother by Boccioni on paper that stopped at €100,000 below the estimate of €150-250,000. The contribution of Italian art to the Paris catalogue was therefore not determined but confirmed the liquidity of the mid-market for the major internationally recognised names, reinforcing the pre-eminent position of Paris at the expense of London and Milan.
Kazuo Shiraga's (1924-2008) 1986 'Shusen' also fetched an estimate of €400-600,000. It is worth noting that the day before on 8 April in the Collection auction Lise and Roland Funck-Brentano, a pair of business lawyers, with a total value of 6.4 million euros, which brought together important 20th century artworks, including those by Hans Hartung, Francis Picabia, Alexander Calder, Victor Vasarely and Auguste Herbin, set an auction record. The four-high round relief signed bySophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) sold for €3m (estimate €1.9-2.5m), setting a world auction record for the artist. Never before presented at auction, this three-dimensional relief from 1936 is composed of four separate panels, hand-painted and assembled. A central but long marginalised figure in the Dada movement, the artist actively participated in the activities of Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire before marrying Jean Arp in 1922. Too often overshadowed by her husband in 20th century historiography, Sophie Taeuber-Arp now enjoys renewed critical and institutional attention.
Italian Art in New York in May
The day immediately after the Paris auction, rival Sotheby's presented in Milan the 15 lots of Italian art that will be auctioned in New York in a month's time for a total estimate of around $30 million. The provenance of the collection of Danielle Luxembourg, one of the most important gallerists of the 50-year period at the turn of the 20th and 21st century, who is still active today, contributes to the attractiveness of the sought-after and rare works, starting with the main lot, one of 38 'Ends of God' created by Lucio Fontana in 1963-64. These large, elliptical, perforated canvases fetched as much as $30 million. The specimen for sale with the elaborate earth-coloured palette is estimated at $12-18 million. The reflective palette is also found in Burri's large 'Nero Cretto' from 1976, unusual for the museum dimension of the composition that pushes the estimate to $2.5-3.5 million. A million-dollar estimate ($1-1.5 million) also for a large 'Mirror' by Michelangelo Pistoletto from 1969, which depicts his wife Maria nude in a pose that harks back to classical painting.
