The May art sales at the Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses in New York tend to be quite an event and usually beat the market's expectations, proving the growing boom of modern creation and setting new records. This May at Sotheby's and Christie's the stars will be Impressionism and modern art.
On 9 May at Sotheby's a selection of Impressionist and modern artworks goes under the hammer, a sample of notable pieces from the late 19th and the 20th centuries. The selection ranges from luminous Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, to the movement's joie de vivre, to the psychological complexity of Egon Schiele's portraits.
One of the highlights of the sale is Les Voiles rouges , which sums up the peak of Derain's Fauve style. Painted in 1906 in London during the height of the Fauvist movement, the picture was finished during one of Derain's three visits to London in the ten months between the spring of 1906 and early 1907. As a curious aside, this painting was bought by Sarah Campbell Blaffer in November 1951. Blaffer was the daughter of William Thomas Campbell, the founder of the Texas Company (later known as Texaco), and Sarah Campbell.
Also standing out in the sale is the excellent Camille à l'ombrelle verte , a portrayal of Monet's wife walking in the garden of the family home in Argenteuil. The painting has been estimated at 9,000,000-12,000,000 USD. Painted in 1876, the year of the second Impressionist exhibition, this artwork is not just a fine example of Monet's early Impressionist technique, it also gives us an idea of the artist's personal life.
Among the most sought after for their high price and interest are Les Jeunes Amours by René Magritte (estimated at 1,200,000-1,800,000 USD), Maisons du Port, Saint-Tropez by Paul Signac (estimated at 8,000,000-12,000,000 USD), Femme dans un fanteuil by Pablo Picasso (estimated at 5,000,000-7,000,000 USD) and Sous-Bois by Maurice de Vlaminck (estimated at 12,000,000-18,000,000 USD).
At the Sotheby's sale on 12 May the star will be contemporary art, with a large selection of artworks from the postwar period to the present day. The morning session includes high quality pieces by Jean Dubuffet, Adolph Gottlieb, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella and Donald Judd. The afternoon session is a good sample of contemporary painting, photography and sculpture, and includes artworks by artists as influential and visionary as Mark Tansey, Richard Prince, George Condo, Anselm Kiefer and Sigmar Polke.
On 10 and 11 May, too, at the other great house, Christie's will hold a sale of postwar and contemporary art with some of today's leading modern and contemporary masters. It is made up of 61 lots and the main draws are expected to be Mark Rothko's No.17 Seminal, Untitled by Jean-Michel Basquiat and a richly textured abstraction by Clyfford Still, as well as a rarely seen group of artworks by Alexander Calder and a wide selection of Richard Prince's work. A much awaited evening sale, as every year, which enthusiasts can view from 30 April.
By Carmen F. Etreros
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