London Sales Preview

LONDON—The big news at this year’s London sales is not that the houses may be poised to net record-shattering totals but that Sotheby’s has moved its contemporary auction to the end of the month. On the heels of that announcement, Phillips de Pury & Company rescheduled its sale for the same week. By following the New York model of holding Imp/mod and contemporary art sales in separate weeks, Sotheby’s hopes to provide a better showcase for both. Department head Simon Shaw promises the 100-lot Imp/mod auction will be “up there with the best”—meaning last February’s £95 million ($187 million) evening sale. Among the pictures on offer is a Cezanne still life from the family of Joan Whitney Payson (est. £2–3 million; $4–6 million); an Alfred Sisley view of Moret-sur-Loing (est. £2.5–3.5 million; $5–7 million); and Alexej Jawlensky’s stylish portrait Schokko, circa 1910, (est. £6.5–8.5 million; $13–17 million), last sold in 2003 at Sotheby’s New York for $8.3 million. Since then, Jawlensky’s prices have risen fourfold, partly because of increased interest from Russian buyers, Shaw says. Lots to watch in the contemporary sale are Francis Bacon’s Study of a Nude with Figure in a Mirror, 1969 (est. £18–25 million; $35–50 million), which could top the current artist record of $52.7 million, set at Sotheby’s New York last May, and Gerhard Richter’s Kerze (“Candle”), 1983, which is more cautiously estimated at £1.8 million to £2.5 million ($3.6–5 million).

Christie’s has also stocked its Imp/mod sale with more than 100 lots, including eight Picassos ranging from the early Danseuse espagnole, 1901 (est. £3–4 million; $6–8 million), to the 1969 painting Homme assis au fusil (est. £5–7 million; $10–14 million), which could challenge the $16.8 million record for a late Picasso achieved at Christie’s New York last November. Also notable is a selection of Fauve and German Expressionist paintings by Kees van Dongen, Jawlensky, Emil Nolde and Chaim Soutine, with a combined estimate of £8 million ($16 million), from the collection of the late philanthropists Maurice and Vivienne Wohl. The Surrealist section will be led by an eye-popping Magritte, Le Printemps (est. £2–3 million; $4–6 million). In its contemporary sale, Christie’s is offering about 55 lots. Department head Pilar Ordovas says a ”concentration on quality” could mean the house will surpass the record £74 million ($147 million) it realized on its 101-lot sale last June. High expectations surround Richter’s Zwei Liebespaare (“Two Couples”), a 1966 photo painting (est. £6 million; $12 million). The more than 50 pieces from the collection of R. B. Kitaj, who died last year, including some by Frank Auerbach, David Hockney and Kitaj himself, come to the block with a combined estimate of £3 million ($6 million). The salesroom will also be filled with plenty of works by rising stars like Mark Grotjahn and Rudolf Stingel. That market territory is covered at Phillips de Pury & Company, as well, in the house’s now characteristic mix of postwar (Warhol and de Kooning), blue-chip contemporary (Hirst, Koons and Prince) and young talent (Terence Koh and Anselm Reyle), together with Russian and Chinese artists.

Juan Gris
Violon et journal, 1917
Estimate £3.5–4.5 million
($7–9 million)
Christie’s Imp/mod

Juan Gris is often referred to as Cubism’s “third musketeer,” after Picasso and Braque, because he was influenced early on by those two. But Gris developed his own distinct style. While Picasso and Braque’s Cubist paintings are dark and monochromatic, Gris’s sing out with colorful harmonies.

In his biography of Picasso, John Richardson notes that tensions arose between Picasso and Gris when the younger artist began to make his mark and was signed up by Picasso’s dealer, Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler. Gris, said Gertrude Stein, “was the one person that Picasso would willingly have wiped off the map.” This may have been an exaggeration, but Kahnweiler would later declare that Gris had become “a master.”