Henri Matisse Nude Bronze Sells for $48.8 Million at Christie’s New York Auction

NEW YORK (AP).- A 6-foot Henri Matisse bronze of a nude woman seen from behind has been sold for over $48 million in New York City, a record auction price for the artist’s work. Christie’s says “Back IV” was purchased Wednesday by Gagosian Gallery Inc. The price included the buyer’s premium. It had been estimated to bring $25 million to $35 million. Henri Matisse bronze from the artist’s Back series of life-size relief sculptures Matisse created a series of four [...]

Fortnight of Sales at Christie’s Expected to Yield a Combined Total in Excess of $500 Million

NEW YORK, NY.- This November, Christie’s presents a spectacular line-up of fine art auctions, featuring the best examples of Impressionist & Modern and Post-War & Contemporary Art available on the auction market. Over the course of a fortnight, Christie’s will offer over 850 works of art, beginning with its major Evening Sale of 85 works of Impressionist and Modern Art on November 3 and continuing with its Works on Paper and Day sales on November 4. The following Wednesday, November 10, Christie’s will [...]

20th Century Master Prints from the Dreier LLP Collection at Phillips de Pury & Co.

NEW YORK, NY.- Phillips de Pury & Company announced highlights from the sale of the Dreier LLP collection as part of the November Modern and Contemporary Editions auction. The Dreier LLP collection of 20th Century Master Prints places emphasis on blue chip artists of the 1970’s and 1980’s and will feature over 40 lots in the single owner section of the catalogue. “The Dreier LLC collection was professionally curated and shows a striking array of some of the best examples [...]

Sale of Prints by Modern and Contemporary Masters Expected to Realise £5.3 Million

LONDON.- Sotheby’s autumn sale of Modern and Contemporary Prints will take place on Thursday, 16 September, 2010 and will offer collectors a broad selection of works spanning the twentieth century. Prior to the auction, the sale will be on public exhibition at Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries beginning 12 September. The 176 lots are expected to realise in the region of £5.3 million. Taking centre stage is the group of prints by Pablo Picasso from a Private European Collection, comprising [...]

Henri Matisse’s Intimate Side at Fundación BBK in Bilbao

BILBAO.- The exhibition hall of the Fundación BBK in Bilbao hosts, from today until October 30, forty prints by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) in which the French painter shows his most intimate side. For Matisse, printmaking and drawing were not a means to disseminate his work, “but to create an intimate space”, an idea that shows the parts of the exhibition, which includes two self-portraits and a portrait of his three grandchildren, as explained to the media by the curator of [...]

Exhibition Offers Unprecedented Reassessment of Pivotal Moment in Henri Matisse’s Career

NEW YORK, NY.- Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917, a large-scale investigation into a pivotal moment in the career of Henri Matisse (1869–1954), presents an important reassessment of the artist’s work between 1913 and 1917, revealing this period to be one of the most significant chapters in Matisse’s evolution as an artist. On view from July 18 through October 11, 2010, at The Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition examines paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints made by the artist between his return [...]

British Art Market Warns Against European Union Levy

LONDON (REUTERS).- British auction houses fear that an EU levy on works of art by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, due to be introduced in 2012, could undermine their position as world leaders in the field. The British government has a temporary exemption from the EU’s “droit de suite” levy on the re-sale price of works of art payable to the artist or the artist’s inheritors for 70 years after his or her death. Extending the artists’ [...]

Sotheby’s Summer Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art in London Total $194 million

LONDON.- Sotheby’s two-day sales series of Impressionist & Modern Art in London this week realised a combined total of £131,186,300 / $193,602,387 / €157,601,625 – an increase of 185% on the same series last year. The sum achieved brings the total for Impressionist & Modern Art sold by Sotheby’s London so far in 2010 to an unprecedented £295 million1 – the highest such total in Sotheby’s London history. For the second time in Sotheby’s London sales this year, three works [...]

Collection of Radiant Masterpieces by Henri Matisse at Helly Nahmad Gallery

LONDON.- Helly Nahmad Gallery presents a collection of radiant masterpieces by Henri Matisse (1869–1954). Influenced by the relaxed and joyous atmosphere of the Côte d’azur, Henri was at his happiest and most creative in this warm, lightfilled environment. Here he produced some of his most beautiful works; luminous vistas, sensual models in flower filled interiors, open windows looking out to the dazzling blue sea. Also exhibited, and in great contrast to the radiant paintings, are the four monumental bronze Backs. [...]

Sotheby’s May 2010 Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art Brings $195 Million

NEW YORK, NY.- Tonight at Sotheby’s, the spring Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art brought a total of $195,697,000, nearly reaching the high end of the presale estimate (est. $141/204 million). Forty-three works achieved prices over $1 million, ten works exceeded $5 million, four works brought prices over $10 million, and two works sold for over $15 million. The sale was 87.7% sold by lot and 92.4% sold by value. Two artist records were set: Isamu Noguchi’s Undine (Nadja) [...]

Mark Rothko, Henri Matisse Among Top Lots at Sotheby’s NY

NEW YORK, NY.- Paintings by Mark Rothko and Henri Matisse will be among the top lots at Sotheby’s sales in New York next month, the auctioneer said on Friday. Matisse’s “Bouquet pour le 14 Juillet 1919″ was the artist’s celebration of the first Bastille Day after World War One and is expected to fetch $18-25 million when it goes under the hammer as part of the May 5 impressionist and modern art auction. A week later, at the contemporary art [...]

Icon of Art History Henri Matisse’s “Dance” on Loan for Six Weeks at Hermitage Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM.- From Thursday 1 April the painting Dance (1909-1910) by Henri Matisse will be included in the exhibition Matisse to Malevich. Pioneers of modern art from the Hermitage. Dance, which will be seen at the Hermitage Amsterdam only until 9 May, has never previously been displayed in the Netherlands. It is one of the icons of art history and comes from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. It is rarely loaned out. Very recently the Ministry [...]

Matisse’s Celebration of The First Bastille Day to be Offered by Sotheby’s

NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s 5 May 2010 Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York will feature Henri Matisse’s spectacular “Bouquet pour le 14 Juillet 1919″, the artist’s emotional celebration of the first Bastille Day following World War I (est. $18/25 million)*. The present work also heralds the fresh and colorful style that would define Matisse’s career from 1919 onward, and signals the artist’s renewed sense of optimism following one of the most troubling periods of his career. [...]

Exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago Looks at an Enigmatic Phase in Henri Matisse’s Art

CHICAGO.- A new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago takes a close — sometimes even microscopic — look at one short and enigmatic phase in the 65-year-long artistic career of France’s Henri Matisse. Matisse, who lived from 1869 to 1954, is often seen as the least controversial and the most serene of the great 20th century modernists. Though his occasional early sculptures are darker, Matisse’s paintings and prints seem to live in a sunny place outside of time. Their [...]

Christie’s Announces Impressionist and Modern Art Sale for March 10

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modern Art on March 10 presents an exciting opportunity for collectors to purchase superb works by the great masters Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Tamara de Lempicka, and Henry Moore and to explore a wealth of drawings, sculpture and works on paper by lesser-known artists of the Impressionist and Modern periods. Prices begin at $1,200 and range up to $80,000. With over 160 works, the sale is expected to realize in excess of [...]

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