New York Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art Totals $61,370,500
Published May 10th, 2009
Sotheby’s New York evening sale of Impressionist & Modern Art brought a total of $61,370,500 (est. $81.5/118.8 million), and was 80.6% sold by lot. The sale was led by Piet Mondrian’s Composition in Black and White, with Double Lines, which brought $9,266,500, well above its high estimate (est. $3/5 million). A new auction record was established for Tamara de Lempicka, when her Portrait de Marjorie Ferry sold for $4,898,500 (est. $4/6 million) and the three paintings from the esteemed Havemeyer collection nearly doubled their high estimate bringing a total of just over $9 million (est. $3.5/4.8 million).
Piet Mondrian’s Composition in Black and White, with Double Lines was the top lot of this evening’s sale, nearly doubling its high estimate of $5 million to sell for $9,266,500. The distinctive provenance of the work was compelling—the painting was acquired directly from the artist by collector Eugene Lux, a Hungarian-born engineer, artist and inventor who visited Mondrian in his studio in Paris in May 1934 — and may have contributed to the development of the painting.
The three lots from the esteemed H. O. Havemeyer Collection were very enthusiastically received, with all selling well above their high estimates. The total estimate for the group was $3.5/4.8 million and they achieved a total of $9,039,500. Claude Monet’s Voilier sur Le Petit Bras de la Seine, Argenteuil, which had been on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the past fifteen years, sold after spirited battle involving six different bidders in the room and on the phone, for $3,498,500 (est. $1.2/1.8 million).
Four superb works by Tamara de Lempicka from the Collection of Wolfgang Joop were also 100% sold, bringing a total of $13,826,000 (est. $10.6/15.7 million). Portrait de Marjorie Ferry brought $4,898,500 (est. $4/6 million), establishing a new record for the artist at auction, with the others – Arlette Boucard aux Arums, Portrait de la Duchesse de la Salle and Portrait de Mademoiselle Poum Rachou – coming in within or above estimates.
