An Auction for Photographs of the Human Hands

Sotheby’s New York recently featured "A Show of Hands: Photographs from the Collection of Henry Buhl." The collection explores the theme of the human hand, encompassing works from the art form’s early 19th century pioneers of the masters of 20th century photography and beyond. It was assembled over the course of 20 years by the visionary philanthropist and collector Henry Buhl. The exhibition took place from December 8-12, and the auction was on December 12-13. Shown above is the poster in front of Sotheby's featuring one of the pieces from the collection. The photograph is called "Lonely Metropolitan" (1932) by Herbert Bayer.

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” Sold for a Record $119.9 Million at Sotheby's

"The Scream" poster outside Sotheby's

Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 painting called “The Scream” was auctioned for $120 million at Sotheby's last night, becoming the world’s most expensive artwork ever to sell at auction. The work, a pastel on board, is one of four versions created by Edvard Munch; the other three are part of collections in Norwegian museums. This version of "The Scream" is considered to be the most vibrant. It was sold by Petter Olsen, a Norwegian businessman and shipping heir whose father was a friend, neighbor and patron of the artist. The unknown buyer bid over the telephone during the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale. The price surpassed the previous record, made two years ago at Christie’s in New York when Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” brought $106.5 million.

Outside of Sotheby’s, demonstrators protesting the company’s longtime lockout of art handlers waved placards with the image of “The Scream” along with the motto, “Sotheby’s: Bad for Art” and "People Before Profit." The group is a mix of union members and Occupy Wall Street protesters. 

Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale at Sotheby's

Sotheby's is holding its Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale tonight. The sale will be led by Edvard Munch’s "The Scream", an image that reflects the pulsating anguish of modern society. This painting is among the most recognizable images in the history of art. Executed in 1895, this work is one of four versions of the painting, and the only one still in private hands. Also on offer is a series of Modern masterpieces from the collection of Theodore J. Forstmann including a brilliant wartime portrait by Picasso inspired by his muse, Dora Maar, a monument to anti-painting by Joan Miro from 1931 and one of Chaim Soutine's most magnificent portraits,Le Chasseur de Chez Maxim's.

Sotheby's Expects to Sell Munch's "The Scream" For 80 Million or More

Giant poster of "The Scream" on display outside Sotheby's

Sotheby's New York will auction the only privately owned version of Edvard Munch's painting called "The Scream" on May 2 where it expects to sell for over $80 million, the highest pre-sale value the auctioneer has ever put on a work of art. "The Scream" is one of the most instantly recognizable images in art and popular culture, second only perhaps to Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa". The 1895 work is owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father Thomas was a friend, neighbor and patron of Munch, the auctioneer said on Tuesday. There are four versions of the famous depiction of an apparently screaming figure. The three others are part of Norwegian museum collections. The painting aims to to convey Munch's anxiety in the hills above Oslo and has been interpreted by many as the embodiment of modern-day anxiety and existential angst.

AN IMPORTANT AND RARE "CENTAURE" by FRANÇOIS-XAVIER & CLAUDE LALANNE at Sotheby's

On display at the lobby of Sotheby's is a sculpture created by FRANÇOIS-XAVIER & CLAUDE LALANNE called AN IMPORTANT AND RARE "CENTAURE". The piece is part of the Important 20th Century Design auction to be held on December 15. The 1983 sculpture is made of patinated bronze, 87 1/4 in. (221.6 cm) high, and is number 1 from an edition of 8. Sotheby's is located at 1334 York Avenue between 71st and 72nd Streets on the Upper Eastside.

"Occupying" Sotheby's

Earlier this evening Sotheby's art handlers and Occupy Wall Street supporters joined forces once again in their fight for professional art handler's rights and against corporate greed. They made noise once again in front of the famed Sotheby's auction house on the Upper East Side. The organized protest coincides with tonight's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale. The Sotheby's professional art handlers have been locked out of their jobs since early August. The protesters deem Sotheby's auctions as the epitome of the disconnect between the extremely wealthy and the "99%" in America. Sotheby's is located at 1334 York Avenue between 71st and 72nd Streets.

Video ffrom NYCCamp showing protesters expressing their views during a past Sotheby's art auction

Art Handlers' Protests At Sotheby's - Is Sotheby's Bad for Art?

Art handlers at Sotheby's have been protesting outside the Upper Eastside auction house even before the Occupy Wall Street movement made noise in Lower Manhattan. The art handlers have been locked out of their jobs for more than three months. While Sotheby's earned record profits last year, it wants to replace these longtime professionals with inexperiened, outsourced workers. The long-running protests aim to educate the company's clients about their plight. Sotheby's is located at 1334 York Avenue between 71st and 72nd Streets.

One Pricey Cat

In preview on the Upper Eastside's SOTHEBY'S are precious works of art prior to the IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART AUCTION on May 6. We went to Sotheby's this afternoon to view the paintings and sculpture including "The Cat" by ALBERTO GIACOMETTI. This piece is one of the most expensive works in Sotheby's sale on Tuesday. Works of other great artists are also on view including PABLO PICASSO, CAMILLE PISSARRO, PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR, PIET MONDRIAN, CLAUDE MONET, AUGUSTE RODIN, TAMARA DE LEMPICKA, etc. Aside from museums, going to auction previews provides another rare opportunity to enjoy and appreciate great works of art in the city.
EXHIBITION AT SOTHEBY'S (located at 1334 York Avenue)
Fri, 1 May 09, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sat, 2 May 09, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sun, 3 May 09, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Mon, 4 May 09, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tue, 5 May 09, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

From the nytimes.com:

Although Giacometti was best known for his depictions of the human figure, he produced bronzes of both animals and once even told a writer: “The dog is myself. One day I saw it like that in the street. I was that dog.” Cats, some scholars say, were the artist’s metaphor for the vulnerability of the human race, and his renderings of them are particularly rare; there hasn’t been one at auction since 1975, when a similar sculpture fetched $130,000 at Sotheby’s in New York (over $500,000 in today’s dollars). On Tuesday Sotheby’s will once again be featuring a cat in its sale of Impressionist and modern art. Made in 1951 and cast in 1959 in an edition of eight, it is being sold by an unidentified Swedish collector who bought it in the 1960s. The auction house expects it to bring $16 million to $24 million. (Earlier this year, dealers say, Sotheby’s tried to sell the sculpture privately for a higher price.) Whether this will be catnip for collectors is anyone’s guess. A second cat from the same edition is rumored to be for sale privately in New York.

About Sotheby's:

Sotheby's New York is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at the corner of 72nd Street and York Avenue. Our 10-story premises are one block from the FDR Drive, and the neighborhood is well-served by ample parking.

As pioneers of the ever expanding international art market, Sotheby's opened the doors of its New York offices in 1955, and in 1967 acquired Parke-Bernet, the United States' largest fine art auction house. More than 50 years after opening, Sotheby's New York continues to thrive as the company's worldwide headquarters. Its history of success includes numerous high-profile sales such as the collections of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Katharine Hepburn.

In recent years Sotheby's has made auction history with Picasso's Garçon è la pipe and Dora Maar au chat, the two most expensive works sold at auction. In 2007 the New York headquarters held an array of exciting sales with property that spanned the centuries. The Magna Carta sold for $21.3 million and the Guennol Lioness brought $57.2 million, a record for an antiquity at auction and sculpture at auction. 2007 also brought continued interest in Contemporary art and numerous important works were sold in New York, including Mark Rothko's White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose), and Francis Bacon's Study from Innocent X. In May 2008, the Contemporary Art auction became the most successful in Sotheby's history, with Francis Bacon's Triptych, 1976 realizing $86.3 million, an auction record for the artist and a record for a Contemporary work sold at auction.

Picasso’s "The Daughter of the Artist at Two-and-a-half Years with a Boat" Headlines Sotheby’s Auction

This is a photo of the cover of SOTHEBY'S Catalog for the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale. Pablo Picasso's 1938 portrait of his daughter Maya as a toddler is expected to bring up to $33.8 million Cdn at Sotheby's New York auction next week.

From CBC.ca:

La Fille de l'artiste a deux ans et demi avec un bâteau (The Daughter of the Artist at Two-and-a-half Years with a Boat) will be auctioned at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale on May 5-6.

It depicts Maya Widmaier-Picasso, the second of Picasso's four children by three women, as a golden-haired toddler holding a toy boat. She was born to the Spanish artist's mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, in 1935, while he was still married to the Russian dancer Olga Khokhlova.

As a child, Widmaier-Picasso was the subject of a series of colourful portraits with her favourite toys. This work was created just a few months after the harrowing Guernica, Picasso's protest against the bombing of a small village during the Spanish Civil War.

"It reflects the great joy that Maya brought into the artist's life, even on the eve of the Second World War," Sotheby's vice-chairman of impressionist and modern art Emmanuel Di Donna told the Telegraph.

Like many of Picasso's portraits of his family members, the work remained in his personal collection for 35 years until his death in 1973. It has been in a private collection since the 1980s.

The painting has never been auctioned before.

Maya married Pierre Widmaier and had three children, Olivier, Richard and Diana, an art historian and author whom major art houses seek out to authenticate her father's works.

EXHIBITION AT SOTHEBY'S (located at 1334 York Avenue)

Fri, 1 May 09, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sat, 2 May 09, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sun, 3 May 09, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Mon, 4 May 09, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tue, 5 May 09, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM