Art auction
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An art auction or fine art auction is the sale of art works, in most cases in an auction house.
In
Normally, an auction catalog, that lists the art works to be sold, is written and made available well before the auction date.
Some of the best known auction houses are
History
Early days
Before the introduction of regular auctions the practice was, as in the case of the famous collection formed by
The next great dispersal was Dr
As to the quality of the pictures which had been sold by auction up to the latter part of the 18th century, it may be assumed that this was not high. The importation of pictures and other objects of art had assumed extensive proportions by the end of the 18th century, but the genuine examples of the
Three years later came the dispersal of the 1,500 pictures which formed Lord Northwick's gallery at Cheltenham (pictures and works of art, 18 days, ).[1]
Mid-19th century
Towards the latter part of the first half of the 19th century an entirely new type of collector gradually came into existence. It was a group primarily consisting of men who had made, or were making, large fortunes in the various industries of the midlands and north of England and other centres. They were not hampered by "collecting" traditions, and their patronage was almost exclusively extended to the artists of the day. The dispersal of these collections began in 1863, and continued at irregular intervals for many years, e.g. Joseph Gillott (1872), Sam Mendel (1875), Wynne Ellis and Albert Levy (1876), Albert Grant (1877) and Munro of Novar (1878).[4]
These patrons purchased at munificent prices either direct from the easel or from the exhibitions not only pictures in
One of the features of the sales of the 1870s was the high appreciation of water-colour drawings. At the
The demand for pictures by modern artists, whose works sold at almost fabulous prices in the 1870s, had somewhat declined by the early 20th century; but during all its furore there was still a small band of collectors to whom the works of the Old Masters more especially appealed. The dispersal of such collections as the Bredel (1875), Watts Russell (1875), Foster of Clewer Manor (1876), the Hamilton Palace (17 days, )—one of the greatest art sales in the annals of Great Britain—Bale (1881),[4][8] Leigh Court (1884), and Dudley (1892) resulted,[4][9] as did the sale of many minor collections each season, in many very fine works of the Old Masters finding eager purchasers at high prices. A striking example of the high prices given was the realized by the pair of Vandyck portraits of a Genoese senator and his wife in the Peel sale, 1900.[4]
Late 19th to early 20th centuries
In the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, the chief feature in art sales was the demand for works, particularly female portraits, by Reynolds, his contemporaries and successors. This may be traced to the South Kensington Exhibitions of 1867 and 1868 and the annual winter exhibitions at Burlington House, which revealed an unsuspected wealth and charm in the works of many English artists who had almost fallen into oblivion.[4]
A few of the most remarkable prices for such pictures may be quoted:[4]
- Reynolds's Lady Betty Delmé (1894), 11,000 gns.;
- Romney's (1896), 10,500 gns.;
- Gainsborough's Duchess of Devonshire (1876), 10,100 gns. (for the history of its disappearance see Georgiana Cavendish), Maria Walpole, 12,100 gns. (Duke of Cambridge's sale, 1904);
- Constable's Stratford Mill (1895), 8,500 gns.;
- Hoppner's Lady Waldegrave (1906), 6,000 gns.;
- Thomas Lawrence's Childhood's Innocence(1907), 8,000 gns.;
- Henry Raeburn's Lady Raeburn (1905), 85,00 gns.
- Mortlake Terrace(1908 Holland sale). 12,600 gns.
Between 1880 and the end of first decade of the 20th century the "appreciation" of the then modern continental schools, particularly the French, was considerable; of high prices paid may be mentioned:[10]
- Corot's Danse des Amours (1898), ;
- Rosa Bonheur's Denizens of the Highlands (1888), 5,550 gns.;
- Jules Breton's First Communion, in New York City (1886);
- Meissonier's Napoleon I. in the Campaign of Paris, 12¼in. by 9¼in. (1882), 5,800 gns.,
- The Sign Painter (1891), 6,450 gns.
High prices were also fetched by pictures of
"Specialism" is the one important development in art collecting which has manifested itself between the middle of the 19th century and the Edwardian period. This explained the high average quality of the
The
The Holland sale, in June 1908, realized (432 lots), a "record" sum for a collection of pictures mainly by modern artists; and that for the
Late 20th century
In November 1970, Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of Juan de Pareja sold for $5.5 million. The sale tripled the previous world record of a decade earlier. In May 1990, Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Doctor Gachet sold for $82.5 million.[12]
21st century
In November 2013, $142.4 million was paid for the 1969 triptych, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, by Francis Bacon.[13]
The highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction was Pablo Picasso's Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O) (Women of Algiers) that was sold by Christie's in May 2015 for $179.4 million.[14]
Sotheby's and Christie's has become major dealers of Chinese porcelain antiques. As of 2016, some of the best collections had been auctioned for tens of millions US Dollars, through Sotheby's and Christie's.[15]
In the 21st century, and especially since 2010, it has become more common for artworks to sell for prices in excess of $100m. Of the most expensive paintings of all time, most of those that sold for more than $100m were auctioned during or after 2010. The factors that can drive the price of a piece this high include the reputation of the artist, the age of the piece, the state of the art market, the piece's provenance, and the length of time since the piece was last up for sale.[16][17][18]
One of the largest changes to art auctions in 21st century is introduction and expansion of
Controversy
In 2000, Christie's and Sotheby's admitted to a criminal
See also
- Art dealer
- Art valuation
- Blockage discount
- CINOA, an international organization of art dealers
Historical bibliography
The chief compilations dealing with art sales in Great Britain are: G. Redford, Art Sales (1888); and W. Roberts, Memorials of Christie's (1897); other books containing much important matter are W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting; The Year's Art (1880 and each succeeding year); F. S. Robinson, The Connoisseur; and Louis Soullié, Les Ventes de tableaux, dessins et objets d'art au XIX'e siècle (chiefly French).[26]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Chisholm 1911, p. 268.
- ^ Evelyn 1906, p. 303.
- ^ Graves, p. 305.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Chisholm 1911, p. 269.
- ^ "Sotheby's - Page Not Found". sothebys.com.
{{cite web}}
: Cite uses generic title (help)[permanent dead link] - ^ Graves, p. 7.
- ^ Graves, p. 252.
- ^ Graves, p. 237.
- ^ Graves, p. 80.
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911, p. 270.
- ^ Catalog of items sold at the 1904 Massey-Mainwaring sale
- ^ A History Of Insane Art Prices Archived 2016-12-28 at the Wayback Machine Digg.com Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ^ Vogel, Carol (November 12, 2013). "Bacon's Study of Freud Sells for $142.4 Million". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
- ^ "Picasso Painting Sells For Nearly $180 Million, Smashing Auction Record". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
- ^ Yi Ching, Leung. "2016 Top 20 Chinese porcelain auctions (Sotheby's/ Christie's)". www.zentopia-culture.com/. Leung Yi Ching. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- from the original on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
- ^ "What makes a painting worth more than $100m? - New Bond Street Pawnbrokers". www.newbondstreetpawnbrokers.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
- ^ Lui, Kevin. "Basquiat Painting Breaks Multiple Records By Selling For $110.5 Million". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
- from the original on 2020-01-30. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- from the original on 2020-01-30. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
- ^ Just the two of us - The duopoly in fine-art auctions is weakened but very much alive Archived 2012-02-22 at the Wayback Machine The Economist, economist.com, February 27, 2003.
- ^ Commission rules against collusive behaviour of Christie's and Sotheby's Archived 2007-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, IP/02/1585, European Commission, europa.eu, October 30, 2002.
- ^ Rohleder, Anna (November 14, 2001), "Who's Who In The Sotheby's Price-Fixing Trial", Forbes, archived from the original on 2012-10-21, retrieved 2012-11-20
- ^ Johnson, Caitlin A. (February 11, 2009), "For Billionaire There's Life After Jail", CBS News, archived from the original on 2010-12-04, retrieved 2012-11-20
- ^ "Hammer houses of horror". The Economist. July 24, 1997. Archived from the original on 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 700.
References
- Evelyn, John (1906), The Diary of John Evelyn, vol. III, New York: Macmillan Publishers, p. 303
- Graves, Algernon, Graves/art Sales 18c V3, vol. 3, Ayer Publishing, pp. 7, 80, 252, 237, 305
- Rambach, H. (June 2010), "Collectors at auctions, auctions for collectors", Schweizer Muenzblaetter, 238: 35–43
- Art expo
Attribution:
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Art Sales". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 699–700. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
External links
- Michel Cruz, Is the current art market boom just the beginning of a whole new era for international trading?, Rimontgo, 2006, archived from the original at archive.org.