Munich, 4 Dec. 2008, (kk) - Nearly € 4 200 000* overall proceeds were achieved at the Modern Art auction that inaugurated the new Ketterer Kunst House for Art on 3 December 2008, hence surpassing the June results by some € 200 000*.

"This proves that the art market is stable and that we can look forward to the future very confidently," thus Robert Ketterer, auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst. "Quality carries the day after all, even in times of economic turbulence," the gratified entrepreneur confirmed in an interview with Bavarian Television. "International participation in auctions has declined considerably but this has not prevented the German art market from achieving top prices," he went on to add. Today (Thursday) the second part of the inaugural auction POST 1945/Contemporary Art is been eagerly awaited.

Where Emil Nolde is concerned, one is advised to turn to Ketterer; after the world record set by the mysterious green-eyed "Nadja" in June last year, a 1909 Nolde oil painting, "Landschaft" ["Landscape"] was the star of this year’s autumn auction. Achieving € 900,000*, this work painted in glowing colours now graces an important south German collection.

Another Nolde, the 1940 watercolour "Seebüll unter blau-violettem Himmel" ["Seebüll beneath a Blue-Purple Sky"] has also migrated to southern Germany. A bidder in writing who had set a limit that would still have left some scope, secured it for € 159,000* against stiff competition from compatriots.

Painted in 1913, only a year before August Macke was killed in action, the watercolour "Frauen am See" ["Women by a Lake"] represents one of his most important periods and is one of his last pictures with a European motif. The order book was full and half a dozen telephone bidders competed against the auction room for this exceptional work. A distinguished German collector honoured it with € 816,000*, almost trebling the estimate of € 300,000.

Another south German collector outbid the competition for the 1920 Max Liebermann oil painting "Der Nutzgarten in Wannsee nach Westen" ["The Kitchen Garden in Wannsee, Looking West"], paying € 390,000* for it.

The Hanns Bolz "Portrait of the Art Dealer Alfred Flechtheim" (c. 1910/11) caused a sensation, achieving € 77,000 (estimate: € 18,000). In the early 20th century, Bolz was one of the most influential precursors of Modernism. A contemporary, the writer Karl Otten, found that Bolz’s "pictures went further than even Delaunay and Picasso dared to go." A bidder from Greece in the auction room finally outstripped a field of half a dozen telephone bidders and numerous bids in writing.

Nine works on paper by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner together achieved € 250,000*. The highest price paid for any one work was nearly € 75,000 for the India ink and brush drawing "Zwei Tänzerinnen" ["Two Dancers"], more than double the estimate of € 30,000. A Kirchner aficionado in the auction room succeeded in outbidding tough competition on the telephone, and not just for this work.

More than honourable mention also goes to:

Objects not sold at the auction can still be acquired at the post-auction sales held until early January 2009. Auction result lists are available; please call +49 (0)89-55244-444. More information at www.kettererkunst.com.

* The sale price equals the hammer price + 22 per cent surcharge for hammer prices up to € 500 000 and hammer price + 20 per cent surcharge for hammer prices from € 500 001

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