PRESS REPORT
Many thanks for the bouquets
Flower Power and Powerful Women
Munich, 6 Dec. 2007 - (kk) - Ketterer Kunst is breaking one record after another with Emil Nolde: in June 2007 his "Nadja" fetched € 2 580,000*, making it the most expensive Nolde oil painting in Germany, while his "Mohn, gelbe und blaue Blüten" ["Poppies, Yellow and Blue Flowers"] broke all records worldwide for his flower watercolours** at the Modern Art & Post War auction held at the HVB Forum in Munich on 5 Dec. 2007. The overall proceeds from that auction amounted to € 7,500,000*.
The Top 5 at the Auction
€ 485,000*
August Macke - "Blonde Girl with Book"
Estimate: € 300,000 - 500,000
€ 366,000*
Enrico Castellani - "Superficie argento"
Estimate: € 150,000 - 250,000
€ 320,000*
Emil Nolde - "Poppies, Yellow and Blue Flowers"
Estimate: € 90,000 - 120,000
€ 320,000*
Amedeo Modigliani - "Caryatid"
Estimate: € 100,000 - 120,000
€ 300,000*
W. G. von Bechtejeff - "Circus Scene"
Estimate: € 180,000 - 240,000
Gudrun Ketterer, who is married to Robert Ketterer, owner of Ketterer Kunst, had a highly successful première at the auctioneer"s lectern. With poise and assurance, she opened the event and auctioned the 80 lots from the special catalogue Side lines of the German Avant-garde. So knowledgeable and charming was she that she achieved extraordinarily high rises over estimates. To take two examples, she sold Fritz Schaefler"s "Badehütten" ["Beach Houses"] for nearly ten times the estimate and nearly trebled the estimate for Paul Fuhrmann"s "Schönheitskönigin" ["Beauty Queen"]. Nor did she earn plaudits just for that. "I am highly gratified that my wife succeeded at her very first auction in increasing the density of record-breaking hammer prices at the "Side lines auction", which has now been held for the fourth time," thus Robert Ketterer.
While another powerful woman, painted around 1910 by Vladimir G. Bekhteyev tamed six black horses in the circus arena so masterfully that a Greek art lover was more than willing to part from € 300,000*, a German collector succumbed to the delightful curves of Amedeo Modigliani"s "Cariatide" ["Caryatid"], of whom he could only be certain after winning a bidding skirmish fought out with international competition for € 320,000*.
A 1912 August Macke painting of a little blonde girl seated at a table in front of a light green wall even climbed to the dizzying heights of € 485,000*.
Also deserving more than a mention in passing in the Modern Art division:
| Artist | Title | Estimate | Sale Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilhelm Morgner (Oil painting) | Man with Wheelbarrow | € 100,000 | € 187,000* |
| Gabriele Münter (Oil painting) | Trees on Hagenweg, Evening | € 100,000 | € 148,000* |
| Emil Nolde (Watercolour) | Red Blossoms | € 80,000 | € 114,000* |
| Wilhelm Morgner (Oil painting) | Man with Blue Flower | € 60,000 | € 114,000* |
The contemporary art division (Post War) was headed by Enrico Castellani and his seminal 1965 work "Superficie argento", that set a record with the highest price ever paid for a work by this artist in the German-speaking countries**. An Austrian dealer bid € 366,000* for it to outstrip a field consisting of the auction room and half a dozen bidders on the telephone.
The Pierre Soulages oil painting "Peinture 127 cm x 99 cm, 23 septembre 1977" made the telephone wires run hot as it developed into a much coveted object. Its "Brown over a vibrant gold tone", as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung so aptly put it, was worth € 180,000*.
Also attracted positive notice in the Post War division:
| Artist | Title | Estimate | Sale Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Beuys | Stake Cross | € 80,000 | € 150,000* |
| Horst Antes (Oil painting) | Interior with still life | € 90,000 | € 119,000* |
| Jörg Immendorff (Bronze) | Winner | € 80,000 | € 114,000* |
| Roy Lichtenstein (Collage) | Untitled (Seascape) | € 80,000 | € 106,000* |
The thirty works sold at the special auction devoted to the Professor Robert Häusser Collection were overwhelmingly in demand: at times a dozen bidders on the telephone competed against the auction room and a great many bids in writing from Germany and abroad for the objects from the distinguished German art photographer"s collection. The sales quota of 77 per cent met all expectations.
Lots unsold at the auction can be acquired until early 2008 at the Post-auction sale. Auction result lists are available; please call +49-(0)89-55244-444. You will find more information online at www.kettererkunst.com.
Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has been firmly established among the front ranks of auction houses dealing in art and rare books with headquarters at the Prinz-Alfons Palais in Munich and a branch in Hamburg. Gallery rooms in Berlin and representatives in Heidelberg, Krefeld and New York have contributed crucially to the success. The portfolio has been rounded off by the acquisition of the renowned Ernest Rathenau Verlag, New York/Munich.
**) Source: see www.artnet.de
*) The Sale Price corresponds to:
Hammer Price + 20 per cent surcharge for hammer prices below € 200,000 or
Hammer Price + 18 per cent surcharge for hammer prices above € 200,000