On December 16, the Aguttes auction house in collaboration with specialist Cabinet d’Expertise Dan Coissard, conducted a successful sale of Russian, Impressionist, Modern and contemporary painting, which totaled $6.75 million.
Bidding began with the sale of an oil painting of cows in a pasture, circa 1885‱890, by Eugène Boudin that sold for $80,000. A bronze bust of Georges Clemenceau by Auguste Rodin from 1955 realized $25,500, while an oil painting of a bouquet of red dahlias by Bernard Buffet from 1961 went for more than $106,000.
Continuing in the Impressionist and Modern part of the sale, a rare landscape by Pierre-Auguste Renoir from his late period brought more than $532,500. Another rare painting by preeminent American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam incited much interest on the telephones, climbing to $510,000. A charming portrait by fellow Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot depicting her daughter, Julie Manet, parted for $279,000. A second bronze by Rodin, this one a sensual depiction of man and woman, extracted from his chef d’oeuvre “The Gates of Hell” and titled “Eternal Idol,” was admired by several bidders and was acquired for $144,000. Afterwards two fetching portraits by Moise Kisling, the first from 1917 and the second from 1936 depicting his muse Kiki de Montparnasse, each sold for $316,500.
Moving to contemporary paintings, a large-format composition from 1963 by Pierre Soulages, the “painter of black” whose works are currently being celebrated in a retrospective at the Centre Pompidou, finished at $532,500.
Following the sale of a large oil by Olivier Debre for $91,500, a grand composition in red and black by Chu The Chun from 1966 incited much interest on the telephones and was snatched up for $141,000. The final price of $178,500 for a composition titled “Mitterand,” 1994, by Turkish artist Burhan Dogancay closed the contemporary section of the sale.
The Russian part of the sale opened with two oils of the imperial fleet by Leonid Blinov that sold for $52,500 and $72,000. These were followed by two exceptional oils by the Nineteenth Century miniaturist master Ivan Pokitonov, which went for $187,500 and $109,500, respectively.
A hunting scene by Serguei Vassilkovsky incited much interest and quadrupled its estimate, selling for $225,000. A bronze bust of Naoum Aronson of Léo Tolstoy was $79,500, and a marble by Mark Matveevich Antokolsky reached $111,000 and prepared the sale room for the much-awaited presentation of the portrait of Daria Kamenka by Vassili Shukhaev, which climbed from a low estimate of $450,000 to a final price of $1,227,000.
A still life by Martiros Sarayan made $76,500, followed by a composition titled “Apple” by Leonid Lamm selling for $66,000 and closing this part of the sale.
The auction session featured a vase with flowers by Henri Martin, which brought $31,500, and a composition of conversing women by Jacqueline Marval for $55,500.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium.
Aguttes and CEDC are currently preparing auctions of Russian, Modern and Impressionist paintings in February and March. For information, www.aguttes.com or contact Frédéric Thut at 917-282-6044 or fthut@fthut.eu .
