The April 12 auction conducted by Trinity International Auctions was invigorated by a record number of phone, Internet and absentee bidders; there was also a group of serious collectors bidding live at the Holiday Inn Select, where the sale was conducted. The high number of bidders was not just from traditional locales, such as New York City, Los Angeles, London and Paris, but also from exotic locations, such as Bangkok, Hong Kong, Bombay, Islamabad, Moscow and Warsaw.
“The weak dollar and strong euro are providing international clients with a significant discount, but that’s not the only reason international buyers are following us,” said Steve Gass, Trinity International principal. “We are one of the few American auction houses that consistently brings affordable, quality foreign artworks to the block, and that is the result of a conscious effort on our part, and results show that we’re succeeding.”
Gass estimated that 30 percent of the auction sold overseas, partly due to the diverse offering that comprised the nearly 400 lots offered. “When we get paintings from certain areas, buyers from that region flock to us,” he said.
Trinity likes to offer a good cross-section of art, from Old Masters to Modern, Gass said. The auction house cited strong sales across the board, which was “one of the things that was surprising to me †every category sold well, with many going out well above estimates,” said Gass.
Not surprising to him, however, were the top lots of the sale, which were by Russian and Russian American artists. The David Burliuk (Russian American, 1882‱967) “Lake Scene with Flowers and Sea Shells” was sold relatively early in the auction after exciting bids poured in from both the Internet and over the phone, quickly passing an in-house bidder, who sat back and watched the action. When the dust settled, the 35-by-27-inch oil on canvas went to the phone at $47,800.
Achieving the same amount just a few lots later was an oil on canvas attributed to Genrich Ippolitovich Semiradsky (Russian, 1843‱902). Titled “Roma,” this 1882 painting almost doubled its high presale estimate of $15/25,000.
Two other Russian works, completely different in style and subject, were both grabbed after active bidding. A Nineteenth Century oil on canvas, just 19½ by 13¾ inches, attributed to Ivan K. Aivazovsky (1817‱900), “Ships on a Choppy Sea,” sold for $33,460; from Sergei Yur’evich Sudeikin (1883-‱946) came a rather bizarre still life, “Still Life with a Black Doll,” an oil on canvas, 26 by 21¼ inches, with a black doll with a turban and feather seated with a vase of flowers and a large single bud dominating the foreground. The almost surrealistic painting sold for $38,240.
While Gass was not surprised by the top lots, there one lot that could truly be termed “a sleeper.” Listed as “Dutch School” and “Nature Morte,” a late Seventeentharly Eighteenth Century oil on canvas, just 11½ by 9 inches, showed a human skull and had a presale estimate of $1,5/2,500. There were eight absentee bids causing the lot to open at $15,000; it took off from there with bidders from the Internet and telephone competing. Eventually it came down to a single phone bidder against one from the Internet, with the phone claiming the lot at $27,485.
Not content with one sleeper, a painting of a cottage on a lake by Russian artist Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov (1862‱942) opened at $5,500 and was immediately hit by a bidder in the gallery and several telephone bidders. It quickly sailed past its high estimate of $12,000 to end at $20,315 from the phone.
Trinity International is just that †international in focus and offerings. Gass commented that the firm begins sales with the Russian works because it allows bidders in Russia to participate during “normal” hours (not in the middle of the night). And Russian works did very well, beyond just the top lots.
Alexandre Benois’s (Russian, 1870‱960) pastel “View of St Petersburg” came up very early and sold for $15,535. The 12½-by-19¾-inch piece, painted in 1915, was one of the first to go well beyond its presale estimate of $6/9,000. Other Russian works that excelled included a landscape by Nicolai Petrovich Krimov (Russian, 1884‱958), which had a label from the USSR Academy of the Arts. “Early Fall Landscape” was signed and dated 1816 on the lower left front; it sold for $11,950 after some phone competition.
From a New Jersey estate, an oil on canvas attributed to Konstantin Ivanovic Gorbatov, “Boats Approaching the Shore,” went above its high estimate, selling for $19,120, also to the phone. Another Burliuk, this one a small (14 by 14 inches) gouache and watercolor titled “Bashful My Dreams,” was snapped up at $6,545, double its high estimate.
“Nude” by Russian Surrealist artist Vasily Yakovlevich Sitnikov was offered a few lots later, and, with a cultlike following for the artist in Russia, this lot was another one to have every available phone pressed into service. The oil on canvas from 1985 showed a sinuous woman with her arms raised over her head in a seductive pose. Bidding was intense on this lot, with it selling at $26,290.
The next Russian to attract a great deal of attention was a much more modern piece. From an artist who died very young, Evgeny Ivovich Rukhin (1943‱976), this untitled oil on canvas painted in 1972 with a clearly political message rolled to $43,020.
While foreign artwork was most often claimed by overseas bidders, Trinity had its fair share of American art that was a magnet for US bidders.
“This is my favorite piece in the auction,” Gass admitted as a portrait of a woman holding a shawl around her shoulders came up. An oil on canvas by American artist Dennis Miller Bunker, the unidentified “Portrait of a Woman” was housed in a Stanford White-style frame. The bidding began slowly, but gathered intensity as several bidders flexed their muscles to win this lovely portrait. The winning bid came just as the auctioneer was ready to close the sale, and it went out for $23,900.
Always popular, a view of the “Queensboro Bridge, New York, NY” at night by American artist Johann Berthelsen (1883‱972) drew appreciative bids. An oil on canvas, 24 by 30 inches, the impressionistic view of New York skyline beyond the bridge was obscured in mist, the boats on the river reflected lights from the bridge as did the water. The painting sold within estimate at $19,120.
Another murky, nighttime New York City scene, James Hamilton’s “New York Harbor at Sunset,” had several interested bidders, and went out within estimate at $14,340. William H. Howe’s “Cattle Grazing in a Fall Landscape,” selling at $11,950, was also within estimate. The 24-by-30½-inch oil on canvas pastoral scene was typical of Howe, infused with intense and beautiful light and sky.
From Mexico came a watercolor titled “Fiesta Tehuanas” by Diego Rivera (1886‱957). The 25-by-19-inch canvas showed, in Rivera’s inimical colorful style, an almost Cubist vision of dancers in traditional garb. With the phones and Internet each trying to outbid the other, the relatively small work sold for $22,705.
All prices include the buyer’s premium charged.
The next major auction for Trinity International, July 20 in Southampton, N.Y., at Long Island’s Southampton Inn, is already in the composition stages with consignments currently being accepted. For information, 860-677-9996 or www.trinityfinearts.com .
