Results: Sotheby's London ImpModern Evening Sale

As is the normal sequence of events, one major London house sale is followed by one from the other. This duopoly of sales seems to work well, and it is always interesting to view each sale from Sotheby's and Chrisite's. As I reported in my last post, Chrisitie's held its ImpMod evening sale on Tuesday (click HERE for the results), and on Wed Sotheby's held its ImpMod evening sale.

By comparsion, Sotheby's had a much smaller sale with only 35 lots being offered with Chrisites offering over 90, although the quality seemed to fall off rather quickly.

The Sotheby's sale totaled $157.54 million including buyers premium, with a very impressive for the sector 32 of the 35 offered lots selling. This equals a 91.4% sell through rate. The sale sold at an equally impressive 98.4% of value. The pre sale total was estimated between $123 million and $177 million, so the end results was right in between the estimate. Of the top ten selling lots, 6 were between the estimates and four were sold above their high estimates. The top selling lot was an Egon Schiele which sold for an impressive $40.01 million (including buyers premium) against an estimate of $35.4 to $48.5 million (see image). This selling price was the highest of the week, and was also nearly twice the previous record for the artist.

Sotheby's reported on the sale

Commenting on the sale, Helena Newman, Chairman, Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Worldwide Department Worldwide, said: “We were thrilled with the record price achieved for Egon Schiele’s Häuser mit bunter Wäsche (Vorstadt II) and were honoured to bring this museum-quality work to auction. Tonight we saw a great depth of international bidding from all corners of the globe, including North America, Europe and Asia. Bidders competed aggressively for the opportunity to acquire high quality works from private collections, not seen on the market for decades, demonstrating the remarkable strength of the market. Tonight’s sale total brings Sotheby’s worldwide sales for Impressionist & Modern Art in 2011 to date to combined total in excess of £370 million/$600million.”

Egon Schiele’s Häuser mit bunter Wäsche (Vorstadt II) Painted in 1914, at the height of celebrated Austrian artist Egon Schiele’s short career (he died in 1918 at the age of just 28), Häuser mit bunter Wäsche (Vorstadt II) is one of the most impressive of the artist’s few monumental cityscapes. The work came to the auction market for the first time from the collection of the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

Museum Peter Weinhäupl, Managing and Finance Director of the Leopold Museum, said: “We are extremely pleased with the results Sotheby’s has achieved this evening with the sale of Häuser mit bunter Wäsche, “Vorstadt” II, which set a world record for the artist at auction and will allow the museum to move forward with its goals.”

Highest price for sculpture at auction this week
Tonight Sotheby’s also achieved the top selling price for sculpture this week with Alberto Giacometti’s II Trois hommes qui marchent II, selling for £10,681,250/$17,353,827/¤11,959,826 (est. £10-15 million). The sculpture, which epitomises the artist’s mature style and is one of his most iconic works, forms the genesis of L’Homme qui marche I, which set the record for any work of art at auction when it fetched £65 million at Sotheby’s in February 2010.

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