frank cohen

Transcription

frank cohen

No. 04/2014
ROBERT INDIANA
Numbers Game
PAOLO SCHEGGI
Pittura Oggetto
FRANS VERBEECK
The Mocking of the Human Follies
EXTRAVAGANT
J e w e l s o f t h e Tw e n t i e s a n d T h i r t i e s
THE LOVE OF COLLECTING
Lassnig, Kippenberger and Co
my Dorotheum: Inter view
FRANK
C
O
H
E
N
S e l f- m a d e m a n a n d c o l l e c t o r
Preview of the Contemporary Art auction on
20 May, 2014 with works by Lucio Fontana
and Paolo Scheggi.
VIEW
E D I T OR I A L
With more than 300 years’ histor y the oldest art auction house in the world, Dorotheum has
established its core competency in the painting genres of Old Masters, the 19th centur y, and
modern and contemporary art. The department gaining enormously in significance in recent years
is that of Contemporary Art – a field we were able to develop with great international success.
I n t h i s e d i t i o n o f t h e “ D o ro t h e u m m y A R T M AG A Z I N E ”, F ra n k C o h e n f ro m t h e U K a n d Vo l k e r
W. F e i e r a b e n d , a G e r m a n l i v i n g i n I t a l y, t a l k a b o u t t h e i r c o l l e c t i o n s o f c o n t e m p o r a r y a r t .
Furthermore the magazine offers features on Pittura Oggetto and works of an Austrian
collection that will be auctioned at Dorotheum this autumn.
It is of great import for me to spotlight VIENNA ART WEEK, an enterprise initiated by
D o ro t h e u m , w h i c h i s h e l d t h i s a u t u m n f o r t h e te n t h t i m e . I n vo l v i n g t h e p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f a l l
V i e n n e s e m u s e u m s , a c a d e m i e s o f a r t a n d g a l l e r i e s , i t f o c u s e s o n t h e fa s c i n a t i n g s p e c t r u m
o f c o n te m p o ra r y a r t to b e f o u n d i n t h i s c i t y, o f f t h e b e a te n t ra c k s o f i t s h i s to r i c a l re n o w n .
Auf Wiedersehen! – looking forward to your visit to Dorotheum and dorotheum.com!
MARTIN BÖHM
Managing Partner, Dorotheum
PA L A I S
DOROTHEUM
Nr. 04/2014
Coverphoto
Frank Cohen with
sculptures by Ravinder Reddy
in the background
Photo Steve Double / Camera
Press / picturedesk.com
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ROBERT INDIANA
Zahlenspiele
PAOLO SCHEGGI
Pittura Oggetto
FRANS VERBEECK
S a t i r e a u f d i e To r h e i t
www.dorotheum.com
EXTRAVAGANT
J u w e l e n d e r Tw e n t i e s u n d T h i r t i e s
SAMMELLUST
Lassnig, Kippenberger und Co
Cover_U1_210x280_RZ.indd 84
my Dorotheum: Inter view
FRANK
C
OHEN
Selfmademan und Sammler
02.09.14 15:11
IMPRINT
Dorotheum myART MAGAZINE, September 2014. Fourth issue. Palais Dorotheum, Dorotheergasse 17, 1010 Vienna
© Dorotheum GmbH & Co KG, DPR no. 0105104, FN 213974 v / Commercial Register Vienna, VAT ID: ATU 52613505
Published biannually.
Concept, editing: Michaela Strebl-Pühringer, Doris Krumpl, Eva Müller-Soyer, Theresa Pichler, Valerie Matheis,
Marie-Sophie Engel, Michael Wurm
Graphic design: Studio Corsaro, Creative Director Miriam Wanzenböck, Art Direction Bernd Ganser-Lion
Photography: elwoods, Raimo Rudi Rumpler, Tibor Rauch, Steve Double, Maria Ziegelböck
Printing: Gutenberg Druck
Printing errors and omissions excepted. Please refer to our website for the latest information about Dorotheum auctions and events: www.dorotheum.com.
CONTENT
AUCTION
CHOICE
06 S C H E G G I
Light and Shade
44 M Y C H O I C E
10 V E R B E E C K
Bizarre Portrayal of the Human Folly
14 U N T E R B E R G E R
Salon Art
Dorotheum Specialists
present
CITY
60 M I L A N
16 S I L V E R
64 V O L K E R W. F E I E R A B E N D
S i l v e r Tr e a s u r e s o f t h e Ts a r s
20 I N D I A N A
Richly Symbolic
24 P I T T U R A O G G E T T O
From Fontana to Dadamaino
27 W O L F E R S
Silver Wedding
DOROTHEUM
28 F R A N K C O H E N
Self-made man and Collector
The German, who loves Italy
PASSION
68 M E S S E R S C H M I D T
Bizarre Heads
70 S T A D L E R
Back in Vienna
72 A R T W E E K
V i e n n a A r t W e e k i s 1 0 t h i s Ye a r
74 M I R Ó
From Earth to Sky
AUCTION HOUSE
EVENTS
34 J E W E L R Y & W A T C H E S
75 M E E T @ D O R O T H E U M
Expert Portraits
Events and Charity
38 D E S I G N
78 M O N A S T E R Y T R E A S U R E S
Profile of Gerti Draxler
Exhibition St. Dorothea
FAVOURITE
STORY
40 S PA R K L I N G E X T R A VA G A N C E
80 H O H E N L O H E
J e w e l s o f t h e Tw e n t i e s a n d T h i r t i e s
T h e Ta l e o f a W i n g e d B e e t l e
CONTACTS
82 D O R O T H E U M
Addresses & Auction Dates
Paolo Scheggi, Milan, 1966 © Eredi Ugo Mulas
AUCTION
6
AUCTION
LIGHT AND
SHADE
PAO LO SC H E G G I
AUCTION
8
Paolo Scheggi is counted as a key proponent of Pittura-Oggetto, the name
coined to describe a generation of Italian artists active from the late 1950s
to the early 1970s. His work is achieving record prices at
Dorotheum‘s Contemporar y Ar t auctions.
BY ALESSANDRO RIZZI
He shared with them the belief that true art emanates
from the determination to experiment in accordance
with firm principles and the guidance of a strong
intuition. The goal was to oust the irrationality and
randomness that characterized informal art, and
which had thoroughly dominated the art landscape in
the preceding decade.
Scheggi had sought a similar path already in his
early years, as can be seen in the sheet metal works
he created between 1958 and 1960. They were exhibited in the Numero gallery in Florence in 1960, but
that same year Scheggi distanced himself from these
first tentative artistic steps to fully devote all future
efforts to the canvas as his material of choice – efforts
that would evolve exclusively around the unremitting
exploration alluded to by Bonalumi.
From the early 1960s onwards, Paolo Scheggi produced the so-called “Intersuperfici“, monochrome,
three-dimensional works, which were created by fitting three canvases on top of each other. The works are
characterized by their elliptic and circle-shaped compartments. Another key element in the “Intersuperfici“
works is the empty space. The first “Intersuperfici“
Paolo Scheggi, Zone Riflesse, 1965,
Acrylic on 3 superimposed canvases, 120 x 80 x 5.5 cm
Price realised € 573,300 WORLD RECORD
were shown at his second solo exhibition, which took
place at the “Il cancello“ gallery in Bologna and
was introduced by Lucio Fontana. Scheggi‘s threedimensional, volumetric explorations eventually led
“To Paolo Scheggi art was always a quest – in the
him to stray far beyond the pure works of art: He
sense of a constant human exploration of reality,“
explored his special relation to the surroundings
his colleague and friend, Agostino Bonalumi, said in
as well, and drafted architectural designs for larger
1976. Paolo Scheggi was born in Florence in 1940.
spaces, designs that remained, nevertheless, in strict
He spent time in Rome and London before settling
compliance with the rigorous formal criteria that had
in 1961 on Milan as his new home. The Milanese art
guided his art work. In 1964 for example, he designed
scene was vibrant in the early 1960s with the new
a set of exchangeable wall elements for dressmaker
artistic impulses being discharged around Argentin-
Germana Marucelli‘s workshop in Milan. Also in 1964,
ian-Italian artist Lucio Fontana, and Paolo Scheggi
he began collaborating with architects Alessandro
formed deep friendly and professional ties to espe-
Mendini and Guiseppe Mario Olivieri and took part
cially one Fontana-influenced group of young artists,
in a number of other notable architectural projects.
which included Enrico Castellani, Agostino Bonalu-
The year 1964 also marked his first solo-exhibition
mi, Piero Manzoni, Getulio Alviani and Dadamaino.
abroad. It took place at the Smith gallery in Brussels.
Paolo Scheggi, Zone Riflesse, 1964
Acrylic on superimposed canvases
60 x 70 cm
Estimate € 200,000 – 300,000
Contemporary Art auction,
26 November 2014
Scheggi‘s works of art remain every bit as captivating
today, not least because of the elegance, linearity and
charm that characterizes them, the mixture of art and
design, and the perfect balance they strike between
full spaces and empty, light and shade.
It took the art market a long time to recognize the
quality and importance of Paolo Scheggi‘s œuvre, but
buoyant demand for his work has since led to a massive increase in prices. Some believe market specu
lation is to blame, others find plenty of justification
in the impressive visual impact of his works and the
significant contribution he made to the exploration
Scheggi‘s quest to create rigorously modulated
of art and space. One thing seems certain, though:
spaces with “serialization as a determining ele-
While the productive period granted to Paolo Scheggi
ment of form“ manifested itself most clearly, how-
before his untimely death in 1971 was much, much
ever, in the work he produced from the mid-1960s
too short, they heyday of the works and legacy he left
onwards. While Scheggi‘s initial freedom of form
behind has only just begun.
had been recognizable in the asymmetrical patterns
of his early “Intersuperfici“, he now took to produce
stringently structured works in which the three-di-
Alessandro Rizzi is Classic Modernism and
Contemporary Art expert at Dorotheum
mensional representation of space was created by
use of strictly geometrical elements arranged in
symmetrical patterns.
The pursuit of these stricter principles resulted also in
a series of works in which space is dominated by their
mere physical presence – the so-called “Strutture
modelari“, or modular structures. These parallelepipeds made from aluminum or acrylic glass are organized in cubic part-elements which together form circular empty spaces. The fact that the cubic elements
can be shifted around and exchanged for others, that
the viewer is able to physically partake, “makes the
viewer equally responsibility for the three-dimensional life of the art work,“ explained Scheggi in 1967.
With “Intercamera plastica“, a fully accessible room
exhibited in Naviglio gallery in 1967, Scheggi went
yet a step further towards achieving the unrestrained
participation by the viewer in a work of art.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Scheggi‘s endless artistic experimentation widened its reach another nudge
to also include theater: He produced a number of
plays and performances revolving around art-political themes.
Paolo Scheggi, Intersuperficie curva – Bianco, 1969
Painted alluminium, 50 x 50 x 12 cm
Estimate € 35,000 – 50,000
Contemporary Art auction, 26 November 2014
BIZARRE
P O RT R AYA L
OF HUMAN
FOLLY
Frans Verbeeck (Malines c. 1510 – 1570)
The Mocking of Human Follies
Oil on canvas, 135 x 188 cm
Estimate € 900,000 – 1,200,000
Old Master Paintings auction, 21 October 2014
AUCTION
12
Dorotheum‘s Old Master Painting s auction in October
bring s a rare oil painting by Frans Verbeeck –
a masterpiece in which he humorously pokes fun
a t h u m a n f o l l y – u n d e r t h e h a m m e r.
BY ALEXANDER WIED
Until now, the Verbeeck name has been familiar
well as Lucas and Marten van Valckenborch lived and
almost exclusively to art experts, but the Octo-
worked in Mechelen; Pieter Brueghel the Elder also
ber-scheduled sale of a highly impressive master-
worked for a brief while in the city on an altar piece,
piece from the Verbeeck family presents a good
which was never commissioned. And last but not
opportunity to get acquainted with the works of the
least, the Verbeeck family lived and worked there.
important artist family. The Verbeeck family was
Detail:
A basket
of fools
creatively active in the 16th century in the town of
This unique painting ”The Mocking of Human
Mechelen, not far from Leuven and the Province
Follies” has been attributed twice before in art
of Brabant’s main cities, Brussels and Antwerp. At
historical journals, in 1980 and 2003, to Frans
the time, Mechelen was a centre for watercolour on
Verbeeck. Since Mechelen has fostered several
canvas painting, an affordable and easily tradable
painters by the names Frans and Jan Verbeeck, it
alternative to the expensive tapestries. However, the
requires a brief explanation to clarify this particu-
life expectancy of the resulting works was low and
lar attribution. Imagine a family dynasty of artists
only very few have survived to this day. In the ”Schil-
who all produced their paintings within the same
der-Boeck” (Haarlem 1604), Karel van Mander
multi-branched workshop. And all the paintings,
wrote in his portrayal of the painter Hans Bol that
according to Paul Vandenbroeck (1981), ”should be
150 studios existed in Mechelen alone in which water-
attributed to the ”Verbeeck group”, due to the close
colour on canvas painting was practiced. Hans Bol as
proximity in composition, style and iconographic
language applied”. Thus, ”it seems meaningless for
the time being to distinguish between Frans and
Jan Verbeeck and attribute these paintings to one
or the other artist”.
Nevertheless, ”The Mocking of Human Follies” was
listed once again in 2003 in the exhibition catalogue
”De Zotte Schilders” as a painting by Frans Verbeeck, this time with the addition ”de Oude”, which
translates to ”the Elder”.
The painting’s iconographic representations are
highly complex: Under a large tree in an open, green
meadow landscape, merchants are trading with a
number of tiny men, some of which are recognizable by their hats and bells as jesters. The scene
Jan Op de Beeck, De Familie Verbeeck. Een raar schildersgeslacht
uit Mechelen, in: De Zotte Schilders, Mecheln 2003, p. 45–54;
p. 51–53. The catalogue divides the works into two generations; including studio attributions, a total of 33 paintings and
37 sketches have been counted.
2
102 x 158 cm, provenance: the Hellberg Collection,
Stockholm 1938
1
Detail:
Love‘s follies
es and folly. The small inscription fields included in
the painting may well contain short sentences from
such “Rederijker” texts, but the words are no longer
discernible. One clear example of this is visible in the
cage, which hangs above the dancing group on the
painting’s right hand side. Inside the cage a jester sits
atop a big, hatching egg, out of which slips another
small jester. It’s a reference to the Dutch saying ”men
mag geen zot eieren laten uitbroeden”, which in English cautions ”not to leave it to a fool to hatch eggs” –
because the result will only be more fools.
can only be viewed as an allegory. It depicts the
In comparison to the other Verbeeck family ”canvases”
interminable existence and exercise of foolishness –
the extraordinarily large format of ”The Mocking
a satirical take on human folly.
of Human Follies” really stands out, as does its use
of oil paint as opposed to the otherwise preferred
In the foreground, merchants at a table are in the
tempera paint.
process of weighing tiny jesters, while a travelling
salesman and his wife are offering others out of bas-
A reduced and somewhat smaller workshop copy of
kets and a sack. Something similar to a bridle is
the painting was sold at Dorotheum in October 16,
attached to the salesman’s head, on his forehead
2007. Its technical quality was, however, inferior
a tiny jester sits with a hammer in hand, alluding
to that demonstrated in the present version, which
to the well-known ”stone surgery”. The surgical
can not only be considered the original rendition of
removal of a stone from the forehead is a pictural
this particular motif, but also as the ultimate mas-
theme which originates from Hieronymus Bosch
terpiece of the most masterly member of a large
and was much used in different variations in 16th
family of painters.
and 17th century art. The message is short and simple: Stupidity cannot be surgically removed – the
The individual style with the unique and rich
operation is futile, which makes the undertaking
iconography of the Verbeeck family’s art holds up
itself utterly foolish. Just as foolish appear the two
well and are easily discernable when viewed along-
pilgrims on the left hand side of the painting who
side works by the two great masters Bosch and Brue-
kneel down in worship in front of two elderly jest-
ghel. In contrast to the works of Bosch-successors
ers. The female jester is at the same time breast-
Pieter Huys and Jan Mandyn, the Verbeeck herit-
feeding a jester baby and feeding it with porridge.
age, as Vandenbroeck has emphasized, has no direct
links to Bosch or Brueghel. The Verbeeck family
Verbeeck also depicts the clergy in an unfavourable
created their own world of imagery unparallelled
light: The lovers depicted in the right hand side of
in contemporary Netherlandish art; a world which
the canvas are easily identified as a monk and a nun.
continues to surprise and astound us to this day
They have escaped from the monastery and now
with its strangeness and sometimes bizarre, carica-
indulge in the madness of love.
ture-like and Flemish folklore-inspired renditions
of the human race.
The motivation behind, or key to, many of the painting’s allusive, rebuslike details can be traced to the
The well-preserved ”The Mocking of Human Follies”
satirical rhymed texts that came out of the so called
demonstrates admirably the high quality of work that
chambers of rhetoric, or “Rederijkerskamers”, whose
the largely ruined Verbeeck watercolours are merely
members were poking elegantly fun at human vic-
able to suggest. Alexander Wied holds a degree in art history and was custodian at
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien‘s Picture Gallery from 1992 to 2008.
PASSION
14
F r a n z R i c h a r d U n t e r b e r g e r, c e l e b r a t e d e x p o n e n t o f
the Düsseldorf school of painting, gave expression
to the 19th-century yearning for Italy with postcard
pictures of the Gulf of Naples and the Amalfi coast.
Dorotheum appears to be a favourite site for the
sale of early Unterbergers, as the painting of Naples
auctioned in autumn demonstrates.
BY SYBILLE MOSER-ERNST
SALON
Franz Richard Unterberger was expert at capturing
Unterberger had a good reputation in the great
the glittering waves rolling onto the sand, the sun,
guild of European painters. His pictures were well
heat and rising water vapour that joined the silhou-
known in the Paris Salon, the Munich Glaspalast,
ette of Vesuvius on the far horizon, and the smoke
and in Vienna, Berlin and London – not to mention
rising from the volcano with the sea glistening in
Brussels, which had become his second home. Even
the bright midday light. He was a master at depict-
though modernists and abstract painters were dis-
ing the natural atmosphere, and his Italian paint-
dainful for some decades of the poster-like quality of
ings, particularly those of the Costiera Amalfitana
virtuoso landscape painting, art lovers and collectors
and Gulf of Naples, were inimitable. He had plenty
guaranteed the survival of Salon art and hence of
of copiers and imitators in his lifetime for precisely
artists like Unterberger.
that reason, and copies turn up frequently on the art
market today. It is even more difficult for experts to
Television was unknown in the 19th century, so
distinguish between originals and copies because
it was left to paintings in their opulent gilt frames
Unterberger himself later repeated motifs that had
that maintained the distance from the subject por-
been popular in the 1870s, sometimes several times
trayed – here, the arduous life of fishermen – to
over with only minor changes. Some of Unterberger’s
stimulate the imagination. The artist created an
late Italian pictures have found their way as far as
aesthetic record that captured the “fruitful moment”
Buffalo, New York and even Melbourne.
of a mood, and the Bildungsbürger could satisfy
AUCTION
15
ART
his yearning for Italy in a “déjà-vu” evoked by the
from participating in the social life of the noble
idealized genre-like arrangement. As if it were the
Malkasten association, they also proudly recorded
pictures’ “intention to lift tourism” (Cornelius
the artistic rise of their prominent students. It’s a pity
Gurlitt), the “impressionistic” painting style, which
that the sometimes blinkered art history research
had nothing to do with French Impressionism,
conducted today misses quite accessible records –
responded to the new fascination with landscapes.
like those of Unterberger from the Düsseldorf
The subjective reproduction of nature in this bra-
school of painting, kept at the Academy. As a result,
vura quasi-photorealistic alfresco painting gave rise
an important segment of 19th-century art is still
to epithets like perspective “illustrative realism” or
shown predominantly by the major auction houses.
“poetry of truth”. Unterberger made small-format
versions of his subjects on wood and then, in the
winter months, converted them into large scenic
paintings at his studio in the Paris suburb of Neuilly.
Franz Unterberger had studied at the academies
in Munich and Milan, and in Düsseldorf he had
enjoyed the freedom of a private student of academy teachers Andreas and Oswald Achenbach. Apart
Sybille Moser-Ernst is professor of art history at
the University of Innsbruck.
Franz Richard Unterberger
Castellmare Golfo di Napoli
c. 1876/77, Oil on canvas
75.5 x 144.5 cm
Estimate € 40.000 – 60.000
19th-Century Paintings
auction, 23 October 2014
SILVER
TREASURES
Demand for gold and silver works from the era of the
Russian tsars has exploded in the past decade. Above
all, wealthy Russians are determined to bring the
national treasures back home.
B Y M A R I E -T H É R È S E H A R T I G
Do you know ”Serebro”? It's not a tragic short
of Fabergé was not the only or first royal jeweler to
coming if you don't. The Russian girls group, whose
make a lasting impression. St. Petersburg's associ-
name means “silver”, finished third in the 2007
ation of commendable gold and silver workers had
Eurovision Song Contest. But when the conversa-
a long list of international master-jewelers in its
tion turns to silver and Russia, it's still the Fabergé
members registry as early as 1721. German master-
name, not the three girls from Moscow, that springs
jewelers were dominant among the foreigners, but
first to mind. Even people without a strong affinity to
also Swedish, Finnish, Danish, French, Austrian,
art have learned by now – for example by way of the
British, Armenian and Italian jewelers were among
big Fabergé exhibition in Vienna's Kunsthistorisches
the members. By 1768, Russia itself had only pro-
Museum earlier this year – that the tsar's jeweler
duced 14 masters, the records show.
produced infinitely more than merely exclusive
Easter eggs. The House of Fabergé also fashioned a
”Tsar Peter the Great eagerly advocated immi-
great many affordable precious items for the Russian
gration of skilled labor from Western Europe to
bourgeoisie and a long list of mundane objects for
promote culture and sciences in his new capitol,
everyday use.
Saint Petersburg,” says Georg Ludwigstorff, silver
expert at Dorotheum. This policy goes some way to
Fabergé is the most famous name and brand to
explain the old and proud tradition of russian fine
have emerged from the era of the tsars, but House
metals craft, he says.
AUCTION
17
OF THE
TSARS
Pawel Owtschinnikow
Crystal glass with silver-mount,
Moscow 1908 – 1917
50 x 21 x 37.5 cm
Kokoschnik Hallmark
Price realised € 248,800
AUCTION
18
Tsar Alexander I. – four rare St. Petersburg bottle coolers from the tablee service of
the Russian emperor, silver, gold-plated, height 19 cm, weight 7,158 g
Master mark Johann Dietrich Tideman (1775 – 1837)
Estimate € 18,000 – 28,000
Silver auction, 25 November 2014
”In the early years, German silversmiths – particu-
matchboxes, table clocks and photo frames were
larly the ones from Augsburg and Nuremburg –
created by use of gold, silver, precious stones and
were very influential. From the founding of the tsar
enamel by Fabergé's master jewelers, most notably
empire and onwards, the French taste in jewelry was
Michail Perchin, Henrik Wigström and Erik Kollin.
dominant. An individual Russian style didn't actually
Artful pill and snuff boxes, perfume bottles, ciga-
emerge until the 19th century,” says Ludwigstorff.
rette cases, cufflinks and hat pins were, regardless
of their exclusive make, contrived for daily use.
Fabergé's product range, like Tiffany's, included
items eligible for all social classes. This has kept
prices at a level that makes it possible to still buy
Fabergé objects - pieces of cutlary for example -
Tsar Nicholas II. –
gift brooch from the
cabinet of the Russian
emperor
Gold, diamonds, emeralds
St. Petersburg Kokoschnik
hallmark 1908 – 1917
Estimate € 8,000 – 9,000
Silver auction,
25 November 2014
for less than 100 euros, while larger silver objects
sell at between 2,000 and 3,000 euros, according to Georg Ludwigstorff. Prices are trending
upwards, however, because many wealthy Russians
are eager to return cultural treasures to Russia.
Prime examples of this national-romantic trend are
Niello decoration (derived from ”nigellus”, the
offered by Russian oligarchs Viktor Vekselberg and
latin word for ”black”) was particularly popular
Alexander Iwanow. In 2004, Vekselberg paid a large
in Russian fine metals craft. It's an old technique
sum for the legendary Forbes-Fabergé Collection
with which a black mixture of melted silver, copper
(including nine imperial Easter eggs). The collection
and lead sulphites is applied as inlay on etched or
has been on public display in St. Petersburg since
engraved silver objects.
November 2013. In 2007, Alexander Iwanow bought
the ”Rothschild Egg” for 8.9 million British pounds,
Some of the most used niello decoration designs were
or about 12.5 million euros and proceeded to found
chessboard patterns, flowers and archetypical Rus-
the Fabergé Museum in Baden-Baden in 2009.
sian symbols such as the royal eagle, horse-drawn
sleighs or depictions of famous churches and mona
Although Russian-speakers continue to dominate
steries. Especially the Tula silver tobacco tins have
the Russian silver auctions, they are not alone to
come to be considered exquisite works of art.
blame for the trebling of prices seen since the turn
of the century; soaring Asian and Middle Eastern
Surprisingly, the House of Fabergé never produced a
interest also made a firm contribution.
single, known example of niello decoration. Fabergé
instead secured world fame with its emblematic
The opening of Russian archives in the 1990s is ano
enamelwork, which still achieves top prices today.
ther contributing factor, because it revealed new infor-
Everyday objects such as letter knives, ashtrays,
mation on the initial commissioning of important
AUCTION
19
works and thus coincided perfectly with the growing
importance placed by collectors on provenance.
Last but not least, the modest supply of top objects
has helped boost prices. Once a piece has found its
way into a Russian collection, it's not likely to ever
reach the market again. ”The objects we receive usually come from Western collections or Russian emigrants, and almost all objects leave us again as pro
perty of Russian collectors” says Georg Ludwigstorff.
OFFICIAL
PURVEYORS TO
THE IMPERIAL
RUSSIAN COURT
IWAN PETROWITSCH CHLEBNIKOW (St. Petersburg, until 1867)
The consistency of interest prompted Dorotheum
PAWEL AKIMOW OWTSCHINNIKOW (Moskau, until 1908)
to bump up efforts in 2011 to include two annual
BROTHERS GRATSCHEW (St. Petersburg, until 1908)
auctions and catalogs dedicated specifically to Russian silver.
And the Vienna-based auctions routinely produce
international record prices. A set of four candelabra
from Catherine the Great's tableware, for example,
brought in 208,550 euros in May 2010, more than
twice the estimated price range (70,000-90,000
euros), while the monumental ”Ladija” silver dish
by Pawel Owtschinnikows sold at a staggering
248,800 euroes in 2008.
Utmost caution is, however, recommended by
online auctions. US-based Russian art dealer
Vladimir Saemmler-Hindrichs believe that almost
all Russian silver items offered on Ebay are forged.
”When a silver object is decorative, enameled,
gold-coated on the inside, hallmarked ”84” and
costs less than 5,000 dollars, it's almost certainly
a fake,” says Saemmler-Hindrichs. He cautions collectors to seek advice from Russian silver experts
before making investments online. Dorotheum's
experts, for example, are always available to help.
Marie-Thérèse Hartig is a Vienna-based journalist with
economy and the art market as her main areas of expertise.
She writes among others for Austrian daily ”Der Standard”
and magazines ”Gewinn” and ”Trend”.
W. A. BOLIN (St. Petersburg, until 1917)
PETER CARL FABERGÉ (St. Petersburg, until 1917)
Fabergé employed more than 30 gold and silver smiths.
Erik August Kollin (Finnish, until 1886 head of workshop.
Master mark E.K.)
Michail Jewlampjewitsch Perchin (Russian, from 1886 until his
death in 1903 head of workshop, responsible for the imperial
Easter eggs. Master mark M.P., or in Cyrillic M.П.)
Henrik Wigström (Finnish, head of workshop as of 1903, also
responsible for the imperial Easter eggs. Master mark H.W.)
August Wilhelm Holmström (Finnish, from 1857 chief jeweler
at Fabergé. Master mark AH)
Alma Pihl (Russian, the only female Fabergé master of craft,
sister of Oskar Pihl, great-niece of August Holmström, creator
of the famous Winter Egg, the Mosaik Egg and a number of
the Snowflake Jewels).
Oskar W. Pihl (Russian, headmaster of craft, brother of
Alma Pihl, celebrated for his small pieces of jewelry, such as tie
pins. Master mark OP)
Julius Rappoport (Russian-Jewish, most important creator of
silver objects in St. Petersburg. Master mark I.R., or in Cyrillic I.P.)
Wilhelm Reimer (Estonian, known for small enamel and gold
works. Master mark W.R.)
Fedor Rückert (Russian, known for his Cloisonné enamel
pieces. Master mark F.R., or in Cyrillic Ф.P.)
Tsarina Chatherine II.
(The Great) –
Four candlesticks with
2-light girandole inserts
from the service oft the
Tsarina, 1768/69
silver, height 48 cm,
weight 8534 g
RICHLY
SYM
B LIC
AUCTION
21
This autumn Rober t Indiana’s number sculptures
“NUMBERS ONE through ZERO” will be auctioned at
Dorotheum as a complete series for the first time.
They represent a poetic condens ation of the ar tist’s
multifaceted examination of the symbolic,
allegorical and formal meaning of numbers.
BY PE T R A SCHÄ P E R S AN D S USAN N E Z I M M E R M AN N
Robert Indiana
NUMBERS ONE through ZERO, 1978 – 2003
Aluminium, polychrome
45.7 x 45.7 x 25.4 cm (including base)
Estimate 750,000 – 900,000
26 November 2014
AUCTION
22
© Museum Kurhaus Kleve – Ewald Mataré-Sammlung, Kleve
“My first involvement with numbers, my first real consciousness about them, is simply the fact that I lived in
21 different houses before I was 17 years old and as a
child it was a great pastime to tour the
countryside and visit all these different
houses and to go back to house number
1 and house number 2. That’s the first
meaningful association. Otherwise numbers are just fascinating because they’re
numbers, each one loaded with multiple
references and significances”1
Robert Indiana’s graphic number pictures are some of the most radical
expressions of Pop Art. Their striking
simplicity has turned these works into
a form of logo; they lead the revolutionary principles of American Pop Art
to an apotheosis. Robert Indiana combines and varies his numbers in a most
individual manner, defining or stylising
himself and his career with their assistance, enriching them with associations.
According to his friend William Katz, his
Robert Indiana, Vinalhaven, 2006
signs, which appear “catchy at first sight,
are the delicately balanced and continually shifting geometrical
formalization of an exquisitely detailed inner dialogue.” 2
Robert Indiana’s first pure number pictures were executed in parallel and in interaction with the ‘American Dreams’ series dating from the early 1960s. Indiana
developed his number system from an everyday situation, taking the font for
his numbers from an office calendar he found in his studio at Coenties Slip in
New York. From the start of the number sequences, initially taking the form of
paintings or printed graphics in the 1960s and later becoming the monumental
“NUMBERS” sculptures exhibited in Park Avenue in New York 2003, he made
only minimal changes to the Modern 20 font.
1
Robert Indiana. The American Painter of Signs.
Exhibition catalogue, Museum Kurhaus Kleve,
26.8.2007 – 6.1.2008, Museum Wiesbaden,
20.1. – 18.5.2008. Kleve 2007, p. 24
2
ibid., p. 30
Robert Indiana „Numbers
drawing taken from a statement about the completion
of the number „One“, the
first in a series of numeric
sculptures commissioned
by Melvin Simon and
Associates in 1981, 2003“
© Bildrecht, Vienna 2014
Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery
Most of the round numbers demonstrate a natural tension and movement which
gives them a particular lightness. Numbers such as 2, 5 or 7 have no straight lines
above or below; a wave-like movement lends them special elasticity and tension,
only touching their base at one or two points.
The “NUMBERS ONE through ZERO” (1978 – 2003) being auctioned at Dorotheum in autumn represent a characteristic mixture of the disciplines of painting and sculpture. Robert Indiana
reformed the two-dimensional numbers into three-dimensional
objects; in doing so he takes care that the depth of the sculptures
is around half that of their height and breadth, and this lends
them a monumental solidity. The number sculptures are a poetic
condensation of the artist’s multifaceted examination of the symbolic, allegorical and formal meaning of numbers.
It is not only the cardinal numbers which are loaded with symbolism, but also the colours which he has chosen for each digit.
In his numbers Indiana sets strong colour contrasts between the
large front and the contours, and these vary between each series
of “NUMBERS”. Above all it is the observer’s own movement in
front of the sculpture which creates the play of colours which
Indiana intends. Blue and red in the ONE represent human
birth, green and light blue in TWO stand for childhood, blue
and orange in THREE hint at youth, red and yellow in FOUR
are for the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The FIVE
is shown in light blue and white as the start of life’s blossoming,
the red and green in SIX represent the prime of life, orange and blue indicate the
onset of ageing in SEVEN. The colours of EIGHT, red and lilac, symbolise the
autumn of life, green and black warn of the end in NINE, and the ZERO represents death, the end of the cycle of life, in its non-colours, grey and white.
The sculptural “NUMBERS” series presents us with our own selves in an intuitive
and graphic manner, and as a result lends special meaning to the numbers we
come across everywhere in our everyday lives.
Petra Schäpers is a Contemporary Art expert and manager
of Dorotheum in Düsseldorf.
Susanne Zimmermann is an art historian and works at
the Dorotheum office in Düsseldorf.
AUCTION
24
PITTURA OGG
Fontana, Bonalumi, Castellani, Scheggi and Dadamaino exerted a dominating
influence on the Milanese art scene of the 1960s with their Spacialisminspired and innovative new artistic expression, formally known as
Pittura Oggetto. Significant works by the Italian quintet are among the
h i g h l i g h t s a t D o r o t h e u m ‘s C o n t e m p o r a r y A r t a u c t i o n i n N o v e m b e r.
BY ALESSANDRO RIZZI
AUCTION
25
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Milan experienced
the strong influence exerted by informal art, he
an economic boom which helped the city establish
adopted a more programmatic agenda as the con-
itself as the epicenter of important art trends and
fidence in his personal artistic expression grew. It
become a key point of reference in the international
was an agenda he was to share with Bonalumi and
art scene. Lucio Fontana had initiated the three-
Castellani; the three artists all centered their artis-
dimensional spacial revolution in Milan in the
tic excursions around the canvas as medium. It
early post-war years. A decade later, a new genera-
was a traditional medium, of course, but neverthe-
tion of artists – among them Agostino Bonalumi,
less highly suitable for the experiments they had in
Enrico Castellani, Paolo Scheggi and Dadamaino –
mind – experiments in which the canvas itself was
picked up the baton with the aim to further cultivate
the focus of the creative exercise. Fontana, their role
Fontana’s artistic vision.
model, had defied the limitations of the two-dimensional canvas by drilling holes into it, thereby open-
The young artists were united in their aspiration
ing new perspectives to the perception of space. His
to oust the irrationality of informal art – which
three successors also produced three-dimensional,
had become the norm of the 1950s – and defy
monochrome works of art, but furthermore applied
the perceived need for an artistic expression to
rigorously structured, almost architectural features
engage viewers on an emotional level in order to be
to their works, supporting the desired impression of
win recognition.
volumetrical, tangible pictorial forms. The metho
In the late 1950s, Castellani and Bonalumi worked at
of art – and a much needed counterweight to the
”Azimuth“, the art magazine founded by Piero Man-
industrial production that was booming at the time.
zoni and Castellani. Manzoni too was an import
They were works of a purely aesthetic value, whose
ant protagonist of the new currents, but sought to
creative foundation was the only real attribute –
overcome the commonly accepted boundaries of art
Pittura Oggetto, as art critic Gillo Dorfles dubbed
through other means than his contemporaries.
the style in 1966.
In 1961, Florence-born artist Paolo Scheggi also
Bonalumi and Castellani experimented with modu-
moved to Milan. While Scheggi’s early work reflect
lation of the canvas to create various lighting effects;
logical strictness applied resulted in unique works
Lucio Fontana
Concetto Spaziale, Attese, 1965-66
Waterpaint on canvas, 46,3 x 55,5 cm
Estimate € 450,000 – 650,000
E T TO
Dadamaino
Volume, 1958
Waterpaint on canvas, 132 x 98 cm
Estimate € 90,000-120,000
AUCTION
26
Enrico Castellani
Superficie Blu, 2006
Acrylic on shaped canvas
120 x 150 cm
Estimate € 240,000 – 320,000
26 November 2014
by the use of falsework and nails on the back of the
never instinctive gestures, however, but always the
canvas, the front side was manipulated into rhyth-
result of thoroughly considered, planned actions.
mic shapes, or so-called extroflexions. Scheggi’s
This indeed was a guiding principle for the artistic
experiments were centered around blank spaces and
experiments of all the Pittura Oggetto-artists.
the fitting of canvases in layers on top of each other,
a technique he used to produce his so-called ”Intersuperfici“. Between the canvases, Scheggi created
elliptic and circle-shaped compartments, which, at a
later stage in his career, he would start arranging in
rigorously geometrical patterns.
Dadamaino wasn’t mentioned in Gillo Dorfles’s
treatise on Pittura Oggetto, but the same artistic
approach – the creation of effects by manipulating
the canvas itself – had characterized her work since
the late 1950s. She worked independently from the
three Pittura Oggetto artists, but did indeed share
their creative visions and goals.
Dadamaino’s ”Volumi“, or Volumes, represent an
approach even more radical than those applied
by Scheggi and Fontana: At the core of the threedimensional compositions reigns emptiness – empty
areas dominate the canvases almost to the point
of annihilation. Dadamaino’s artistic choices were
Agostino Bonalumi, Arancio, 1971
Vinylic tempera on structured canvas, 100 x 85 cm
Estimate € 100,000 – 150,000
Alessandro Rizzi is Classic Modernism and
Contemporary Art expert at Dorotheum
AUCTION
27
Jardiniere
Wedding present for
Robert Wolfers and his wife,
1898, Silver, carved ivory
31 x 56 x 42 cm
Estimate € 45,000 – 60,000
Art Nouveau and 20th Century
Arts and Crafts auction,
4 November, 2014
SILVER WEDDING
For centuries, the name Wolfers was synonymous with luxurious silverware
and refers to a dynasty of goldsmiths. This peerless jardiniere, a wedding
present for Madame and Monsieur Wolfers, is a particular highlight from the
Wolfers workshop, both for its great personal significance and as an
example of their skills as silversmiths and jewellers.
BY HONORINE D’URSEL AND JULIA BLAHA
This matchless jardiniere, soon to be auctioned
characterised by the quality of his designs and exe-
at Dorotheum, is a Wolfers artwork in more than
cution of his artworks as well as his choice of mate-
one sense: it was manufactured in the Wolfers
rials. Initially recognised as a goldsmith, Philippe
workshop as well as being a wedding present for
Wolfers became increasingly established as a jewel-
Madame and Monsieur Robert Wolfers in 1898.
ler, creating unique and fantastic Jugendstil pieces
Consequently, the jardiniere has been the proper-
of jewellery and objets d’art around 1900 for which
ty of the Wolfers family for almost 120 years. Louis
he gained significant recognition. Wolfers became
Wolfers (1820 – 1892) founded the workshop in
a major name in Jugendstil and Art déco which
1850 and succeeded in developing it into a business
began just after World War I. He even became a
renowned both in Belgium and throughout Europe.
‘purveyor to the royal courts’, receiving commis-
This success occurred during a period in which Bel-
sions from Europe’s most important royal houses.
gium under King Leopold II itself enjoyed prominence as a global economic power.
What fate now awaits this symbolic artwork, created
in the Wolfers workshop and given to Robert Wolfers
Louis’s son Philippe (1858 – 1929), the most glam-
and his wife on 5 June, 1898? Wolfer’s creations are
ourous of the Wolfers, was responsible for artistic
already held by many collectors and museums in
affairs. It was Philippe’s works in particular upon
Belgium and worldwide. They will certainly be keen
which the reputation of the Wolfers workshop was
to add this jardiniere to their inventories!
based. He was a true artist; his personal oeuvre is
Honorine d’Ursel manages the Dorotheum
office in Brussels. Julia Blaha is Art Nouveau
and 20th Century Arts and Crafts expert
at Dorotheum.
DOROTHEUM
28
DOROTHEUM
29
Photo Steve Double/Camera Press/picturedesk.com
FRANK
COHEN
“IT’S
ALL
ABOUT
M O N E Y,
IT IS
NOT
ABOUT
THE
BLOODY
ART”
DOROTHEUM
30
”In the beginning there
were the aristocrats.
They collected for generations, and bought at
the old English dealers. And we at least had
L o w r y, b e c a u s e t h a t
was something we
understood. “
Ugo Rondinone Sunrise. East. November, 2007
Full of temperament, self-mocking
and with infectious laughter – and no
hint of that classic British reserve:
self-made man and art collector
Frank Cohen in discussion with the
Dorotheum myART MAGAZINE on art
a n d m o n e y, p i n s t r i p e s u i t s a n d
sneakers, and ‘less is more’ as the
new luxury statement.
BY DORIS KRUMPL
D o r i s K r u m p l : W hy d o e s m a n c o l l e c t ?
Why does Mr Cohen collect, and where
did it all start?
Frank Cohen: My kind of collecting derives from
my childhood – as a kid I collected cigarette cards
W h a t w a s t h e f i r s t o r i g i n a l yo u p u r c h a s e d ?
Cohen: A painting called Our Family. I bought it
for £1,100 pounds sterling from an art dealer in
Manchester. It was the size of a postcard and by L.S.
Lowry, the English industrial artist. And I went on
from there.
Cigarette cards were finished, coins were finished,
and I ended up in the art world. And it was like a
bug. It just never stopped from then on. I never
stopped reading about art. I have no formal education, never studied any history of art, have no BA or
MA. I was in the home improvement business: bathrooms, kitchens, carpets. In the old days they called
this DIY – ‘do it yourself ’.
with footballers or boxers, then rare patterned coins
T h a t ’s a l s o t h e m o t t o f o r yo u r l i f e .
– those designed for the mint. When I met my wife
Well, in the beginning I used to buy art that reflected
Cheryl in the seventies, her father was an art dealer in
what I sold in my stores; for example Arman. I used
Manchester, and I bought limited editions of prints
to look at household products that resembled art-
from him. But prints are a waste of time, they’re
works – made using materials that you could actual-
mass products, so I went on to buying originals.
ly buy at a DIY store.
DOROTHEUM
31
I f a r t w o r k s a r e t r e a t e d l i ke i n ve s t m e n t s , h a s
art become the new money?
It’s all about money today, it is not about the bloody
art, that’s the problem. Melanie Gerlis wrote a book
called Art as an investment? A survey of comparative
assets. Don Thompson’s The Supermodel and the Brillo
Box is also very interesting. If you read them it’s clear –
it’s all about money. Not that people don’t like art, but
they treat it as a luxury good, it’s like money to them.
They used to play the stock market, but nowadays
they can’t make the same returns. And alternative
investments have also become a bit weak.
B u t yo u m o ve a m o n g s t t h e s e c o l l e c t o r s .
Of course, but I think the type of art I still buy is no
longer the same as that bought by these speculative
collectors, the ones now buying Warhols, and Stingels
and Christopher Wools. The prices have gone mad.
Big fruits made of steel
Tony Cragg , Fruit Bottles, 1989
I bought a Wool for US$50,000 not long ago, in
C o m i n g f r o m a wo r k i n g c l a s s b a c k g r o u n d , h o w
would fetch US$1.5 million! When I bought them, I
d o yo u d e a l w i t h t h e B r i t i s h c l a s s sy s te m ,
was never thinking about all that money. My modern
e s p e c i a l l y i n te r m s o f c o l l e c t i n g ?
British art is a steady market. You don’t sell it, you
In the beginning there were the aristocrats. They col-
want to look at it. But even this market is starting to
lected for generations, and bought at the old English
move, because people are getting more interested in
dealers. And we at least had Lowry, because that was
art from different countries. Francis Bacon, Lucian
something we understood. Once you try to break
Freud, David Hockney, really serious British artists –
down the barriers – and I used to go to London, to
these boys are moving fast in the marketplace.
squeeze my way in – they wouldn’t talk to you. They’d
look at the way you were dressed, and if you were
wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt they thought
you must be an idiot, forget it. You needed a pinstripe
suit and a tie to be taken seriously. But today it’s all
changed: someone walks in with a T-shirt and a pair
of sneakers, and they’re the ones who are spending
the money. The ones with the pinstripe suits and ties
are the ones with no money. It’s gone full circle, into a
hip hop world.
W h a t r o l e d o e s Lo n d o n p l ay i n a l l t h i s ?
There’s more money around, and especially in London. People are coming in from Russia, from China,
from South America, from Paris. Everyone wants to
live in England because of the very good tax rates.
The property prices have gone up like mad. The art
market has gone bananas, because all the big galleries
are in London. That includes the modern-day dealers
who are based in America, maybe also Zurich, such
as Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, Gladstone. So the
art world has completely changed.
The beginning of Cohen‘s art collection with works
by the British industrial painter L.S. Lowry:
Father & Two Sons, 1950
All images courtesy of The Frank Cohen Collection
2004, and now even a mediocre Christopher Wool
Speaking of all those boys, why is it so
i m p o r t a n t t o o w n a w o r k b y J e f f Ko o n s , a s
yo u a l s o d o ?
He’s doing what nobody else is doing. He is fabricating mass-kitsch, everyday household products, blowCourtesy of The Frank Cohen Collection
ing them up. It takes years to produce. It’s not every-
Portrait of the collector: Jake & Dinos
Chapman, Painting For Pleasure and
Profit, No.20 (Frank Cohen) 2006
one who can buy them, because there are not many
people willing to wait seven years for an artwork. It’s
a kick because they are amazing, look at Popeye, for
example. The ones I like are ones which remind me
of what I used to like when I was a kid. It’s a play on
childhood, a play on everything.
G e t t i n g b a c k t o yo u r c o l l e c t i o n , i s t h e r e
something in particular that characterizes it?
I t s e e m s t o i n vo l ve a l o t o f h u m o u r.
Frank Cohen
I like figurative art, to be honest. I like people.
i s a r e c u r r i n g n a m e o n A R Tn e w s m a g a z i n e ‘ s T h e W o r l d ‘ s To p
For example, work by artists such as Thomas Schütte,
200 Art Collectors list. He grew up in a poor Manchester-
Paula Rego, and William Roberts – a wonderful Brit-
based Russian-Jewish immigrant family and left school at
ish artist who was most underrated, but who is now
the age of 15 to join the labour market. He sold food at
becoming very popular.
market stalls at first and later ventured into wallpaper and
paint before finally founding Glyn Webb Home Improvement
Stores, a British chain of do it yourself stores which he
sold in 1999 for an estimated 25 million British pounds.
Cohen, now 70, lives near Manchester with his wife Cheryl.
He started building his large art collection in the 1970s,
investing predominantly in modern British art in the early
The 2013 programme of the Dairy Art Centre,
yo u r a r t o r g a n i z a t i o n i n L o n d o n , a p p e a r s
q u i t e c o n ve n t i o n a l c o m p a r e d t o t h e m o r e
c u t t i n g - e d g e a r t yo u u s e t o b u y.
My partner, Nicolai Frahm, and I didn’t want to show
too much of my collection, we thought that would
y e a r s . S i n c e t h e 1 9 9 0 s h e h a s , h o w e v e r, e x p a n d e d i n c r e a s i n g ly into international contemporary art. His collection now
includes more than 2 ,000 art works. In 2007 Cohen founded
the ”Initial Access” exhibition venue to provide the space to
p u t s e l e c t e d w o r k s f r o m h i s c o l l e c t i o n o n p u b l i c d i s p l a y. I n
2013, Cohen co-founded with art collector and advisor Nicolai
Frahm the non-prof it ar t institution ”Dair y Ar t Centre” in an
old milk depot in Central London. Entrance is free.
Photo Paul Raeside
Industrial touch:
Dairy Art Centre,
London
KoNext Exhibition at the Dairy Art Centre:
Yo s h i t o m o N a r a : “G re e t i n g s f ro m a P l a c e i n m y H e a r t ”
3 October – 7 December 2014
w w w. d a i r y a r t c e n t r e . o r g . u k
Yoshitomo Nara
Can‘t Wait ‘til the Night Comes, 2012
© Yoshitomo Nara, Courtesy of the artist
Photo: Keizo Kioku
DOROTHEUM
33
be too ‘in your face’. We’ve done that before in Wolverhampton, at the gallery called “Initial Access”.
We wanted to make it easier to curate, and for it to
make more sense. We started with John Armleder,
a Swiss artist who was big in the ‘80s. If he were
American he’d be ten times more expensive. Our
next great show will be Nara! Our advantage is that
“I like figurative art,
to be honest.
I l i k e p e o p l e .“
we can do everything spontaneously, whereas big
museums have to plan years in advance.
I think it’s the best place in London, because it has
an industrial feel instead of being a white cube, and
is not as clean cut as galleries. We have an educational programme, and people love it. We bring
back things that London hasn’t had, except at the
Tate Modern and Royal Academy. It’s also different
from the place Charles Saatchi runs.
I w a s n’ t i n te n d i n g to m e n t i o n h i s n a m e ,
b e c a u s e I r e a d yo u a r e s o m e w h a t f e d u p w i t h
b e i n g r e f e r r e d to a s t h e ‘ S a a tc h i o f t h e N o r t h’.
I s t h e r e a n y r i va l r y b e t we e n yo u ?
I’m friendly with Charles, always have been. He was
an innovator in his time, now it’s a different game.
His gallery is a very expensive place to run. He’s doing
something completely different. It’s like chalk and
cheese, if you know what I mean.
W h a t e x h i b i t i o n h ave yo u s e e n r e c e n t l y w h i c h
h a s c h a n g e d yo u r p e r s p e c t i ve o n a r t ?
The Richard Hamilton retrospective. To me it was
According to Frank Cohen, a wonderful but
much underestimated British artist:
William Roberts Primrose Hill, The Playground, c. 1930
Courtesy of The Frank Cohen Collection
the best of British artists brought together, and that
makes me think British art hasn’t disappeared out of
the window. You can’t buy Hamilton, you never see
him. I was really fascinated. I’ve seen hundreds of
good shows, Picasso, Basquiat, they are great technicians. But Hamilton – there’s a bit more blood and
guts to him.
S o o n e g e t s m o r e s e l e c t i ve o ve r t h e ye a r s ?
You want to downsize rather than to upsize. It brings
problems: when you die, you have to leave it to your
H a s yo u r p e r s p e c t i ve c h a n ge d o n c o l l e c t i n g ?
children, to museums… Less is more, and I think
I ’ m a s s u m i n g H a m i l to n i s o n yo u r l i s t ?
that’s where I’m headed now: only masterpieces!
The older you get, the less bulk you want. If I had a
But I still look at young artists and buy them. You’ve
few Hamiltons, and a few Schüttes – I love Thom-
got to keep your nose in the water…
as Schütte! – as well as a Picasso, a Bacon, maybe a
Rothko, a Jackson Pollock, then I would stick to them
and not worry about the others.
Doris Krumpl is a former art journalist with a degree
in German Studies and Art History. She is the
spokeswoman for Dorotheum.
AUCTION HOUSE
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AUCTION HOUSE
REAL
TREASURES
E X P E R T S I N J E W E L R Y & W ATC H E S
f.l.t.r: Dorothee Ganter, Astrid Fialka-Herics, Günter Eichberger, Alessandra Thornton, Günther Fröhlich
AUCTION HOUSE
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AUCTION HOUSE
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ASTRID FIALKA-HERICS
HEAD OF THE JEWELRY
A N D W ATC H D E PA R T M E N T
Goldsmith and silversmith with international experience, diamond
expert, evaluator, and jurist, Astrid Fialka-Herics comes from a
family of jewelers and as a young woman already started designing and exhibiting her own jewelry. She was appointed head of the
jewelry and watch department in 2008. Since then she has dedicated her energy to its establishment on the international market
and has recently achieved top prices and successes in this aspiring
sector. Of particular note is her discovery of the Schratt brooch.
“When I saw the brooch and couldn’t find a hallmark, I thought
‘Hold on, what have we got here!’” After contacting A. E. Köchert,
former supplier to the Imperial and Royal Court, and doing some
extensive research, she discovered that the brooch, set with diamonds and rubies, had belonged to Katharina Schratt, Viennese
actress and close confidante of Emperor Franz Joseph I. To the great
satisfaction of the seller, it achieved an exceptional price of over
202,000 euros.
ALESSANDRA THORNTON
JEWELRY EXPERT
“Jewelry is my passion,” says Alessandra Thornton. And she has
been true to it, as her career impressively demonstrates: from
goldsmith to certified diamond evaluator and European gemologist, since 2001 jewelry expert at Dorotheum. She is particularly interested in jewelry with a history. She had a very pleasant surprise for a customer who brought in her grandmother’s
seemingly unprepossessing estate for evaluation. In it was
a 1940s Cartier brooch set with aquamarines and diamonds,
which sold for 11,000 euros.
AUCTION HOUSE
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DOROTHEE GANTER
JEWELRY EXPERT
Dorothee Ganter comes from Germany, where she qualified as a
master goldsmith, including practical apprenticeship and journeyman training in a Paris workshop. She then received training as an
evaluator at the Vienna Dorotheum and has since been responsible
in particular for Italian and German customers. As a jewelry expert
she has continuously expanded her knowledge through exchanges of
experience with colleagues and gemology courses. She particularly enjoys the excitement and anticipation when customers lay out
their treasures.
GÜNTHER FRÖHLICH
W ATC H A N D J E W E L R Y E X P E R T
Günther Fröhlich became a master watchmaker in the mid-1970s before setting out to gain experience in the jewelry and watch wholesale
business. Having expanded his knowledge of gemology he joined the
Dorotheum in 1989 and started to train as an evaluator. As a watch
and jewelry expert, he has been on the look-out since then for unusual
items and never ceases to be fascinated by the surprises that his field of
expertise holds in store for him every day.
GÜNTER EICHBERGER
W ATC H A N D J E W E L R Y E X P E R T
Günter Eichberger has been passionate about his profession since his youth.
After training as a watchmaker and goldsmith, he became a general agent for a
renowned watch brand. Following several years in his own watchmaking workshop he joined Dorotheum in 2004 as a watch and jewelry expert. In May 2014 he
passed the test to become one of the very few generally sworn and court-certified watch and clock experts in Austria. What he enjoys most about working at
Dorotheum is the personal contact and the sometimes surprising realization by
rare Rolex Submariner, for example, recently sold for 22,000 euros.
Photos Raimo Rudi Rumpler
customers that their seemingly unimpressive heirloom is a hidden treasure. A
AUCTION HOUSE
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D E S
AUCTION HOUSE
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GERTI DRAXLER
PROFILE OF THE DESIGN EXPERT
Drawn from the international architecture, fashion and media scenes, the list of her
high-profile clients is extensive. Art historian and Dorotheum design expert Gerti
Draxler‘s knowledge of 20th-century design trends is second to none; she is also constantly on the watch for new approaches that will expand and enhance her area. To this
end, she keeps in close contact with contemporary designers whose work displays fluid
boundaries with (conceptual) art. In this respect Gerti Draxler is also a pioneer, always
on the look-out for new technologies or materials. In 1996, she was one of the first in
Europe to initiate design auctions. Her sales reflect the strongly curatorial aspect of her
work. As a ”temporary gallerist“, Gerti Draxler aims to present works of current trends
in design and conceptual art within the field of tension with historical positions. This is
what makes her strictly composed auction catalogues so unique. Gerti Draxler’s 2010
auction ”Austrian Design“ first put Austrian styling firmly on the design map. Famous for
his bold and idiosyncratic 50s aesthetic, Carl Auböck was also represented. He embodies
the style that Gerti Draxler personally values the most: minimalism and clarity coupled
Photo Maria Ziegelböck
with high functionality.
I G N
FAVOURITE
X
Old-cut diamond earrings, ca. 19.30 ct
first third of the 20th century
Gold 585, platinum
Estimate € 80,000 – 100,000
Jewellery auction, 23 October 2014
E
©German Federal Archive Picture 102-00140A, CC-BY-SA-3.0-de
FAVOURITE
41
X
S PAR K L I NG
TRA
VAGANCE
New materials, tools, and production methods
opened the way in the early 20th century for
fashionable jewelry creations for the modern woman.
To d a y, t h e s e e x c l u s i v e i t e m s a r e a m o n g s t t h e m o s t
sought-after jewels in the world.
BY ASTRID FIALKA-HERICS
FAVOURITE
42
Garlanded diamond necklace
total ca. 8.5 ct, platinum
French hallmark from 1912
Estimate € 9,000–12,000
Jewellery auction, 27 November 2014
Whereas 19th-century jewelry was mostly modeled
on antique or mythological motifs supplemented
by nature-inspired floral patterns and forms, in
the early 20th century the new technical discoveries and modern processing techniques were used
today, however, this adds to their appeal – even if it
increasingly to create hitherto unseen forms.
is far removed from the original idea.
The development of the transport infrastructure
In the early 20th century plant and figurative
throughout Europe gave more rapid access to
motifs dominated. Their elegance and delicacy gave
deposits and fostered commerce in the precious
them an exotic, mysterious fairy-tale aura. The var-
stones that were mined there. New machines
ious forms of enamel, particularly plique-à-jour,
were developed and changed jewelry production
added color and imbued the pieces with a sense
processes. For the first time it was possible to
of lightness.
make and sell jewelry on a large scale. Individu-
Diamond & emerald
earrings
Gold 580, silver,
old-cut and rose-cut
diamonds,
total ca. 2.50 ct
Cabochon emeralds
total ca. 45 ct
Austrian hallmark,
1922 – 1925
ally made pieces now had to compete with mass
The First World War and downfall of the tsarist
production. Major jewelry houses like Cartier
regime in Russia not only had political and eco-
or Fabergé carefully observed what their com-
nomic consequences but also resulted in funda-
petitors were bringing out onto the market. They
mental social transformations, including a new
competed not only for customers but also for the
definition of the role of the woman and hence
craftsmen themselves.
of fashion.
The settings on jewelry of this time were usually
Jewelry reflected this development. Neatly cut,
silver with the mounting underneath in gold, which
short hairstyles were decorated on festive occasions
gave extra stability to stressed elements like pins or
with diamond-set tiaras, symmetrical clasps held
ring bands. The polished silver gave added sparkle
flowing robes together, dangling earrings framed
particularly to diamonds and precious stones and
the face, and wide bracelets decorated wrists. Pre-
increased their luminosity. The one disadvantage
cious stones cut in different ways – cabochon or
was that the sulfur in silver alloys caused the silver
briolette, for example – were combined with classic
to tarnish. For lovers and collectors of old jewelry
brilliant-cut diamonds.
Diamond and emerald tiara
Gold 580, silver, old-cut diamonds,
total ca. 20.80 ct
Cabochon emeralds, total ca. 140 ct
Diamond earrings
total ca. 5.90 ct, platinum
Estimate € 18,000 – 24,000
Jewellery auction, 27 November 2014
Damenring mit unbehandeltem Saphir ca. 4,10 ct
Weißgold mit Brillanten
zus. ca. 2,50 ct
Schätzwert € 24.000 – 30.000
Auktion Juwelen, 21. Mai 2014
Art Deco diamond tiara
total ca. 29 ct, platinum 950,
Franz Löwy (Vienna), Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1930
Art Deco diamond bracelet
total ca. 22 ct, platinum 950,
old-cut and round-cut diamonds,
Estimate € 16,000 – 20,000
Jewellery auction, 23 October 2014
Platinum, which had already become increasing-
Between 1900 and 1925 a new type of jewelry
ly fashionable years earlier, was now ever-present.
appeared in the major European workshops. The
Although used in ancient Egypt to make simple
malleable metal made it possible to experiment
items of jewelry, it was still a rarity because of its
with new forms using different stones and cuts.
high melting point and the lack of technical equip-
These one-off items were extravagant and distinc-
ment for melting it. It was not until the invention
tive, reflecting the new fashion consciousness of
by John Frederic Daniell in the first half of the
the modern woman. Selected pieces from the first
19th century of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe that
quarter of the 20th century are among the most
it became possible to achieve the temperature of
sought-after jewels in the world, achieving top
1,774 degrees Celsius necessary to melt platinum.
prices at international auctions.
Astrid Fialka-Herics, jewelry expert, jurist,
and goldsmith, is head of the watch and
jewelry department.
CHOICE
44
CHOICE
MY
CHOICE
Dorotheum’s exper ts on their favourite lots
in upcoming auctions.
Maria Lassnig
Stillleben mit rotem Selbstportrait, 1970
From an Austrian collection
Estimate € 140,000 – 200,000
26 November 2014
FORCE OF NATURE
Colours for the fear of cancer, the colours of pain, stress, tension, strain, colours
of cold and of warmth. Born in 1919, the great Austrian painter Maria Lassnig
inhabited a cosmos where even colours found a new definition. Starting in 1949,
in her “Körperzustandsbilder” (body state paintings), probably the most famous
European female painter of the 20th century portrayed her own body as a visible
outside world representing depictions of human inner worlds. In a conversation
with the artist, art critic Kristian Sotriffer put it as follows: “You are, as it were, the
dish that collects the world, and through you it is projected outwards again. Maria
Lassnig as a means of passage, as a body that translates feelings and thoughts
into painting and in doing so actually also appropriates a world through selfobservation, self-perception.”
Although internationally celebrated today, in 1943 Lassnig was forced to leave the
Vienna Academy because her art was considered “degenerate”. During the postwar period Lassnig was part of the circle around Monsignore Otto Mauer and his
avant-garde Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna. Later she moved to Paris, where
she met André Breton and Paul Celan, and lived in New York from 1968 onwards.
Maria Lassnig
Der Wald, 1985
Estimate € 220,000 – 320,000
26 November 2014
In 1980 Lassnig was the first woman in the German-speaking world to be given a
professorship of painting in Vienna. Up until her death in May 2014 she created a
tremendously powerful body of work. Her awards included the Golden Lion at the
2013 Venice Biennale for her lifetime achievement as an artist.
Elke Königseder, expert in contemporary and modern art
CHOICE
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Maria Lassnig
Zweiteilig, 1951
Oil on jute, 44.5 x 57.5 cm
Estimate € 60,000 – 80,000
26 November 2014
COLLECTORS’
DELIGHT
An Austrian private collection will put its items up
for sale at the November Contemporary Art auction.
The lot includes important works by artists such as
Maria Lassnig, Arnulf Rainer, Martin Kippenberger,
Jörg Immendorff, Daniel Spoerri, Otto Muehl, Alfons
Schilling, Josef Mikl, Wolfgang Hollegha, and Otto
Zitko; it covers the period between the 1960s and the
1990s, with a focus on the 1980s.
Elke Königseder and Patricia Pálffy,
experts in contemporary and modern art
Maria Lassnig
Bischof, 1962
Estimate € 130,000 – 220,000
26 November 2014
CHOICE
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Alfons Schilling, Untitled, 1960/61,dispersion on Molino / canvas, mounted on wooden frame, 223 x 253 cm
From an Austrian collection, estimate € 90,000 – 130,000, Contemporary Art auction, 26 November 2014
Otto Muehl, interieur nr. 2, 1986, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 130 cm
From an Austrian collection, estimate € 40,000 – 70,000
Arnulf Rainer
Fetzenwischer, 1974
Oil on wood, partly scratched, 87 x 122 cm
Estimate € 50,000 – 60,000
CHOICE
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Martin Kippenberger
Untitled, 1989/90
Estimate
€ 280,000 – 350,000
26 November 2014
“Wit, effect, emotions, image, attitude …” In
enfant terrible and self-promoter – is today
expressive type Martin Kippenberger picks up
considered one of the most important artists
buzzwords and makes reference to advertising
of his generation. This work was created in
and poster art. In doing so, he undermines
1989/90 and is part of the “Fred the Frog”
obviously
good
series, which was published in the artist‘s book
and bad taste, and uncovers the hypocrisy and
“Martin Kippenberger. Fred the frog rings the bell /
manipulation that make out most social inter-
once a penny / two a penny / hot cross burns”.
conventional
perceptions
of
actions. Kippenberger – painter, actor, writer,
musician, drinker, dancer, traveling charmer,
Patricia Pálffy,
expert in contemporary and modern art
CHOICE
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Hans Makart, Portrait der Sängerin
Emilie Tagliana, um 1875
Öl auf Holz, 104,6 x 66,8 cm
Schätzwert € 60.000 – 80.000
Auktion Gemälde 19. Jahrhundert
8. April 2014
Jörg Immendorff
Staat/Formel, 1992/93
Estimate € 120,000 – 180,000
26 November 2014
INTERIOR
LIFE
Animals are accorded a special symbolism in Jörg Immendorff ’s work. To him the
bee (sometimes referred to as Imme in German) was “a sensitive animal that makes
one think”. The present work contains several of them, including a blue one in the
foreground. But the most important animal in Immendorff ’s world of images is
the monkey. Foolish and wise in equal measure, the embodiment of contradiction,
it was considered the artist’s alter ego, a symbol of the ambivalence of the artist’s
existence between conviction and self-doubt. Many of Immendorff ’s works, this
one included, depict the painter’s friends and idols, gallery owners and patrons,
art writers and philosophers. From left to right and from top to bottom are
Jörg Immendorff, Arthur Rimbaud, Georg Baselitz, André Breton, Joseph Beuys,
Heiner Müller, Henrik Ibsen, Curzio Malaparte, Giorgio de Chirico, Rudi Fuchs
and Jean-Paul Sartre. Immendorff intentionally blurs the lines between temporal
dimensions and different world views. All are connected by art.
Patricia Pálffy, expert in contemporary and modern art
Mimmo Paladino for Meta Memphis
“Ficcanaso” furniture object, Milan 1989
Maple, padauk wood, inlays, iron,
181 x 180 x 45 cm
Estimate € 30,000 – 35,000
Design auction, 6 November 2014
CHOICE
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In the 1960s, Sigmar Polke co-founded a new art movement with
Gerhard Richter, Konrad Lueg and Manfred Kuttner. They called it
Elaine Sturtevant
High Voltage Painting, 1969
Acrylic and neon tubing on canvas, 162.1 x 96.5 cm
Estimate € 50,000 – 70,000
“Capitalist realism”. However, Polke used heterogeneous strategies that
cannot be attributed clearly to any one style.
In this work, tried and tested line configurations are translated into
the colorful texture of a painting. Lush, opaque lines in the dominating
shape of a grid form linear coordinates that measure out a space. The
grid, one of the simplest graphic shapes, is transformed and ironised.
Polke applies wash and graphic techniques and switches between motifs
from the worlds of advertising, movies and comics. This technique
creates an oscillating interaction between positive and negative, between
the three-dimensional skeleton and the immaterial “skin”.
Petra Schäpers, expert in contemporary and modern art
Sigmar Polke
Untitled, 1986
Acrylic, gouache on
cardboard, 199 x 135.5 cm
Estimate
€ 450,000 – 550,000
26 November 2014
MIXED MEDIA
The
upcoming
auctions
of
modern
and
contemporary art will feature a special highlight:
works from a European industrialist couple’s
exquisite collection of paintings. They were chosen
over a 30-year period with taste and a keen sense
for art with lasting value. Elaine Sturtevant, Andy
Warhol, Arman, Jörg Immendorff, Paul Delvaux,
Alexander Calder, Anselm Reyle are all major
artists whose important works typify their epoch.
Honorine d´Ursel, manager of the Dorotheum office in
Brussels, Patricia Pálffy, expert in contemporary and
modern art
Georg Baselitz
Untitled, 1960
Mixed technique (China ink, dispersion),
collage on canvas, 60 x 50 cm
Estimate € 70,000 – 90,000
CHOICE
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Paris Bordone (1500–1571)
Allegory of Vanity
Oil on canvas, 87.5 x 72 cm
Estimate € 100,000 – 150,000
Old Master Paintings auction,
21 October 2014
GALLERY
OF
BEAUTIES
Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564–1637/38)
The Wedding Dance
Oil on panel, diameter 20 cm
Estimate € 200,000 – 300,000
21 October 2014
Master of San Jacopo a Mucciana
(active 1390–1420)
Madonna and Child
Tempera on gold ground,
triptych, 55 x 60 cm
Estimate € 80,000 – 120,000
Old Master Paintings auction, 21 October 2014
Portrait Hall of the Peterhof Palace,
St. Petersburg, view of the southern wall
Photo: The Peterhof State Museum-Reserve
CHOICE
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Pietro Antonio Rotari (1707–1762)
Portrait of a Young Woman
in Peasant Costume
Oil on canvas, 45 x 34.5 cm
Estimate € 80,000 – 120,000
21 October 2014
Pietro Antonio Rotari (1707–1762)
Portrait of
a Young Woman in a Cap
Oil on canvas, 45 x 34.5 cm
Estimate € 80,000 – 120,000
21 October 2014
The
present
portraits
are
examples
of
the
paintings of young women, a subject matter which
enjoyed great success and gained Pietro Rotari
an artistic reputation throughout Europe. The
artist executed studies of heads for the courts of
Dresden, Vienna and St. Petersburg, where he
portrayed human emotion with subtle colouring and
sensitive observation. Pietro Rotari, who came from
an aristocratic family, travelled to Vienna around
1751, and here he was able to study the works of
Jean-Etiénne Liotard, whose clear, painterly
smoothness impressed him and had a lasting
influence on his subsequent works. After a stay in
Dresden his reputation lead him to Russia, where
Rotari received a commission to paint portraits of
young women for the Gallery of Beauties which
were intended to represent the diversity of the
Russian peoples. Rotari produced not only 360
pictures of Russian women for Empress Elizabeth,
but also an additional 50 which she presented to
the Russian Academy of Art. Empress Elizabeth’s
pictures were earmarked for the Peterhof Palace.
The charm of these portraits often approaches
that of Greuze or Chardin.
Mark MacDonnell, expert in Old Master paintings
Lavinia Fontana
(1552–1614)
Portrait of a
Noblewoman with Maid
and a Small Dog
Estimate
€ 120,000 – 180,000
Old Master Paintings
auction, 21 October 2014
CHOICE
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Ivan Augustinowitsch Welz
Winter Sun, 1919, oil on canvas, 71 x 89 cm
Estimate € 40,000 – 60,000
19th Century Paintings auction, 23 October 2014
Olga Wisinger-Florian (1844–1926)
Autumn Landscape
Estimate € 80,000 – 120,000
19th Century Paintings auction,
23 October 2014
Thomas Ender (1793–1875)
Impressive Landscape in Tyrol, oil on canvas, 89.5 x 118.5 cm
Estimate € 50,000 – 70,000
CHOICE
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SPLENDID
PROSPECTS
IN VIEW
Throughout his lifetime, Thomas Ender devoted himself to the study
of landscapes. As with many of his works, “Impressive Landscape in
Tyrol” displays his precise talents of observation and artistic approach
to nature. In 1817, Ender demonstrated his mastery in a competition
for the landscape painting prize awarded by Emperor Francis II/I.
From then on, he was supported by state chancellor Metternich. His
close association with the court allowed him to travel to many different
countries, including Brazil and Italy, where he perfected his craft. In
1828 Thomas Ender was made court painter to Archduke John. It is
likely that the “Impressive Landscape in Tyrol”, a wonderful work of art
that creates a sense of dreaminess, dates from this period.
Dimitra Reimüller, in 19th-century paintings
Joseph Nigg
Still Life with Butterflies, Flowers and Fruits Against a
Landscape Background, 1834, oil on canvas, 68 x 54 cm
Estimate € 20,000 – 30,000
CHOICE
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WIENER
MODERNE
This rare belt clasp from 1905 was designed
by Kolo Moser and is an early sample of the
Wiener Werkstätte. The flower tendril motif has a
strict symmetrical structure and geometry – just as
the Wiener Werkstätte intended.
Julia Blaha, Art Nouveau, 20th Century Arts
and Crafts expert
Belt buckle, designed 1905
for Wiener Werkstätte
Wrought silver, partially
copper-plated, opals, 7.8 x 4 cm
Estimate € 50,000 – 70,000
Art Nouveau, 20th Century Arts
and Crafts auction,
4 November 2014
Egon Schiele
Sitting Nude, 1917
Black chalk on paper,
29.5 x 46 cm, Kallir: D.2039
Estimate € 140,000 – 200,000
Modern Art auction,
25 November 2014
CHOICE
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IMPERIAL
AFTERNOON TEA
This elegant tea and coffee set, decorated with flowers on a gold
background and featuring its own case, was produced at the
Vienna Porcelain Manufactory under director Conrad Sörgel von
Sorgenthal, who ran the company from 1784 to 1805, and under
whom the company experienced its heyday. As well as the Imperial
family and Austrian archdukes, its customers included the Princes
Metternich, Kaunitz, Trauttmansdorff, Rasumofsky, Liechtenstein,
Lobkowitz, Lichnowsky, Auersperg and Colloredo, the Counts
Tatischeff, Esterházy, Hardenberg, Czernin, Batthyány, Chotek,
Waldstein, Eltz, Festetics and many others. Demand from other
countries increased too, in spite of constant wars. Goods were
sold to Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Germany and France.
The manufactory’s sales were impressive: between 1792 and 1808,
it made a clear profit of 714,500 gulden (one gulden is worth ten
euros in today’s money).
Dr. Ingrid Haslinger, historian, and Ursula Rohringer,
Dorotheum expert in glass and porcelain
Vienna, Imperial Manufactory
An imperial coffee and tee service, porcelain
Estimate € 100,000 – 150,000
Works of Art auction, 22 October 2014
Tea cloth Venezia, finest pure linen with
hand-embroidered motifs, by courtesy of
Zur Schwäbischen Jungfrau, Am Graben 26, 1010 Vienna
CHOICE
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Lucio Fontana is less well-known for his sculptural
work. Like his father, he began his artistic career as
a sculptor, and he continued to create impressive
sculptures throughout his life. Some of his work is
informed by religious motifs. Two significant works
that exemplify this aspect will soon be auctioned
at Dorotheum.
Alessandro Rizzi, expert in contemporary
and modern art
SCULPTURED
Lucio Fontana
Madonna and Child, around 1955
Painted ceramic, 40 x 17 x 20 cm
Estimate € 55,000 – 75,000
26 November 2014
Lucio Fontana
Crucifixion, 1961
Painted ceramic, 40 x 19 x 6 cm
Estimate € 45,000 – 65,000
26 November 2014
Sido and François Thévenin
for Sawaya & Moroni
Crypto CRP 10, 1985, Bronze
Estimate € 100,000 – 150,000
Design auction, 6 November 2014
CHOICE
M E TA L L I C
Mercedes-Benz 450 SL, estimate € 22,000 – 30,000
Classic Motor Vehicles and Automobilia auction,
18 October 2014, Classic Expo Salzburg
59
On 18 October at the Classic Expo vintage car show in Salzburg,
Dorotheum is auctioning a Mercedes-Benz 450 SL from the estate of
the Oscar prizewinner Maximilian Schell. The erstwhile top model by
Mercedes in the colour magnetite blue metallic provided trusty trans-
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, Ref. no. 6239, around
1965, stainless steel, lever movement, caliber 722,
stop mechanism via wheel, casing no. 1475618,
diameter ca. 37 cm
Estimate € 20,000 – 30,000
Wrist and Pocket Watches auction, 28 November 2014
portation for the actor, theatre and film director and producer for
decades until his death on 1 February this year. The Mercedes acted
as coach for Schell’s celebrated marriage in 2013 to the opera singer
Iva Mihanovic. Now it is coming to Salzburg to be auctioned, with an
estimate of 22,000 to 30,000 euros.
Wolfgang Humer, expert in classic motor vehicles
BMW 327/28 Convertible, 1939, estimate € 140,000 – 180,000
Classic Motor Vehicles and Automobilia auction, 18 October 2014, Classic Expo Salzburg
CITY
Fashion. Finance. Milan is so much more than
this. Hidden treasures and public places are
here waiting to be discovered. A homage by
Angelica Cicogna Mozzoni, manager of the
Dorotheum in Milan.
BY ANGELICA CICOGNA MOZZONI
Milan, what can I say about this city that has always only ever
been considered Italy’s financial capital?
Stock exchange, business, work, shopping…people think that Milan
is only this, but Milan is great and full of secrets…hidden behind the
high walls of its palaces, secret and unknown places. One of these
hosts the Dorotheum offices: Palazzo Amman, a little jewel, concealing a small garden with a big magnolia in its centre, red and white
camellias – red and white, the colours of both Austria and Milan –
climbing plants and evergreens. All this, just behind the SCALA
OPERA HOUSE (2), that temple of music, with a view of its modern
rear, the work of the architect Botta, and from where it is possible to
Dadamaino, Panello Dinamico, Italy 1971 – 1977/78,
MI
LA
N
CITY
61
CITY
62
hear, on late afternoons, the choir and orchestra rehearsing before
their 8:00 p.m. performance. It’s a magical sensation and one that
accompanies my working hours; every day I feel I’m “at home”,
happily sitting at the desk.
Milan is discrete; many palaces with their decorated and frescoed
rooms hide behind their facades, unseen by the majority of tourists visiting this city. Unfortunately, many historic buildings were
destroyed during World War II, but we still can admire residences such as the Palazzo Clerici, one of its ceilings marvellously fres-
1
coed by Tiepolo; PALAZZO SERBELLONI (1), a lovely example of late
18th century architecture by Simone Cantoni; Palazzo Reale, which
the Triennale, with a permanent exhibition of the most significant
continuously hosts exhibitions; Palazzo Belgioioso, a real example
examples of Italian Design.
of neoclassical architecture – just like La Scala – and built between
1782 and 1787 by the famous architect Giuseppe Piermarini; Pala-
What can I say about the churches, the San Babila, San Carlo, San
zzo Trivulzio, considered one of the city’s first examples of rococo
Satiro dating back to the 15th century, with its faux perspective by
architecture; Palazzo Borromeo, dating back to the 13th century
Donato Bramante, SANT’AMBROGIO (4) – our Patron Saint – one of
and with a late gothic structure, as well as many subsequent altera-
the oldest churches in Milan; the marvellous Santa Maria delle
tions due to the bombs of the WW II.
Grazie where the refectory of the nearby Dominican Friary houses Il Cenacolo, one of the most beautiful examples of Leonardo‘s
What can I say about the museums, from the Brera to the Contem-
painting; and the Duomo, in the city centre, where our Madonnina
porary Art Pavilion, the MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
looks down over Milan from the high pinnacles of the cathedral.
(3), the MUSEO DEL NOVECENTO (5) whose windows look over the
Duomo Square, giving the sensation of being in a living room – the
Milan, the moving city, always in step with modernity and offering
museum in the city and the city in the museum – and the Castello
everything: fashion, design and culture. Modernity advances and
Sforzesco, whose rooms contain the history of those who lived in the
grows in new areas such as the Unicredit Tower in the Garibaldi
castle, from the Sforza to the Visconti; and the Poldi Pezzoli Muse-
zone and in the former fair area, with the Hadid and Libeskind resi-
um, a real cultural jewel with the precious objects and magnificent
dences, plus the three CENTRAL TOWERS (6) – still under construc-
works of art collected by its owner Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli; or
tion – by Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid, which
2
A. Cicogna Mozzoni © Roberto Gobbo
1 Palazzo Serbelloni, Sala Napoleonica © Francesco Arena
2 Scala, Photo Brescia/Amisano © Teatro alla Scala
3 Museum of Science and Technology © Alessandro Grassani
4 Sant’Ambrogio © Sant’Ambrogio
5 Museo del Novecento © Comune di Milano
6 Zaha Hadid, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects, Courtesy of Citylife
7 Corso Como © 10 Corso Como, Milan
3
CITY
63
MI
LA
N
4
5
are projecting the city into a new era and will lend Milan a new
skyline. Expo 2015 is at the door, and Milan is preparing to welcome
all its visitors.
I love living here, everything is perfect – or nearly perfect – public
transport includes the underground with its 5 lines (red, green,
yellow, blue and violet), the tram – one of the old models has
become an exclusive restaurant, always fully booked, transporting
guests through the city while eating – and with that typical track
noise, so familiar to all the Milanese, a noise we’re so used to that
we don’t notice it anymore, and the buses that pass quickly, like the
6
tram, in long, wide, circles along the city streets, carrying passengers from one end of the city to the other, and beyond.
Milan, the living city, rich with happy hours at most of the bars in
the centre – you can really eat so much that you don’t even need
dinner afterwards – and its famous restaurants.
A few months ago, Eataly opened a huge store inside the Theatre
Smeraldo where we can buy all our typical Italian products, and
close by, the more famous 10 CORSO COMO SHOP (7), owned by
former Italian Vogue editor, Carla Sozzani.
MY MILAN IS ALL THIS, AND I LOVE IT!
7
CITY
64
An interview with the collector
Vo l k e r W. F e i e r a b e n d , w h o d i s c o v e r e d h i s p a s s i o n
for Italian art of the 20th and 21st centuries
rather by chance. He has since become one of
its greatest patrons. Questioned about art as an
investment and about the concept of patronage,
the passionate collector freely admits to following
his intuition rather than current trends.
BY ANGELICA CICOGNA MOZZONI
AND ALESSANDRO RIZZI
Volker W. Feierabend became involved with Italy
says Feierabend, who still today insists on only buy-
in 1959, working on behalf of a prominent Berlin
ing what he likes, for the sheer pleasure of it. “In
establishment. “When the Berlin Wall went up in
the mid-1980s the price of 20th-century art shot
1961 I decided to move to Frankfurt, where I got
up, meaning that it was simply no longer possi-
into business for myself and as a result worked in
ble to acquire works from the period,” he explains.
cooperation with a group of Italian companies,”
“However, a collector can’t just give up, and so I
Feierabend explains. During the 1970s he got mar-
decided to sell a 20th-century masterpiece. I used
ried and it was then that he started to collect art.
the profit from that piece to set up a new collection
His home gradually filled with antique furniture
of post-1945 artworks: I purchased Italian works
and paintings dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th
from the 1950s and 1960s, which were still relative-
centuries. Eventually, however, he decided to sell
ly cheap at the time.”
everything, and to focus instead on collecting work
produced by living artists. He set his sights on Ital-
He adds: “Luckily, I have always managed to buy the
ian art – a fascinating terrain, and one still large-
right artists at the right time.” His collection expand-
ly unheeded by the big international collectors at
ed as he secured works by Bonalumi, Dadamaino
that time. Feierabend sold all of the non-Italian
and Gruppo T Cinetica, directly from the artists.
works in his collection, and thus started his adventure as a collector.
However, as he explains, “A collector has to start
reconsidering when there is no room left on their
The original core of his collection includes Italian
walls.” He too was faced with this problem, and the
figurative painting from the early 20th century. “I
solution he found was to contact German museums
would call it a selection, rather than a collection,”
to offer them his Italian artworks as permanent
65
THE
GERMAN
WHO LOVES
ITALY
Photos © MART - Archivio fotografico
CITY
CITY
66
loans. Although the Germans were generally more
interested in French 20th-century artists at the
time, he managed to talk them round – and so began
MART, Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea
di Trento e Rovereto, Collezione VAF-Stiftung
©MART-Archivio fotografico
his “project.” Currently, there are works drawn
from the Feierabend collection at the WilhelmHack-Museum in Ludwigshafen, the Sprengel
Museum in Hanover, the Kunsthalle Mannheim,
the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg and the
Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl. “The museums requested works by Italian artists that they did
not already own.” So Volker Feierabend went looking for them on the art market, in galleries, and also
privately and from the artists themselves. “I bought
German museums (to their dismay, not surprisingly) in order to loan them to MART. Over the course
of time he lent MART about 1,000 artworks in
total. The foundation’s works on show there include
masterpieces of the early 20th century as well as
the avant-garde of the post-war period through to
works by less well-known contemporary artists.
works in order to leave them to the museums as a
permanent loan according to the usual system.” He
continues: “In Germany, a private person does not
pay net wealth tax if they lend an artwork to a museum; and the museum takes care of everything –
from any necessary restoration through to insurance. It’s still the case today.”
In 2000 he founded the VAF Foundation based in
Frankfurt, to which he donated his collection of
1,500 works. The initials “VAF” are a combination
of his own name and that of his wife, Aurora. The
foundation’s aim is to collect Italian art from the
20th and 21st centuries, to make it more accessible
to the public and, above all, to raise awareness of it,
to boost its importance.
A work by the first winner of the biennial art prize awarded
by the VAW Foundation in support of young talents.
Chiara Dynys, Near and far, 2003
In 2000 he also met Gabriella Belli of MART
Does patronage still exist? “Since 2003, the VAF
(Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento
Foundation has awarded its biennial art prize to
e Rovereto) and offered to lend some artworks to
young Italian artists under the age of 40 in Germany,
the museum, which at the time was still under con-
Austria and Italy. They are not chosen for being
struction. Feierabend was fascinated by a visit to
currently in fashion, but rather purely on talent.
the new museum planned by architect Mario Botta.
Often the foundation supports these artists by pur-
More than anything he was impressed by how the
chasing materials and other things they might need
museum had been designed: it was built around
for producing their artworks.” The stunning work
the works that it was to hold, and not the other
of the first prize-winner, Chiara Dynys, has since
way round.
become renowned throughout the art world; her
works have been on display in numerous solo and
The collector put together an initial selection of
group exhibitions, at major museums and in public
100 artworks that he claimed back from various
and private cultural institutions.
CITY
67
Questioned on the subject of art as an investment,
it had been put at 5,000 to 6,500 suros. “It was
Volker Feierabend explains: “In Germany in the
a real bargain, and this is not the first time it has
1970s, it was the museums who showed the critics
happened to me,” he says with obvious satisfaction.
which direction art should take. The critics then
“The work will be on show at MART as part of their
wrote in the newspapers about the artists and their
next exhibition, ‘Grande Guerra 1914–2014,’ about
work in the museums, but remained completely
the World Wars.”
neutral. Museums worked with galleries in order
to discover new artists, and museum directors
Volker Feierabend finishes our conversation with
often spoke in galleries about the artists staging
the following words: “During the last 20 years I
the exhibition. Today museums are following a gen-
have bought work by young artists who I consid-
eral trend and focusing entirely on raising visitor
ered talented. Over the course of time, let’s say in
numbers, while the market operates under the
30 or 40 years, we will find out whether I was in
influence of large, internationally active galleries
fact right to follow my intuition.”
and major collectors – it is they who launch artists’
reputations, and these artists are then suddenly
able to command six-figure sums out of nowhere.”
He continues: “There is too much money in the
Angelica Cicogna Mozzoni is Director of the
Milan Dorotheum.
Alessandro Rizzi is an expert in Modern and
contemporary art at Dorotheum.
world and there are about 100 artists who are
”Buying with
passion and
conviction“
Chiara Dynys, Near and far, 2003
©MART-Archivio fotografico
trendy at the moment and favoured by the relevant
buyers. These think they are doing good business
or adding another major name to their collection,
but frequently they buy without passion or conviction. Names that reach multi-million-dollar sums
dominate at auction while work by other artists
sells below its true value. In my opinion, there are
opportunities here for real collectors to acquire
works cheaply and to expand their collections.”
Volker Feierabend goes on to describe how he
recently managed to buy a 20th-century artist’s
work at an auction for the lower estimated value –
PASSION
68
PASSION
BIZARRE
HEADS
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and his unique œuvre shine in
t h e l a t e s t v o l u m e o f t h e “ B e l v e d e r e W e r k v e r z e i c h n i s s e ”,
a series of catalogues raisonnés published with
generous support from Dorotheum.
BY CHRISTINA BACHL-HOFMANN
AND GEORG LECHNER
PASSION
FAVOURITE
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
An Arch-Rascal, 1770 – 1783
tin-lead alloy
Belvedere, Vienna, Inv. no. 2442
© Belvedere, Vienna
69
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
An Intentional Wag, 1770 – 1783
alabaster
Belvedere, Vienna, Inv. no. 2284
The work of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt holds a
of important contemporaries, including the histo-
prominent place in 18th-century Central European
rian Martin Georg Kovachich, writer and art theo-
art. Though mostly remembered for his so-called
rist Franz Christoph von Scheyb and the physician
“character heads” (their often bizarre appearance
Gerard van Swieten.
makes them difficult to forget), Messerschmidt’s
œuvre is often unjustly reduced to this group
Now, in fall 2014, a comprehensive listing of Franz
of works, the origin story of which is tangled in
Xaver Messerschmidt’s works will appear as Volume 4
unfounded myths.
in the “Belvedere Werkverzeichnisse” series of catalogues raisonnés. Its author Maria Pötzl-Malikova,
The “heads” – which remained in the artist’s
a noted specialist in Baroque sculpture, devoted her
possession until his death – are only one part of
dissertation to Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and pub-
Messerschmidt’s remarkable output. The larger
lished a monograph on the artist in 1982.
body of work begins rather magnificently with
the busts of Emperor Francis I Stephen and Maria
The Belvedere views the scholarly documentation
Theresa, which are currently housed at Belvedere.
of Austrian artists’ œuvres as one of its most impor-
The likenesses of imperial family members represent
tant research projects. Thanks to generous financial
an important part of Austrian art history in general.
support from Dorotheum, the Institut für die Erstellung von Werkverzeichnissen (Institute for the
Another one of Messerschmidt’s crucial patrons was
Creation of Catalogues Raisonnés) at the Belvedere
the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. The later Maria
has worked closely with experts to develop cata-
Theresia Anna Felicitas Duchess di Savoia-Carignan
logues raisonnés for a number of renowned artists.
commissioned a number of important artworks, and
it is thanks to her initiative that we have the monumental Maria Immaculata and the Elisha fountain
of the Savoysches Damenstift (Savoy Foundation for
Noble Ladies). The artist also produced portraits
Christina Bachl-Hofmann directs the Research Center
at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.
Georg Lechner is a curator of Baroque art at the
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.
The new catalogue raisonné published by Bibliothek
der Provinz will appear in late 2014.
PASSION
70
© Studio Robert Stadler
Seating designed for “Back in 5 min”:
Cora, Dora and Aymeric, 2014
In contrast to the bourgeois, opulent style of the
Geymüllerschlössel, Stadler reinterprets simple
forms of furniture such as stools and benches as
object groups of “working furniture”.
BACK
IN VIENNA
Austria’s famous sons and daughter are
currently the talk of the town. Robert
S t a d l e r, a g l o b e t r o t t e r b e t w e e n d e s i g n
and art, is returning to Vienna for a short
t i m e a n d t a l k s a b o u t h i s “ B a c k i n 5 m i n ”, a n
intervention supported by Dorotheum and on
show at the MAK in the Geymüllerschlössel.
BY THOMAS GEISLER
Th o mas Geisler : In Au str ia they s ay you h ave
to go ab roa d if you wa nt to become fa m o us . I s
th at th e c a se? Or wha t do Mila n, Pa r is a n d Ri o
d e Jan e iro – impor t a nt stopping pla ces i n yo ur
l ife – h ave tha t Vienna doesn’t?
Robert Stadler: I think it’s primarily a case of freeing yourself from familiar surroundings and getting a new perspective. I certainly experienced this
most intensely in Rio. The Brazilian lifestyle clearly
showed me how we tend to look nostalgically back
to the past, or dream longingly of the future, whilst
forgetting to live in the here and now.
d o r f, a n d i d e n t i f y i n g a s p e c t s r e l e v a n t t o
t h e m o d e r n d a y. H o w d i d yo u a p p r o a c h t h i s
challenge?
Biedermeier interiors were characterised by their
furnishings, which their users could rearrange, and
the possibility of using the rooms in multiple ways.
In contrast to aristocratic villas of the18th century, a
room served several purposes, such as eating, reading
or music-making. It was the lightness of Biedermeier
furniture which made it possible to create the typical
‘functional islands’. “Back in 5 min” stages settings,
working with the elements present in the rooms to
T h e r o l e o f t h e M A K D E S I G N SA LO N i s t o
create new groupings of objects which express the
e x a m i n e t h e p a s t w h i l e avo i d i n g t h i s n o s t a l -
various and complex overlapping of past and future
g i a . I n a b s o l u te te r m s , t h i s m e a n s l o o k i n g a t
in material form. This bridging of time is a subject
t h e l o c a t i o n a n d h i s to r y o f t h e G e y m ü l l e r -
I have dealt with previously, in my project “Traits
s c h l ö s s e l , a B i e d e r m e i e r j e we l i n Pö t z l e i n s -
d’union”, a permanent installation on a historic building
PASSION
71
in Nancy. I reinterpreted the DNA of this 19th century
architecture in the façade and city furnishings.
Robert Stadler
was born in Vienna in 1966 and studied
I n “ B a c k i n 5 m i n” yo u te l l a s to r y. D o e s i t
design at the IED in Milan and the
m a ke a d i f f e r e n c e i f t h e s to r y i s to l d
ENSCI in Paris. He was a founding mem-
i n a ‘ w h i te c u b e’ g a l l e r y o r i n a
ber of RADI Designers (1992–2008) and
h i s to r i c a l a m b i e n c e ?
assistant to Ron Arad at the University
This work is specific to its location, although it can
of Applied Arts in Vienna (1994–1997).
also make sense in other contexts. I see no contra-
Stadler has lived and worked in Paris
diction here. A sound basic concept can ‘function’
since 2000. His works are to be found in
in various surroundings.
O f te n t h e te r m ‘ f u n c t i o n a l i t y ’ i s u s e d
t h e F o n d a t i o n C a r t i e r, F o n d s n a t i o n a l
to d i f f e r e n t i a te d e s i g n f r o m o t h e r a r t i s t i c
d ’a r t c o n t e m p o r a i n , M A K – M u s e u m f o r
d isc ip l in e s. Isn’t this dif ferentia tion obsole te ?
Applied Art/Contemporary Art and Les
If we are being correct, we must say ‘practical
A r t s D é c o ra t i f s . S t a d l e r ’s c u s to m e r s
function’ when trying to gauge the level at which
i n c l u d e D i o r, L o u i s V u i t t o n , H e r m è s ,
attempts are made to mix or separate art and
Nissan, Ricard and Thonet.
design. Although this is impossible anyway, because
© Jacques Gavard
private and public collections, including
practical function has a completely different value
in design as it does in art. Art can take note of functionality or not. For design, however, functionality
is central and indispensable.
I n yo u r o w n wo r k yo u a r e c o n s t a n t l y c r o s s i n g
t h e b o r d e r s to o t h e r a r t i s t i c d i s c i p l i n e s . Yo u
s t a r te d w i t h p r o d u c t s f o r i n d u s t r y – w h e r e
does this lack of discipline come from?
Right from the start, even with the projects for my
former group RADI Designers, it was important to
me to remove any hierarchy between free and absoour objects in contemporary art galleries whilst
simultaneously designing aircraft cutlery for mass
production on behalf of Air France. The projects
© Hertha Hurnaus
lute design projects. Back then we were displaying
with RADI were clearly design projects, whilst in my
solo projects I transcended the limits of definition:
examples include the ‘Loosgelöst’ installation in the
Wien Museum and the ‘Tephra Formations Play’
performance presented at the Centre Pompidou
last year.
S o m e s a y d e s i g n i s go i n g t h r o u g h a c r i s i s …
I believe the crisis is one of standardisation, interchangeability and loss of identity, whether we’re
talking about cars or furniture. My only advice to
producers and designers is not to underestimate the
customer. I think today we’re more than ready for
the unexpected, the singular.
Will we see more from Robert Stadler in
Vienna in the near future?
I hope so! Although for many years I had no desire to
return to Vienna, I’m delighted with projects such as
the one in the Geymüllerschlössel which give me the
opportunity to work in the context of my homeland.
Thomas Geisler is curator of the MAK Curator Design
and curator of the MAK DESIGN SALON series.
Loosgelöst, 2008
Installation in the
Loos living room in
the Wien Museum
72
Seven Days of Art.
Vienna, vibrant capital of art:
museums, galleries, artists,
art universities, alternative art spaces …
www.viennaartweek.at
Graphic: Perndl+Co, Photo: Deb Scott
EVENTS
PASSION
73
V I E N N A A R T W E E K I S 10 T H I S Y E A R
There’s a saying that if something ’s been done twice, it’s already a
tradition. So with the VIENNA ART WEEK celebrating its tenth annivesary
in 2014, we can happily call it a tradition. Even so, few Viennese traditions
h a v e m a n a g e d t o b e c o m e e v e n t s o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l re p u t e s o q u i c k l y.
The VIENNA ART WEEK which runs from 17 to 23 November this year is,
h o w e v e r, a g l o r i o u s e x c e p t i o n .
B Y A N JA H A S E N L E C H N E R A N D R O B E R T P U N K E N H O F E R
Off to the studios, major museums and galleries in
One fixed element in the VIENNA ART WEEK
town! For a whole week each autumn the VIENNA
programme involves artists opening up their stu-
ART WEEK creates its own special cultural network.
dios. For the third time now, around 70 artists
Vienna turns into a culture trail, with 35,000 visitors
throughout Vienna will welcome visitors on Open
to the city making their way between the 200 galler-
Studio Day, inviting them to come and see how
ies and exhibition venues. Studios open their doors,
they work.
and Vienna becomes an arthouse.
A particular highlight of this year, the tenth anniThe motto of this year’s VIENNA ART WEEK
versary of the event, will be the podium discussions
is ‘Running Minds’. It reflects the restlessness of
with directors of Vienna’s most predigious muse-
artistic life, finding ideas, rejecting possibilities,
ums and art institutions, as they talk about visions,
and the long path of creativity: the artistic commu-
future scenarios, creative worlds. The VIENNA
nity works tirelessly as it overcomes the challenges
ART WEEK is also inviting international cura-
of the creative process. Artists as running minds,
tors from Athens, Helsinki and New York to Vien-
restive in their constant searching, demanding and,
na where they will publicly discuss the subject of
above all, profoundly vibrant.
curating contemporary arts.
The VIENNA ART WEEK 2014, which runs from
This tenth VIENNA ART WEEK is another major gift
17 to 23 November, is a homage to the unflagging
to the creative community, offering visibility, publicity
output of artists, galleries and major art institu-
and awareness. The art world couldn’t wish for more.
tions, as well as the universities of art and freelance artists in Vienna.
Robert Punkenhofer is the Artistic Director of the VIENNA
ART WEEK, and Anja Hasenlechner the Project Manager.
20. 11.
PODIUM DISCUSSION
CURATORS’ VISION. FIVE INTERNATIONAL CURATORS IN DISCUSSION
Thursday, 20 November 2014
18.00 – 19.30
Akademie der bildenden Künste Vienna
21. 11.
PODIUM DISCUSSION
VISION FOR VIENNA AS AN ART LOCATION.
PERSPECTIVES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Friday, 21 November 2014
18.00 – 19.30
Dorotheum
PASSION
74
FROM
EARTH
TO
SKY
Street Stairs to the Albertina, sponsered by Dorotheum
Joan Miró, The Gold of the Azure, December 4, 1967
Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona © Successió Miró 2014/Bildrecht, Vienna, 2014
His unmistakable imagery makes Joan Miró one of the most important artists of his time. Now around 100 paintings, works on paper and objects by
the Catalan artist can be admired in an extensive exhibition at the Albertina
supported by Dorotheum. Its title, “From Earth to Sky”, reflects Miró’s love
of lightness and spontaneity, a thread that runs through all his works. Miró’s
pictures, characterized by a colorful mixture of moons, stars, insects and birds,
show the observer a different and poetic view of things in a simple and almost
childlike fashion. Miró examines objects, ignores their physical laws and thus
creates something new that provides room for interpretation.
EXHIBITION
12 September 2014 – 11 January 2015
www.albertina.at
Joan Miró, Painting (Birds and Insects), 1938, oil on canvas
Albertina, Vienna - The Batliner Collection
© Successió Miró 2014/Bildrecht, Vienna, 2014
EVENTS
75
MEET@
DOROTHEUM
EVENTS
Events and Charity
COOKING
MEMPHIS
“Memphis Design zum Einverleiben” – Memphis Design to Devour: such is written on the card
of the designer duo chmara.rosinke. On 3 June 2014, showing their usual intellectual esprit
and youthful nonchalance, Maciej Chmara and Ania Rosinke created their pastel-coloured,
edible mini architecture à la Memphis Design in the flexible nomad kitchen they designed
in the centre of the noble main hall of the Palais Dorotheum. They whetted appetites for
the Dorotheum Design auction, where subsequently the duo’s works were successfully
auctioned off.
Photos Tibor Rauch
The geometric casts for strawberry crème and elderberry jelly
with soused blueberries were spat out live by the printer. Another total work of art by the couple, of Polish origin, resident in
Austria, and united in work and life. They are already in the
happy position of winning famous design prizes and projects
with companies like Hermès: “We relish the idea of Modernism
and develop it further.”
© Thomas Niedermueller/Life Ball 2014/ Getty Images
© Joanna Ida Jutkiewicz
LIFE BALL, AIDS SOLIDARITY GALA
31 May 2014
Auctioneer Rafael Schwarz and transgender model
Carmen Carrera at the auction for Aids Life.
CHARITY
Dorotheum holds several charity auctions a year for good causes. These include collections for the Caritas hospice movement, for Africa and for children’s cancer aid, for various
Rotarian projects, for human rights organizations such as SOS
Mitmensch, and for art institutions. International celebrities
make up the audience at the annual auction for the Vienna Life
© project Familien Lotse
Ball, Europe’s largest fund-raising event in aid of people with
CHARITY EVENING FOR THE PROJECT ”FAMILIEN-LOTSE“ AND
THE PARENTS’ INITIATIVE ”CHILDREN’S CANCER CHARITY“
7 October 2013
Donatella Ceccarelli, chairwoman of the Flick Private
Foundation, Richard Scarry Jr., celebrated illustrator
and creator of the project logo, and intiator
Paul Mensdorff-Pouilly at Dorotheum.
HIV and Aids.
© Luca Pajer
”CHARITY AUCTION FOR THE CARITAS MOBILE
HOSPICE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF VIENNA“
6 November 2013
Star actor Cornelius Obonya and presenter Barbara
Stöckl – in the picture with Caritas President
Michael Landau – both campaign for the
mobile hospice.
© Stefanie Steindl
CHARITY AUCTION ”SOS MITMENSCH“
15 May 2014
As every year, the charity auction of contemporary
art for the human rights organisation SOS Mitmensch was held in the Main Hall of the Austrian
Postal Savings Bank, designed by Otto Wagner.
EVENTS
77
P R E S I D E N T O N A S TAT E V I S I T
©Ouriel Morgensztern
Dezoni Dawaraschwili, Vice President of the Vienna Israelite
Community, Oskar Deutsch, President of the Vienna
Israelite Community, Shimon Peres, President of the
State of Israel, Martin Böhm, Managing Partner of
Dorotheum (f. l. t. r.)
Oskar Deutsch, Shimon Peres, Shmuel Barzilai,
Chief Cantor of the Vienna Israelite Community,
Children’s Choir of the Vienna City Temple (f. l. t. r.)
In late March, the Israeli President
Shimon Peres was in Austria on a
state visit. Side-tracking the official programme, Peres kept another
E U R O P E A N H E R I TA G E C O N G R E S S
important appointment: a public
talk in the Palais Dorotheum before
On 4 May 2014, as part of the European Heritage
an audience of around 400, organ-
Congress, the European Federation for Cultural
ised on the initiative of the Vienna
Heritage Europa Nostra invited an audience
Israelite Community.
to Dorotheum for the discussion “New Narrative for Europe”. The panel included Androulla
Vassiliou, EU Commissioner for Education,
Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Denis de
Kergorlay, President of Europa Nostra, and
EXCLUSIVE
PREVIEW
Erhard Busek, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
On 7 April 2014, Alain de Krassny and
of ERSTE Foundation.
Céline Garaudy, President and General
Director of the French-Austrian Cham-
© Oreste Schaller
ber of Commerce, invited an audience
to the Palais Dorotheum for an exclu-
FA U X B E R G É
sive preview of objects reserved for
the major spring auctions.
A successful overture to the series “Talking About Old Masters” organised with
the support of Dorotheum: on 12 May
2014 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum,
the Fabergé expert Géza von Habsburg
talked about fakes and imitations of artworks by the famous jeweller. This was
followed by a panel discussion with the
Dorotheum experts Astrid Fialka-Herics
and Georg Ludwigstorff.
© KHM
© www.ccfa.at
MONASTERY
TREASURES
Fall of the Angels
Southern Italy/Sicily
(Trapani?), first third of
the 18th century, ivory
Museum of the Priory of
Klosterneuburg
EVENTS
79
The Augustinian Priory of St Dorothy was founded exactly 600 years ago.
D o ro t h e u m , t h e p r i o r y ’s n a m e s a ke i n s t i t u t i o n , n o w s t a n d s
in its place. A recent exhibition at the Palais Dorotheum showed
va l u a b l e p i e c e s f ro m t h e c h u rc h’s c o l l e c t i o n .
The modern-day rendezvous point for lovers of
The carved ivory pieces at Klosterneuburg are a
exquisite pieces – and largest auction house in Cen-
particularly stunning reminder of how beautiful
tral Europe – was once home to the Augustinian
the former monastery treasury must have been.
Priory of St Dorothy. The sacred priory held a valu-
One of the more outstanding examples is the art-
able collection of artworks, significant manuscripts
fully carved Fall-of-the-Angels group of figures.
and important documents. In 1786, Emperor
Carved from a single ivory tusk cut lengthwise in
Joseph II declared the priory dissolved and person-
half, the multi-figured, detailed and artfully com-
ally installed the auction house in its historic prem-
posed scene of numerous complicated over-and
ises; part of its treasured holdings were transferred
undercuts is highly dynamic. The system of cuts
to the Klosterneuburg Monastery. An exhibition
is extremely precise, preserving the original shape
titled “Church of St Dorothy – 600 Years of the
and robustness of the ivory tusk as a whole. The
Augustinian Canons in Dorotheergasse: from
piece has a total of 103 distinguishable figures
Monastery to Dorotheum,” held from 27 June to 28
despite being only 25.7 centimeters tall. In the
August 2014, gave an idea of the monastery’s con-
center of the group stands the winged and armed
siderable importance and wealth. Featured pieces
Michael the Archangel, who leads the heavenly
included loans from Klosterneuburg, the Vienna
host of angels. Beside and under him are the fall-
Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Austrian National
en angels, tumbling to the depths after being cast
Library and the Vienna University Library.
out of Heaven. Some of the angels’ heads are very
expressively designed, with faces distorted into grimaces, mouths agape. A similarly detailed rendering can be found in the jaws of hell as they devour
The opening of the
exhibition “Church of
St Dorothy – 600 Years of
the Augustinian Canons
in Dorotheergasse:
from Monastery to
Dorotheum”, with
Abbot Primate Bernhard
Backovsky CanReg,
attracted many visitors
to the Palais Dorotheum.
the fallen Lucifer. The scene is protected by God
the Father and Jesus Christ, who sit enthroned on
a bank of clouds to the left and right of the globe.
Contrary to earlier attributions, it is now almost
certain that the Fall of the Angels was created in
southern Italy during the first third of the 18th
century, possibly in a workshop located in the
Sicilian town of Trapani.
Besides the Fall-of-the-Angels group of
figures, the exhibition featured a relief by
sculptor Dominikus Steinhart showing the
Last Judgement, a large, multi-figure depiction of Calvary – a so-called “Theatrum
Sacrum” – along with a crucifix with Maria
as the Lady of Sorrows and scenes from
the Old and New Testaments: magnificent
pieces reminding us of the treasures
housed at the erstwhile Priory of St
Dorothy at Palais Dorotheum.
STORY
80
THE TALE OF A
WINGED BEETLE
Photo ORF
BY KARL HOHENLOHE
suboptimal seats and the poor view
light and eventually to an auction
offered by the tiny oval rear window,
house to be sold. The bidding was
which obscured rather than cleared
slow at first, but then a virtual bid-
the line of sight. The young man who
ding frenzy broke loose. In the end,
owned the Volkswagen, which was
a final and victorious bid was placed
There once was a little beetle. It
still young at the time, sold it again
by a young man, whom the car would
was considered utterly insignificant,
to an old man. The old man had lit-
soon recognize to be a tender and
underpowered and a real nuisance
tle money, but plenty of time; he had
passionate partner. He mended its
in the eyes of its flashier peers, the
already seen enough of life and was
wounds and gently polished its bon-
Mercedes, the BMW and the Porsche.
fully content with the view offered by
net and sides until it sparkled like a
When the beetle stopped for red for
the tiny oval rear window. Even the
factory fresh car. And when he took
example, it had to muster every last
beetle‘s silly turn signals he found
the beetle out for a spin, the turn sig-
bit of strength it possessed – which
pleasant – they were like a friendly
nals would bring smiles to people‘s
wasn‘t really all that much to be fair –
wave to other drivers, he thought.
faces, not smiles of scorn, however,
just to drag itself slowly across when
The years went by, the Volkswagen‘s
but warm smiles of admiration. It felt
the light turned green again. The
engine kept humming and its wheels
indeed to the beetle as if it had been
beetle was conscious on such occa-
kept spinning, until the old man died
granted a second life time.
sions of the impatience mounting
one day, leaving the beetle without
behind it, the contempt. Painfully
its loyal companion. The once young
Many old cars just like it are sitting in
conscious. The worst, however, was
Volkswagen had aged gracefully and
old garages waiting patiently for bet-
when it had to make a turn. The
without any noticeable marks to
ter times and better owners who will
other cars were all equipped with
show for it. Now, it was parked in
treasure their mature looks and sea-
beautiful
flashing
the garage like a dilapidated retiree
soned machinery. They aren‘t really
lights which announced radiantly to
and soon wholly forgotten by the old
dead. They are merely asleep. And
the world their intended course of
man‘s heirs. Time passed by, slow-
once day the sun will shine again and
navigation. The beetle, meanwhile,
ly but surely, and gradually began
their winter sleep will finally be over.
had merely two small wings, one on
leaving little traces of old age on
either side, which could be flapped
the Volkswagen. First there was the
out to indicate the desired changes
rust. Later on a band of mice took up
of direction. They served their pur-
residence in the car and build the
pose in a modest manner, but also
nests in its upholstery. But then
underlined with all clarity the car‘s
one day the garage was
utter inferiority and silliness. The
needed for other pur
people who drove the beetle were
poses, the old car
dissatisfied too. Some complained
was discovered,
that it took too long to get from A to
brought back
B, others criticized the ergonomically
out into the
STORY
orange-colored
Karl Hohenlohe is anchorman,
TV producer, columnist, and editor of
the restaurant guide “Gault Millau”.
Among other shows, Hohenlohe
moderates Austria’s ORF III
programme “Was schätzen Sie?”
for collectors and art lovers.
VW Beetle, ”Última Edición“, 2003
Meisterstück
und Hugh Jackman
Crafted for New Heights
Ninety years ago, Montblanc created a writing
instrument that became an icon far beyond
writing culture: the Montblanc Meisterstück,
a symbol for the everlasting quest of
achievement. To celebrate 90 years of
Meisterstück, the new Meisterstück
90 Years has red gold-plated ﬁttings
and a nib specially engraved with
a commemorative “90”. Visit
and shop at Montblanc.com
Montblanc Boutique Wien · Graben 15 · Tel: 01 532 33 30
CONTACTS
DOROTHEUM
AUCTION DATES
SELECTED AUCTIONS
Carpets, Textiles and Tapestries
Tue, 16th September, 2014
Silver
Tue, 25th November, 2014
19th-Century Paintings and Watercolours
Thu, 18th September, 2014
Modern Art
Contemporary Art Part I
Wed, 26th November, 2014
Contemporary Art Part II
Thu, 27th November, 2014
Jewellery
Wrist and Pocket Watches
Fri, 28th November, 2014
Autographs
Tue, 2nd December, 2014
Asian Art
Wed, 3rd December, 2014
Faience, Folk Art, Antique Scientific Instruments Mon, 6th October, 2014
19th Century Paintings and Watercolours
Tue, 9th December, 2014
and Globes, Classic Cameras and Accessoires
Rustic Furniture
Wed, 10th December, 2014
Posters, Advertising Art, Comics,
Film and Photohistory
Mon, 22nd September, 2014
Art Nouveau, 20th Century Arts and Crafts
Tue, 23rd September, 2014
Furniture and Decorative Art
Wed, 1st October, 2014
Master Drawings, Prints before 1900,
Watercolours, Miniatures
Thu, 2nd October, 2014
Works of Art – Sculptures, Clocks, Metalwork,
Stamps
Wed/Thu, 15th/16th
October, 2014
Sat, 18th October, 2014
Tue, 21st October, 2014
Works of Art (Furniture, Sculpture,
Glass and Porcelain)
Wed, 22nd October, 2014
19th Century Paintings
Thu, 23rd October, 2014
Jewellery
Thu, 23rd October, 2014
Sporting and Vintage Guns
Wed, 29th October, 2014
Musical Instruments (Favoriten)
Wed, 29th October, 2014
Art Nouveau, 20th Century Arts and Crafts
Modern and Contemporary Prints
Tribal Art
Design
Stamps
Antique Arms, Uniforms and Militaria
Coins
Orders and Decorations
Thu/Fri, 11th/12th
Stamps
Classic Motor Vehicles and Automobilia
(Salzburg/Classic Expo)
December, 2014
Sporting and Vintage Guns
Sat, 13th December, 2014
Books
Tue, 16th December, 2014
Modern and Contemporary Art
Glass and Porcelain
Thu, 18th December, 2014
Toys
Mon, 22nd December, 2014
Wed/Thu, 19th/20th
November, 2014
Fri, 21st November, 2014
1 Tiziano Vecellio (Circle), Old Master Paintings auction, 21 October 2014
2 Anish Kapoor, Contemporary Art auction, 26 November 2014
3 Pietro Liberi, Old Master Paintings auction, 21 October 2014
4 Tom Sachs, Contemporary Art auction, 26 November 2014
1
CONTACTS
83
PALAIS
DOROTHEUM
Dorotheergasse 17, 1010 Vienna, Austria
Tel. +43-1-515 60-570, [email protected]
CLIENT ADVISORY SERVICES
P R I VA T E S A L E S
Mag. Constanze Werner
Dr. Alexandra von Arnim
Tel. +49-89-244 434 73-0, [email protected]
2
ART FINANCING
Mag. Andreas Wedenig
3
CATAL OGUE SUBSCRIP TIONS
www.dorotheum.com
DOROTHEUM
INTERNATIONAL
DÜSSELDORF
LONDON
Dr. Petra Schäpers
Südstraße 5, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany
Damian Brenninkmeyer
11 St. James’s Place, London SW1A 1NP, Great Britain
Tel. +44 -0- 20 7009 1049
[email protected]
MUNICH
Franz von Rassler
Galeriestraße 2, 80539 Munich, Germany
Tel. +49-89-244 434 73-0, [email protected]
MILAN
Angelica Cicogna Mozzoni
Palazzo Amman, via Boito, 8, 20121 Milan, Italy
Tel. +39-02-303 52 41, [email protected]
ROME
Dott.ssa Maria Cristina Paoluzzi
Palazzo Colonna, Piazza SS. Apostoli, 66, 00187 Rome, Italy
Tel. +39-06-699 23 671
[email protected]
NAPLES
Giuseppe Imparato
Mobile +39-335-592 52 33,
[email protected]
BRUSSELS
Comtesse Honorine d’Ursel
13, rue aux Laines, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel. +32-2-514 00 34, [email protected]
BUDAPEST
Réka Kovács
OREX Palais, Andrássy ùt 64, 1062 Budapest, Hungary
Tel. +36-1-413 3742, Mobil +36-20-545 9856
[email protected]
PA R I S
Joëlle Thomas
Mobile (France) +33-665-17 69 37
Mobile (Austria) +43-699-10 38 86 40
[email protected]
PRAGUE
Dr. Mária Gálová
Ovocný trh 580/2, 11000 Prague 1, Czech Republic
Tel. +420-2-24 22 20-01
[email protected]
T E L AV I V
Mag. Rafael Schwarz
Mobile (Israel) +972-54-448 39 78
Tel. (Austria) +43-1-515 60-405
[email protected]
ZAGREB
Dr. Venetia Eltz Vukovarski
[email protected]
ZURICH
Tel. +43-1-515 60-405
[email protected]
4
Robert Indiana
NUMBERS ONE through ZERO, 1978 – 2003
Aluminium, 45,7 x 45,7 x 25,4 cm
Estimate € 750,000 – 900,000
Contemporary Art auction, November 2014

frank cohen

Transcription

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