Numerous records were set at this year’s summer auctions. Take the EUR 1,465,000* winning bid for Reiter in der Allee bei Sakrow, a wonderful late work by Max Liebermann, which not only topped the million mark but came in at double the work’s initial estimate (EUR 500,000–700,000). In fact, this was the highest bid ever placed via the internet at a German auction.
Grisebach was also able to set a number of world records at the curated evening auction ‘From Emil Nolde to Neo Rauch.’ Thus, Heinrich Vogeler’s iconic work Träume II (auch ‘Frühling’ oder ‘Erwartung’) found a new owner in Berlin for EUR 649,000* (estimate: EUR 200,000–300,000). The new world record for the New Objectivity painter Carl Grossberg is EUR 649,000* (estimate: EUR 300,000– 400,000), with the only existing self-portrait by the artist going to a buyer in the Rhineland. Konrad Lueg‘s Bockwürste auf Pappteller fetched EUR 437,500* (estimate: EUR 80,000–120,000), setting another artist-specific price record. A top price of EUR 575,000* (estimate: EUR 200,000–300,000) was also attained for Konrad Klapheck’s ähnliche Eltern, a museum-quality work which went to a German private collection after a protracted bidding war in the auction rooms and over the telephones. The small oil painting Umgeschlagenes Blatt (1966) by Gerhard Richter brought in EUR 745,000*, thereby validating its estimate (EUR 600,000–800,000). Heidi, an early example of Richter’s blurring technique never before offered on the market, also far exceeded initial expectations (EUR 280,000–350,000) with an impressive hammer price of EUR 550,000.*
Fernando Botero’s Walking Woman in Profile went to an aficionado in Northern Germany for EUR 550,000* (estimate: EUR 350,000–450,000). Alexej von Jawlensky‘s Sommertag in Ascona sold for EUR 425,000* (estimate: EUR 200,000–300,000). Franz Marc‘s Grüne Studie from 1908 was acquired by a Southern German museum for EUR 412,500* (estimate: EUR 300,000–500,000). The Selbstporträt created by Arthur Segal in 1921, during his salient creative period, went to a French buyer for EUR 375,000* (estimate: EUR 150,000–200,000), another top price.
Among the highlights of the six auctions held over three days at Grisebach was the offering of the Sander Collection. Following a breathtaking bidding war, Wandbild für einen Fotografen by Franz Wilhelm Seiwert sold for EUR 1,225,000* (estimate: EUR 400,000–600,000), thereby once again topping the million mark and setting a world record for the artist. This 1925 masterwork by Seiwert henceforth will be exhibited at the Art Institute in Chicago. The Sander Collection auction also produced additional, outstanding sales-to-estimate results in excess of 200 percent. These included the EUR 156,250* bid for Heinrich Hoerle‘s Selbstbildnis from 1931 (estimate: EUR 60,000–80,000) and the EUR 150,000* bid for Vordermann, a drawing on paper by the same artist (estimate: EUR 40,000–60,000). Another work by Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, Stark abstrahierte Halbfigur, obtained a closing bid of EUR 118,750* (estimate: EUR 30,000–40,000).
The Contemporary Art auction likewise culminated in impressive, above-estimate bids. Thus, Study for Bedroom Painting #71 (Double Drop-Out) by Tom Wesselmann sold at twice its estimate (EUR 70,000–90,000) with a winning bid of EUR 187,500*, while the 1958 gouache Zwei Frauen by Joseph Beuys exceeded the initial quote (EUR 80,000–120,000) with a hammer price of EUR 125,000.* David Hockney’s colourful Lithograph of Water Made of Thick and Thin Lines, a Green Wash, a Light Blue Wash, and a Dark Blue Wash was fought over among a sizeable group of bidders who ultimately tripled the initial estimate (EUR 40,000–60,000) to EUR 125,000.*
Adolph von Menzel’s Morgens früh im Nachtschnellzug from 1877, the top-grossing lot in the 19th Century Art auction commanded a winning bid of EUR 206,250* (estimate: EUR 80,000–120,000). The 1915 painting Templerschloss by Eugen Bracht also attracted strong interest, ultimately going to the Sander Collection in Darmstadt for EUR 187,500* (estimate: EUR 25,000–35,000). Mädchenkopf (genannt die ‘Malresl‘) by Wilhelm Leibl (EUR 162,500*) and Max Pietschmann‘s monumental painting Fischzug des Polyphem from 1892 (EUR 108,750*) were both acquired for private German collections. Above-estimate prices were attained for Die blaue Grotte by August Kopisch, which fetched EUR 47,500* (estimate: EUR 7,000–9,000), and for Die Klagemauer in Jerusalem by Carl Friedrich Heinrich Werner, which sold to a European dealer for EUR 52,500* (estimate: EUR 12,000–15,000) after an international bidding war.
At the Photography auction, three prints by Otto Steinert stole the show: Verspielter Punkt and Ohne Titel (Photogramm mit Bällen und Kreisen) each garnered EUR 22,500* (estimate: EUR 5,000–7,000 and EUR 7,000–9,000, respectively), while Luminogramm II (Lampen der Place de la Concorde, Paris) fetched EUR 21,250*, or four times the estimate (EUR 5,000–7,000). Three works by David Hockney – Yves Marie Asleep, May; John St. Clair Swimming, April, and Two Lemons and Four Limes, Santa Monica – also found new buyers. Having each been estimated at between EUR 1,200 and EUR 1,600, these were acquired, respectively, by a private collection in Hessen for EUR 11,875*, by a French dealer for EUR 14,375*, and by a private collection in Southern Germany for EUR 10,625.* West EUR 44th Street New York, a cityscape photographed by Thomas Struth in 1978, was acquired by an American private collection for EUR 30,000*, the highest bid for any lot in the Photography Auction.
Thanks to this exceptional buying interest, Grisebach achieved EUR 24.3 million in total sales for the first half of 2021.
Micaela Kapitzky
* all results incl. premium