Bulls-eye! All told, the six Anniversary Auctions held over three days with an average aggregate estimate of EUR 16 million earned 25 million euros – one of the best performances in Grisebach’s 35-year history. What better way to celebrate the 35th anniversary of our auction house on Fasanenstrasse than with spectacular sales rates and five sales exceeding the million-euro threshold!
The evening auction featuring selected works from Emil Nolde to Kenneth Noland turned into a veritable celebration, with bidders placing offers in the saleroom, via the phone, and over the internet. Otto Dix’ singular Selbstbildnis from 1913 saw the steepest increase, from a starting estimate of EUR 200,000 to a final bid of EUR 1,585,000. The long and suspenseful contest between bidders from all over the world ultimately was won by a collector based in Turkey. This was shortly after the prior lot, Max Beckmann’s rediscovered Badende mit grüner Kabine und Schiffern in roten Hosen, had been snapped up by an international museum for the proud sum of EUR 2,305,000.
Emil Nolde’s Meer (I), a work with a touching backstory that only heightened its appeal – the ageing artist gave it as a Christmas present for his young wife Jolanthe – fetched EUR 2,770,000, or well over double its original estimate. The buyer was a private collection based in Northern Germany. Results of international caliber were also the million results no. 4 and 5: Max Liebermann’s Impressionist painting Grosse Seestrasse in Wannsee mit Spaziergängern, which found a new owner for EUR 1,045,000, and Moholy-Nagy’s Space Modulator Experiment, Aluminum 5, for which a Northern German collector threw EUR 1,225,000 into the ring.
Modeschau, a collage from 1925/35 by Hannah Höch, was battled over intensely, its original estimate more than doubling to reach EUR 300,000. World-record prices were achieved for the contemporary art of Norbert Schwontkowski, whose The Battle garnered EUR 175,000, and of Karl Horst Hödicke, whose Potsdamer Platz III netted EUR 325,000. The Selected Works auction alone thus generated an impressive EUR 13.7 million.
Contemporary art made an excellent overall showing this anniversary year, not just in the Selected Works and Contemporary Art auctions, but also in the one devoted to the Berliner Sparkasse Collection.
The works entrusted to Grisebach from the Berliner Sparkasse Collection fetched a total of EUR 3.5 million, or almost double their aggregate low-end estimate. The biggest winners were Maria Lassnig’s Hände from 1989 at EUR 550,000, Markus Lüpertz’ Weintraube from 1971 at EUR 325,000, and Per Kirkeby’s Die Zeit nagt I from 1992 at EUR 325,000. Particularly notable was the EUR 168,750 winning bid for Rainer Fetting’s Mauer am Südstern from 1988, which set a new record for works by this artist. Sixty-eight additional works from this collection will come under the hammer at Grisebach in an online-only auction scheduled to begin on February 11th, 2022.
The Contemporary Art auction held on December 3rd, too, was marked by thrilling competition among international bidders in the auction hall and over the phones. This led to impressive price gains: A.R. Penck’s colourful painting Spielen und Bauen from 2002, the prime lot in the catalogue, climbed effortlessly to EUR 237,500, while Daniel Richter’s iridescently spectral Gruppe from 2004 more than doubled its low-end estimate to EUR 75,000. André Butzer’s arch Ohne Titel (F.S.), which features one of his signature “Friedens-Siemens” characters, went for EUR 137,500 to a private collection in California. Helmut Middendorf’s electrifying two-part painting City of the Red Nights II from 1982 sold for EUR 125,400, another world-record hammer price for this artist.
The 19th Century Art auction served as a successful kick-off to Grisebach’s anniversary program. The auction’s prime lot, Max Liebermann’s Der Witwer, a striking early work from 1873, was claimed by an international private collection for EUR 337,500. Another focus of intense buying interest was Carl Schuch’s masterwork Ingwertopf mit Orangenhälfte from 1885/1888. This was gaveled off for the world-record price of EUR 287,500 and will now go back to Schuch’s homeland of Austria. Carl Spitzweg’s icon Die erste Eisenbahn set off protracted competitive bidding before being awarded to a private collection in North Germany for EUR 96,250. Théodore Gudin, a French maritime painter much championed by Grisebach, proved to be another favourite: His vista of a smoking Mount Vesuvius saw its original estimate of EUR 6,000 climb to a final bid price of EUR 50,000. Ernst Ferdinand Oehme’s rediscovered masterwork Tiroler Landschaft mit Burg Naudersberg henceforth will be on exhibit at the National Museum in Stockholm, which placed the winning bid of EUR 125,000.
A number of works originating from the Dresden School around the year 1900 proved unexpectedly popular: The oil studies and drawings by Max Pietschmann earned their moderate estimates many times over, Osmar Schindler’s supine male nude wearing a crown fetched more than five times its EUR 4,000 estimate at EUR 26,250, and Richard Müller’s Ländliche Idylle (Frauenakt im Stall) changed hands for EUR 62,500.
Helmut Newton’s iconic 1981 diptych They Are Coming (Dressed/Naked), the headlining work of the auction The Art of Photography – A New York Collection, was secured for EUR 200,000 by an American private collection. Richard Avedeon’s Dovima with Elephants, possibly the most famous fashion photo of the 20th century, went to a new Swiss owner for EUR 112,500. Le Regard oblique by Robert Doisneau (EUR 32.500) and Gestapo Informer, Dessau by Henri Cartier-Bresson (EUR 22,500) also went to the same private collection in the United States.
The anniversary year now ending has certainly proved to be an exceptionally successful one for Grisebach, with an annual turnover of EUR 53.5 million.
Micaela Kapitzky
* All results incl. premium