Following the auction of the collection of Grisebach founder Bernd Schultz for the benefit of an exile museum in Berlin, which was described as the "art market event of the year" (Welt am Sonntag), as well as the "Photography" and "19th Century Art" auctions, the company's largest divisions were able to follow suit last week. Modern Art and Contemporary Art realised a total of € 14.3* million over three auction days.
Following the spectacular result for Max Beckmann's "Egyptian Woman" in the spring at € 5.5 million - the highest price ever achieved at auction in Germany - the autumn auctions also saw a million-euro hammer price: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's "Nudes in the Forest" went to a Spanish private collection for € 1,465,000.
German Impressionist art is once again highly valued by collectors: Lesser Ury's Berlin "Hauptbahnhof Bülowstraße bei Nacht" went to a South German private collection for a well-deserved € 450,000 after a long bidding battle in the auction room. Lovis Corinth's "Flieder im Kelchglas" realised € 437,500, while the works on offer by Emil Nolde (€ 487,500), Fritz Winter (€ 150,000), Norbert Kricke (€ 125,000) and Bruno Goller (€ 125,000), among others, also attracted great interest from bidders from Germany and abroad. Bernar Venet's steel sculpture more than doubled its estimated price, reaching € 200,000.
The performance of contemporary art on Friday evening was spectacular. With lively bidding in the room and on the phones, the total estimate of the auction was clearly exceeded. The highest price was € 337,500 for Tom Wesselmann's aluminium relief "Stillife With Made in Japan Pitcher" from 1993 - also a German auction record. Another record was set by Ulrich Erben's "Colours of Memory" from 1993/94 at € 75,000 (estimate € 12,000). Bids from the packed room and eight telephones enabled Günter Fruhtrunk's painting "Ineinanderwirkung von vier Räumen" to almost triple its estimate to € 143,750.
Grisebach achieved a total turnover of €51 million in 2018 and, with this extraordinary result, once again asserts its outstanding position among German auction houses.
Micaela Kapitzky
* All prices incl. buyer's premium