Rising auction powerhouse, Seoul Auction, will hold a sale in Hong Kong next week with a bold mix of Asian contemporary and Western art. The sale includes work by Warhol, Renoir, Peter Halley and two Damien Hirst butterfly paintings bought (who says the Hirst market is closed at auction?) There will also be significant works by Yayoi Kusama, Lee Ufan, Liu Ye and other Asian art stars:

Seoul Auction, Korea’s leading art auction house, will hold its Modern & Contemporary Art sale on 4 October 2010 at 4 pm at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, presenting an excellent and diversified selection of Western and Asian art. A total of 60 works by leading Western, Korean, Japanese and Chinese artists with a total estimate of HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) will be offered. […]

Featured prominently in the sale is Marc Chagall’s Bestiaire et Musique (estimate on request), one of the greatest ever masterpieces by the artist which is appearing in the auction market for the first time. Completed in 1969, it reflects Chagall’s passionate 80-year career and is highly acclaimed as a monumental work of his late period.

By the 1960s, Chagall had gained much international recognition and started to create larger paintings including Bestiaire et Musique. On this vast canvas measuring 140×155 cm, the artist and his wife Bella are portrayed as a young bride and bridegroom. In the centre is a bouquet of flowers, symbolizing the value Chagall placed on love.

The circus motif is an iconic theme in Chagall’s works. The artist was entranced by the joy of the circus troupe with its clowns, acrobats and musicians. He nonetheless felt the tragedy, misery and sorrow in their difficult lives. Through distinctive brushstrokes, he interwove conflicting human emotions such as happiness and sorrow, pain and pleasure, hope and frustration against a black and blue background. The violinist and flute player in the painting are inspired by the traditional Jewish festivals of Chagall’s homeland in Russia.

This painting was exhibited in the exhibition ‘L’Oeuvre Ultime de Cézanne à Dubuffet’ at the Fondation Maeght, Saint Paul de Vence, France in 1989 as an example of Chagall’s later works.

Another highlight is Le Modèle dans L’atelier by Pablo Picasso (Est. HK$14-18 million). After he married Jacqueline Roque in 1961, Picasso painted many works inspired by his young wife. The magnificent painting on offer was painted in 1965, and the model seems to be Jacqueline. While she is in the centre of the canvas, occupying most of the canvas and staring directly at the viewer with a confident face, the painter’s presence is simply suggested in this work.

Vase de Fleurs by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Est. HK$3.2-3.8 million) is an outstandingly beautiful painting by the master, illustrating Renoir’s philosophy that art should be “pleasant, delightful and pretty”, to give as much pleasure as possible to the viewer.