Dorotheum Shows November Contemporary Highlights in London

Dorotheum, the Austrian auction house, is bringing the art to where the buyers are. Although the late November sale takes place in Vienna, Dorotheum is holding an exhibition of their top works at Dorotheum’s St. James Place London showroom.

• Gerhard Richter is in a class of his own. Works from several periods of his output will enrich the contemporary art sale, including “Abstraktes Bild, 713-,3” or the similarly abstract and vivid “Green-Blue-Red” of 1993 (€400,000–€600,000, €200,000–€300,000).

• A selection of Fontana’s sculptural work in terracotta will dominate the Italian avant-garde offering. His 1962 series of spherical glazed ceramic objects includes many that have slit sides that already signal a transition or show amorphous craters that recall his oil paintings of the same period. One such “Concetto Spaziale“ in gold is estimated to fetch between €200.000 and €300.000.

• Paolo Scheggi, Enrico Castellani, and Agostino Bonalumi regarded Fontana as the father figure of the avant-garde movement in Milan during the 1950s and 60s. The sale will feature Scheggi’s “Intersuperficie Curva Rossa”, Castellani’s “Superficie Bianca” and Bonalumi’s Untitled work from 1964 (€300,000–€400,000, €220,000–€340,000, €160,000–€220,000).

• Gino de Dominicis’ œuvre revolves around themes such as the immortality of matter, space and time, or the invisible. “Asta in equilibrio”, which will be available at the upcoming auction, is representative of de Dominicis’ metaphysical approach, a shining gilt rod is suspended above the ground without support as if by magic – or rather, more prosaically, by magnets (€80,000–€120,000).

• Pieces by Heinz Mack, Adolf Luther and an Otto Piene piece, made using fire, show off work by the proponents of the ZERO movement. A large-format pictorial object of 1971, “Relief with Plexiglas panes” by Heinz Mack, oscillates between object and immaterial sculpture depending on the angle of the light and the observer’s point of view (€240,000–€280,000).

• David Ostrowski, born in 1981, contributes “F (2012)” a large-format abstract, to the auction. Its white canvas has been cut to pieces, pasted back together, and painted over – the expressive gesture in blue spray paint is added from a can (€60,000–€80,000).

Dorotheum