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Arte Povera Works Are Magic Combination of Rare & Fresh

February 12, 2014 by Marion Maneker

Aligheiro Boetti, Addizione (300-400k) 1.7m GBP
Aligheiro Boetti, Addizione (300-400k) 1.7m GBP

Carol Vogel was all over last night’s sale at Christie’s of Arte Povera works

“Some of the Arte Povera works were very rare, made during the right years and fresh to the market,” said Valentina Castellani, a director of the Gagosian Gallery who is based in New York. “There hasn’t been work like this on the market.”

One mysterious collector wearing a black porkpie hat enthusiastically bid on many of the best Arte Povera works and ended up buying several by Boetti. As he slipped out of the salesroom, declining to identify himself to the press beyond being “a private Italian collector,” several people in the audience recognized him as Pietro Valsecchi, the Italian filmmaker behind several popular comedies. Among his purchases was “Addition,” one of Burri’s [Boetti’s] intricate embroidery works, this one executed in 1974. It had been estimated to bring $500,000 to $650,000; he paid nearly $2.8 million.

In a surprise, the top lot went to David Nahmad, according to Judd Tully, further showing a shift in the overall marketplace :

Alberto Burri’s “Combustione plastica” from 1960-61, executed in plastic, acrylic and combustion on canvas, was the top lot of the evening after triggering a bidding war and shooting to a record price of £4,674,500 ($7,6666,180; est. £1.7-2.2/$2.8-3.6 million). It sold to international dealer David Nahmad and the underbidder was Valsecchi.

Colin Gleadell tracks some of the Fontana works that seemed to overwhelm the market demand:

Another precursor was Lucio Fontana, who had a mixed evening as two small bronze ‘natura’ sculptures went unsold. But similar, unique terracotta versions did well. One, bought in 2001 for £210,000 now sold to New York dealer Neal Meltzer for £806,500. The other, bought in 2001 for £240,000, made a record for a Fontana terracotta sculpture selling for £1m.

Gleadell also thinks he knows the buyer of the cover lot:

A 1968 mirror painting by Michelangelo Pistoletto, meanwhile, which depicted the artist and his wife, was estimated at £600,000 and sought after by Italian dealer Nicolo Cardi, but was eventually sold to an Asian buyer over the telephone for a record £2m.

Gleadell offers a more detailed look at the critic-heavy marketing push made by Christie’s that recognized the previous limitations on the Arte Povera market:

According to Artnet, the number of works by Arte Povera artists sold at auction has grown from 35 in 1997, when the average price was £11,000, to nearly 300 last year, when the average was over £50,000. Christie’s £27m sale of 20th-century Italian art last year was a record in that category. The Fossattis, who had watched values going up and had been toying with the idea of selling for some time, were then persuaded that now was the right time. Having agreed estimates, which were certainly not tame, they also agreed that Christie’s would mount an exhibition (in the old Haunch of Venison space) and produce a catalogue that featured not a single price estimate but rather essays by name-brand curators Christov-Bakargiev and Hans-Ulrich Obrist. I don’t think any critics have reviewed the exhibition – perhaps because it is an auction – but Christie’s is keeping the exhibition up until Friday in case anyone wants to.

Art Monthly : Salerooms : Colin Gleadell sees Arte Povera become blue chip.

In London, an Auction of Arte Povera Yields Rich Results (NYTimes)

A Night of Fevered Bidding on Arte Povera at Christie’s London (Blouin Artinfo)

Christie’s Eyes Wide Open = £38.4m

February 11, 2014 by Marion Maneker

Alberto Burri, Combustione plastica (1.7-2.2m) 4.67m GBP
Michaelangleo Pistoletto, Lei e Lui (800-1.2m) 1.98m GBP
Aligheiro Boetti, Rosso Gilera 60 1232, Rosso Guzzi 60 1305 (450-650k) 1.7m GBP
Aligheiro Boetti, Addizione (300-400k) 1.7m GBP
Aligheiro Boetti, Subtraction (300-400k) 1.53m GBP
Alighiero Boetti, The Six Senses (600-800k) 1.3m GBP
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled (400-600k) 1.25m GBP
Mario Merz, Untitled (450-650k) 1.05m GBP
Alighiero Boetti, Mappa (450-650k) 866k GBP
Enrico Castellani, Superficie Bianca (300-400k GBP) 698,500 GBP
Jannis Kounellis, Untitled (200-300k) 386k GBP
Luciano Fabro, Struttura ortogonale (170-230k) 290k GBP
Pier Paolo Calzolari, 1 e 2 Giorno… (90-120k) 194,500 GBP
Mario Merz, Meteorite in Giardino (40-60k) 146k GBP

Can Arte Povera Break Out in Christie’s Sale Next Week?

February 7, 2014 by Marion Maneker

Alighiero-Boetti-Mappa-640x455

Colin Gleadell identified the collectors behind Christie’s Arte Povera sale as Nerio and Marina Fossati but the real interest is in guessing what the sale of 109 works will do to the market that has already seen a ten-fold rise in volume and 4x increase in average price over the last 17 years.

Gleadell writes, “according to research conducted by Artnet, trade is bubbling along. The number of works by Arte Povera artists sold at auction has leapt from 35 in 1997, with an average price of $19,000 (£11,600), to nearly 300 last year, with an average of more than $85,000 (£51,700).”

When you think of it, that’s fairly low compared to many other categories. Here’s Gleadell:

In response to the slick commercialism of Pop Art, the artists – the best known of whom are Mario Merz, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alighiero Boetti and Pino Pascali – used industrial, organic and ephemeral materials such as coal, textiles and vegetables. Buyers, at first, were few and far between.

Over the years, with wealthy collectors such as François Pinault and Ydessa Hendeles in Toronto taking an interest, things have changed, though Arte Povera is still not what is called “high end”. In spite of numerous exhibitions, only three of the artists have sold for more than £1 million and none for as much as £2 million.

As London dealer Ben Brown says: “The market for Arte Povera is not hot or speculative. It’s actually been quite tough at auction, driven by a few committed collectors. The price for a masterpiece by one of the artists is pretty reasonable compared with other areas of the market.”

Which only goes to prove that all prices are relative.

Art Sales: Are prices for Arte Povera about to explode? (Telegraph)

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