Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

Game of Chicken Ends Over Matisse Backs

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Sotheby’s has withdrawn the bronze cast of a back by Matisse from tonight’s sale ending a game of chicken between the foundation and buyers. The rumored private market prices was $200m for the complete set. Auction house officials claim there was substantial interest from parties for particular works in the series which may have motivated a buyer to come closer to the asking price. Then, again, Christie’s was call consignors yesterday afternoon to lower reserve prices and the foundation might have realized they risked souring the entire set with a bad sale tonight. Either way, the Burnett Foundation’s goal was to monetize the sculptures to fulfill its mission which does not include investing in art. A sale at any price substantially improves the foundation’s ability to fulfill that mission.

Here’s Sotheby’s statement on the matter:

 Yesterday afternoon, The Burnett Foundation withdrew  Henri Matisse’s masterpieces,  Les Nus de Dos (The Backs) from auction at Sotheby’s in order to conclude a  private  sale transaction  brokered by  Sotheby’s  on the entire group of 4 sculptures.  Both the buyer and the purchase price will remain confidential.

Update: Carol Vogel calls the selling price at $120 million.

Sotheby’s Sells Suite of Four Matisse Scupltures (Arts Beat/New York Times)

What the Models Tell Us About Matisse

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You can tell the big Fall auctions are approaching because the heavy-hitting private dealers are unveiling their museum-quality scholarly shows like the Matisse and his Models exhibit opening today at Eykyn MacLean on East 67th St. Eykyn and MacLean are private dealers but they’ve got an interest in maintaining a public presence. Their first show of works from the Giacometti estate had a huge impact. Now they’ve commissioned a show that puts the model at the center of Matisse’s entire career as an artist. Here, in these 46 works, is everyone of the models who helped Matisse explore abstraction, form and color:

The exhibition is curated by Ann Dumas, the highly-respected authority in Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and modern European art. A scholarly catalogue will accompany the exhibition, with a lead essay by Dumas that chronicles Matisse’s principal models and sheds new light on the artist’s working process and the pivotal role his models played in the development of his art. An additional essay in the catalogue by Matisse biographer Hilary Spurling presents new research on several of Matisse’s Italian models, whose identities and backgrounds have previously been uncertain.

Matisse & the Model release

Christie’s to Sell Wasserman Collections

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Christie’s will be selling Lew Wasserman’s art work including a Soutine, Degas and Matisse painting:

Assembled largely in the 1950s and 60s by the “king and queen of Hollywood,” the collection includes several seldom-seen works by important artists such as Degas, Matisse, Vuillard and Soutine that have adorned the couple’s Beverly Hills home for decades. Over 30 items from this exceptional private collection will be offered in the Impressionist and Modern Art Sales, beginning with seven pieces in Christie’s major Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. The total value of the collection is expected to exceed $18 million.

Wasserman Collection

Getting Your Money Out of Matisse

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There’s a lot of talk about this being a masterpiece market. Certainly, there are many masterpieces around this season but there are also some works that were highly prized at the height of the boom that have come back on the block.

Sotheby’s has this Matisse, Matisse, Danseuse Dans le Fauteuil, sol en damier, estimated at between $12 and $18 million, that is both guaranteed by a third party and has an “irrevocable bid.” The auction house doesn’t reveal the levels of those financial incentives but it seems reasonable to use the lower end of the estimate range as a guide.

If that’s true, someone has guaranteed a sale for the work at just above half of the previous selling price because distinctive work was sold at Sotheby’s in London just 3 and 1/2 years ago for £10.9m. At today’s exchange rate, the price would be close to $17.33m or near the top of the estimate range.

There’s no telling where the 2007 buyer is domiciled. It could be the UK. Or it could be somewhere else. But the transaction, no doubt, hopes to take advantage of the weaker pound by selling in the US to help the owner to have hopes of getting out whole.

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