Skip to content
fine art

20th century fine art drives Rago auction to $2.9M

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
fine art
Yves Klein’s ‘Venus Bleue,’ a 27-inch-high sculpture of pigment and synthetic resin on plaster, led the auction at $137,500. Rago Arts And Auction Center image

 

LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. – Rago Arts and Auction Center’s May Fine Art Auctions brought in $2,887,000 in sales on May 6. The highest price achieved by a single lot went to Lot 223, Yves Klein’s Venus Bleue, which sold for $137,500 against an estimate of $60,000-$90,000. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.

Several other fine works defied expectations and shattered estimates, including Lot 513, an untitled work (below) by Serge Poliakoff, which sold for $81,250 against an estimate of $25,000-$35,000; Lot 203, an untitled work by Yaacov Agam, which sold for $68,750 against an estimate of $8,000-$12,000; and Lot 4, an untitled portrait by Fernand Toussaint, which sold for $35,000 against an estimate of $6,000-$8,000.

 

fine art
Serge Poliakoff (Russian, 1906-1969), untitled, 1959, gouache on paper (framed), 24 1/4in x 18 3/8in (sight). Price realized: $81,250. Rago Arts And Auction Center image

 

Multiple auction records were set: for Lenore Tawney (Lot 519, sold for $9,375 against an estimate of $2,000-$3,000), Gary Weisman (Lot 180, sold for $15,000 against an estimate of $2,000-$3,000), Bernardino Palazzi (Lot 627, sold for $11,875 against an estimate of $2,500-$3,500), and Franz Jozef Ponstingl (Lot 83, sold for $5,313 against an estimate of $2,500-$4,500).

 

fine art
Karel Appel (Dutch, 1921-2006), ‘Quatre Tete,’ 1958; oil on canvas (framed), signed, dated and titled; 35in x 45 1/2in. Price realized: $112,500. Rago Arts and Auction Center

 

Also of note: Lot 65, an untitled landscape by Fern Isabel Kuns Coppedge, which sold for $20,000 against an estimate of $6,000-$9,000; Lot 200, Mary Bauermeister’s Yes for Segy-ies, which sold for $35,000 against an estimate of $8,000-$12,000; Lot 266, an untitled work by Theodore Van Rysselberghe (below), which sold for $45,000 against an estimate of $4,000-$6,000; and Lot 705, Eduardo Chillida’s Gravitation, which sold for $75,000 against an estimate of $35,000-$55,000.

 

fine art
Theodore Van Rysselberghe (Belgian, 1862-1926), untitled, 1903, oil on board (framed), 10 1/4in x 13 1/2in. Price realized: $45,000. Rago Arts And Auction Center image

 

“Our May sales were strong in a variety of categories,” says Meredith Hilferty, director of Rago’s Fine Art Department, “At the top of the heap were paintings from European artists that spanned the entire 20th century including Poliakoff, Debre, Agam, Toussaint and Van Rysselberghe. Personnally, I was thrilled to see the work of women artists in such high demand – bidders fought hard for works by Mary Bauermeister, Olga de Amaral and Lenore Tawney.”

 

[av_button label=’View the fully illustrated catalog with prices realized.’ link=’manually,http://bit.ly/2oULSdx’ link_target=’_blank’ size=’medium’ position=’center’ icon_select=’no’ icon=’ue800′ font=’entypo-fontello’ color=’theme-color’ custom_bg=’#444444′ custom_font=’#ffffff’ admin_preview_bg=” av_uid=’av-rfldlp’]

fine art