Broad Spectrum
The Evening Sale of Contemporary Art is also characterized by a noteworthy number of important works covering a wide spectrum of art of the second half of the 20th and the 21st century. Three works stand at the pinnacle: A sculptural work by Robert Indiana (€ 200 - 230,000), a series of nine pictures by Marcel Broodthaers for € 200 - 250,000, and a canvas by Jonas Burgert for the same estimate. A painting by Maria Lassnig is valued at € 180 - 200,000.
Per Kirkeby has a painting for € 120 - 150,00 and Andreas Gursky is represented by a large C-print for € 100 - 120,000. A large-scale landscape by Yan Pei-Ming is offered for € 80 - 120,000 whilst two canvases by Horst Antes are estimated up to € 100,000. Also worth noting is a small fine private collection featuring three canvases by Karel Appel (up to € 120,000) and two pictures by Asger Jorn (up to € 70,000).
Robert Indiana’s “Six” from the year 1980/2001 has been exhibited and referenced in literature many times. The 198 x 188 x 96.5 cm number 6 is produced in multi-coloured aluminium on a steel plinth. The present work is example 6/6 (+2 A.P.) (lot 50, € 200 - 230,000).
Equally frequently exhibited and listed in literature is Marcel Broodthaers’ “Série de neuf tableaux en langue allemande, Die Welt” from 1973. The nine-part work, each typographically printed canvas 80 x 100 cm, is estimated at € 200 - 250,000 (lot 60). The same estimate has been assigned to Jonas Burgert’s 2012 canvas “Schliss”. Measuring 250 x 350 cm, it was exhibited in the Kestnergesellschaft in Hannover in 2013 (lot 78, € 200 - 250,000).
The majority of Maria Lassnig’s works are self-portraits. She chooses the investigation of her own body and its constantly changing sensibilities as the decisive artistic theme, as it is literally the closest thing to her – more than any other subject of the outside could ever be. She is not motivated by narcissism, but quite the opposite, by merciless self-exploration. Exhibited in Lucerne, Graz and Vienna, the painting “Der Tod ist eine Sphinx” from 1985 shows Lassnig as a hybrid between human and animal in the classical reclining posture of a sphinx, the head reduced to a skull, with a torch between the lion paws symbolising life and death (lot 16, € 180 - 200,000).
Per Kirkeby is an artist as well as a natural scientist. His studies in geology, his travels, and his affinity with nature are manifoldly reflected in his artistic work. Realistic themes of nature are discernible in his paintings but merge so seamlessly into abstract structures that they are barely tangible for the viewer. The present untitled canvas from 1977 has an estimate of € 120 - 150,000 (lot 67). Yan Pei-Ming’s large format canvas “International Landscape” from the year 2006 measures 200 x 400 cm and has been valued at € 80 - 120,000 (lot 72).
A small, high quality private collection featuring works by two COBRA artists is also worth noting, including three canvases by Karel Appel and two from Asger Jorn. Appel’s works are untitled, from 1955 (lot 73, € 80 - 120,000) and 1974 (lot 74, € 50 - 70,000), whilst Jorn’s paintings are from 1957 (“En place pour le rite”, lot 77, € 40 - 60,000), and 1960 (“Morgenrødt (Dawn)”, lot 76, € 50 - 70,000).
Horst Antes is present with three paintings from the collection of the German sculptor Emil Cimiotti: “Mit Figur” from 1963 for € 80 - 100,000 (lot 57), and the canvas “Kopf für Emilio” painted three years later for € 60 - 80,000 (lot 58).
The offer is rounded off by works from Karin Sander with “Frauen-Nationalmannschaft 1:10 Kader” from the year 2005 (28 figures and 1 ball: each 3D bodyscans of the players, SLS (Selective laser sintering), polyamide and airbrush, height each approx. 16–18 cm (lot 70, € 60 - 80,000), with a 1959/1960 bronze “Vierfigurengruppe” by Joannis Avramidis (lot 12, € 60 - 80,000) and with a mixed media from Karl Otto Götz from the year 1954 (lot 95, € 45 - 60,000). An acrylic on wood painting “Portrait (Clara)” by Imi Knoebel has an estimate of € 40 - 50,000 (lot 7), as does Heinz Mack’s 160 x 200 cm canvas “Licht-Felder” from 1992 (lot 38, € 40 - 50,000).
The top lot of the Contemporary Photography is an important example from Andreas Gursky: the large-format (130 x 165.4 cm) unique work depicting a dusky-enigmatic night scene “Heidelberg Ost” is estimated at € 100 - 120,000 (lot 33).