An auction with 69 works, all of which are very interesting at the Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 26 June at Sotheby's in London.
After the first two works in the charts of Francis Bacon estimated at around 12-18 million euros for the first and around 6-8 million for the second, we find two beautiful works by Lucio Fontana: Spatial concept, the churches of Venice estimated between 4,7 and 7,1 million euros e Spatial Concept – Expectations (white canvas with six vertical cuts) estimated at 3,9-5,3 million euros. Finally, it is also worth mentioning a work by Piero Manzoni “Achrome” for an estimate of 1,5-2,1 million euros.
The first was purchased in the same year by Michel Tapié, the famous French art critic who was among the first admirers of Fontana, to then pass into the Collection of Ada Minola, director of theInternational Center of Aesthetic Research – founded with Carlo Mollino and others in 1960 in Turin.
In the early part of 1961 Fontana who had been invited to participate in the Palazzo Grassi exhibition in Venice “Art and contemplation” he painted 22 works dedicated to Venice, a city that the artist loved deeply and which had seen his participation in the Biennale since 1930.
In June 1961 this Venezia was reproduced on the cover of Domus and represents a sort of aerial and golden view of the city.
As recently as 2007 the canvas was exhibited at Guggenheim in Venice and the Guggenheim in New York as part of the beautiful exhibition “Venice/New York.” The estimate of the painting is GBP 4/6 million.
The other work that we wish to point out here is the Spatial concept, expected inscribed on the reverse – Mario Bardini has returned from Russia – a white canvas with six vertical cuts, 130×97 cm. carried out in 1965. Mario Bardini, architect, was one of the first collectors and supporters of Lucio Fontana as well as for years president of the Lucio Fontana Foundation.
Catalog top lots:
FRANCIS BACON - THREE STUDIES OF ISABEL RAWSTHORNE – Estimate: EUR 11,842,997-17,764,496
FRANCIS BACON - HEADIII – Estimate: EUR 5,921,498-8,290,098
LUCIO FONTANA -CSPACE ONCE, THE CHURCHES OF VENICE - Estimate: 4,737,198-7,105,798 EUR
LUCIO FOUNTAIN – SPACE CONCEPT, EXPECTATIONS – Estimate: EUR 3,908,189-5,329,348
TOM WESSELMANN - GREAT AMERICAN NUDE #34 - Estimate: 3,552,899-4,737,198 EUR
GERHARD RICHTER - ABSTRACT BILD – Estimate: EUR 2,960,749-4,145,049
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT - HOAX extension – Estimate: EUR 2,960,749-4,145,049
DAVID HOCKNEY - DOUBLE EAST YORKSHIRE– Estimate: EUR 2,368,599-3,552,899
PIERRE SOULAGES -PEINTURE, 21 NOVEMBER 1959 – Estimate: EUR 2,368,599-3,552,899
ANDY WARHOL - MULTICOLORED RETROSPECTIVE – Estimate: EUR 2,368,599-3,552,899
GERHARD RICHTER - ABSTRACT BILD – Estimate: EUR 2,368,599-3,552,899
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT - QUIJ – Estimate: EUR 2,013,309-2,605,459
PIERO MANZONI -ACROME - Estimate: 1,539,589-2,131,739 EUR
