Page 69 - Studio International - October 1966

The big proportion of the entire Parke-Bernet Jean Arp unique' and stamped with the foundry mark 'A.A.
sales total was for paintings and sculptures : Sculpture Mythique 1949 Hebrard cire perdue'. Executed circa 1874-8.
450 gns
$12,379,860, more than doubling the total of the Height 12 1/2 in. Bronze, one of an edition of five. A cast after a terracotta maquette now in the Petit
previous season. The items were predominantly of Palais, and a study for one of the children in the
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The few Pierre Bonnard monument at Windsor.
old masters did not reach high prices, since Le Chien L60 Paysan assis £60
American collectors now tend to concentrate Height 4 in. Signed with initials. Height 3 in. Bronze, signed and stamped with the
mostly on modern art. Paul Mellon, one of the most Tête de Cheval £120 foundry mark `Susse Freres Editeur, Paris'.
important collectors in America today, was much Height 1+ in. Bronze, signed with initials.
in evidence, purchasing for $45,000 the Portrait of Jacob Epstein
Martinez by Armand Guillaumin, 1878, a minor Emile Bourdelle Victor 480 gns
Impressionist artist raised by this price to the Beethoven aux grands cheveux £550 Height 8 in. bronze. Literature: Richard Buckle,
ranks of the masters, and $25,000 for a small oil Height 24 in. Original plaster, signed, inscribed Jacob Epstein, Sculptor, p. 254 and p. 323, No. 500
sketch by Bonnard, Portrait of Vuillard, 1910. Yet `Mon domain c'est l'air/Quand le vent se lève/Mon (illus.); executed in 1949, when Victor, the son of
another artist of the École de Paris rose to the ame tourbillone'. 'Beethoven', and dedicated 'A Epstein's West African cook, was five years old.
highest price range when L'Arrosoir by Roger de la l'ami, au poète d'Esparbes.' This unique plaster was
Fresnaye was knocked down for $100,000 at the cast in 1891, or shortly after, for Georges d'Esparbes, F. E. McWilliam
Rubinstein sale. curator of the Château de Fontainebleau. Homer 220 gns
Among abstract painters, it was above all Piet Unique cast in astec cement, height 50 in.; executed
Mondrian who showed the greatest price increases. Jules Dalou in 1958, this piece was commissioned by Bumpus
Sidney Janis, the New York art dealer, bought Paysanne avec sa houe Book Shop for the opening of their premises in Baker
£60
back for $42,000 one of his linear compositions of Height 3 in. Bronze, signed and stamped with the Street.
1921 which he had sold to Ira Haupt six years foundry mark `Sousse Freres Editeur, Paris'.
before for $20,000. Some years ago, David Nu assis £120 Henry Moore
Thompson paid $12,000 for a 1928 Mondrian, Height 5+ in. Bronze, signed and stamped with the Mask 2,400 gns
which Janis repurchased now for $60,000. foundry mark `Sousse Freres, Paris Cire perdue'. Height 6 1/4 in. green stone, carved in 1930. See:
Abstract Expressionists of the New York school Enfant couch" £620 Henry Moore, Sculpture and Drawings, 1921-48, vol. I,
still command a good American market, although Height 12 1/2 in. Bronze, signed, inscribed 'piece published by Lund Humphries, 1957, No. 77.
prices have stabilized somewhat. Less than a
decade ago, paintings by Jackson Pollock are said
to have changed hands for up to $100,000 in
private transactions. At the Thompson sale two
works by this artist were sold for $24,000 and
$32,000. Thompson himself had purchased these
paintings at a time when Peggy Guggenheim sold
them for from $700 to $1,000. A stripe painting by
Barnett Newman, Tundra, sold for $26,000, and
Mark Tobey's Wild Field for $14,000. Robert
Rauschenberg remains highly considered, and a
record price of $20,000 was paid for his Express.
Record auction prices as published in the Press
give a distorted picture, as price declines are never
publicized. Only when a more accurate picture is
presented by registering upward and downward
trends can a study of price fluctuations be under-
taken. There is, however, still another factor which
prevents a clear appraisal of the auction market.
There is no way of separating real and fictitious
sales. The whole auction business is shrouded still
in mystery. To correct this situation, and to protect
buyers and sellers alike from unfair manipulations,
new laws are being prepared, at U.S. State and
Federal level, designed to clear up the many
problems and anomalies.

Some recent saleroom prices for sculpture reached
at Sotheby's and Christie's

Alexandre Archipenko
Homme 850 gns
Height 24 in. Literature: Dr Prof. Hans Hildebrandt,
Alexandre Archipenko, Son Oeuvre, Berlin, 1923, No. 24;
executed in 1922.
Deux Nus Debouts
£900
Height 20 in. Signed and stamped with the foundry
mark `Radic cire perdue Paris'. Executed in Berlin
circa 1920-3, this is a unique cast.

Honore Daumier
L'indécis (Charles de Lameth)
Bronze
Height 6 in.
Sold at Sotheby's for £650