Date: Fri 14-May-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Whitney-Sotheby's

Full Text:

Whitney Collection Exceeds High Estimates

NEW YORK CITY -- The May 10 sale of Impressionist and Modern art from the

collection of Mr and Mrs John Hay Whitney, widely regarded as one of the

greatest private art collections in America, took place at Sotheby's in New

York and was an outstanding success.

The auction brought $128,315,600, far surpassing the high estimate of $95

million and set new world record prices for works by Cezanne, Seurat and

Morisot.

The Cezanne still life, which sold for $60.5 million, achieved the fourth

highest price for a painting sold at auction. The second highest price

achieved for a painting at auction, Renoir's "Au Moulin de la Galette," also

came from the Whitney collection and sold at Sotheby's New York in 1990 for

$78.1 million.

"It is a rare privilege to be able to handle a collection of this caliber and

provenance," said Diana D. Brooks, president and chief executive officer of

Sotheby's Holdings. "The sale offered only a few of the treasures that were in

the Whitney family collection. However, we are all fortunate to be able to

visit the museums that have benefited from the Whitneys' enormous generosity,

such as The National Gallery in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Modern Art in

New York and Yale University Art Gallery." Brooks continued, "The total

achieved thus far for the property we have sold on behalf of Mrs Whitney's

estate is approximately $153 million, and the representatives from the Whitney

estate were absolutely delighted with the results of this evening's sale."

Cezanne's "Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier," a still life circa 1893-94, sold for

$60,502,500, setting a new world record for the artist at auction and becoming

the fourth highest price paid for a painting at auction.

Starting the bidding at $15 million, Tobias Meyer, worldwide head of the

Contemporary Art department at Sotheby's and the evenings auctioneer, took

bids from two telephone bidders up to $31 million when a client in the room

joined in the bidding. Another bidder in the room entered the bidding before a

new telephone bidder entered at $40 million. At $42 million, Brooks joined in

the action, bidding for a client on the telephone and the bidding continued

between the remaining telephone bidders up to $50 million. The hammer finally

fell at $55 million, bringing the total for the Cezanne to $60.5 million and

applause broke out in the packed saleroom. The painting was executed during

the peak of Cezanne's career, and was one of the most important Cezannes to

appear at auction in recent years. It had been estimated at $25 to $35

million.

Georges Seurat's painting "L'Ile de la Grande Jatte" sold for $35,202,500,

setting a new world record for the artist at auction. It was one of two large,

final works that are preparatory to "Un Dimanche a la Grande Jatte" in the Art

Institute of Chicago, one of the greatest icons of both modern painting and

the entire history of art. Charles Moffett described the painting as embodying

"perfection, peace, serenity and calm." It had been estimated at $25 to $35

million. Berthe Morisot's "Cache-Cache," or "Hide and Seek," one of Morisot's

most famous images which was much admired when it was exhibited in the first

Impressionist group show in 1874, sold for $3,852,500, the third world auction

record of the evening. It was widely recognized as an icon of the

Impressionist movement and showed Morisot's sister, Edma Pontillon and Edma's

daughter Jeanne playing hide and seek in a landscape. It was estimated at

$1.8/2.2 million.

Important cubist paintings by Picasso, both acquired in 1968 from the

collection of Gertrude Stein, also sold above their estimates. "Le Journal" of

1912 sold for $6,822,500, against a pre-sale estimate of $4/6,000,000. "Nature

Morte a la Bouteille de Rhum Pailee, an early synthetic cubist painting

executed in Avignon in 1914, sold for $7,922,500 (est $5/6 million).

David Norman, the newly appointed head of the Impressionist and Modern Art

department at Sotheby's in New York, said, "Every lot in the auction sold

tonight, and the sale was dominated by American private buying. There was a

high percentage of buyers that have entered the market only recently and have

become very committed collectors."

Sotheby's auctions of Impressionist and Modern Art continued on May 11 with

paintings which include Monet's "Grainstack," Paul Klee's "Feuerquelle" and

Renoir's "Roses at Wargemont."

Other works of art from the collection of Mr and Mrs John Hay Whitney will

also be sold in several specialized sales at Sotheby's in New York, including

Important Old Master Paintings, American Paintings and Antiquities.

Jewels from the Estate of Betsey Cushing Whitney realized $11,828,973 on

October 19, 1998. Furniture and decorations from the estate of Mrs John Hay

Whitney sold for $13,196,844 between April 22 and 25.