"A Italiana" (The Italian Woman): Malangatana's Masterpiece at Auction

Born on the 6th of June 1936 in Matalana, a village of the district of Marracuene, the Mozambican artist Malangatana Valente Ngwenya dedicated an important part of his life to cultural projects with the objective of helping those in need, with special focus on youth.

The early age of Malangatana was outlined by difficult times, with an absent father and a sick mother he went to live with an uncle and started working with eleven years of age.

It's at the house of the biologist, sculptor and painter Augusto Cabral that Malangatana asks to be taugh painting, later continuing to developing his artistic skills with the sponsorship of the portuguese architect Pancho Guedes.
Soon he starts exhibiting his works and in the 70's travels to Portugal with a Gulbenkian's scholarship.

His name his recognized internationaly and his paintings become part of public and private collections worldwide, including museums.

Malangatana, besides painter was also an actor, poet, dancer and musician, and tried his skills on tapesty and sculpture. He was handed the Prince Claus award, attributed the Honoris Causa degree by the Évora university and nominated Artist for Peace, by Unesco in 1997, including other recognitions.

The artist also known by his close friends as "Crocodile" passed away at the age of 74, in the Hospital Pedro Hispano (Matosinhos, Portugal).

But lets talk about "A Italiana" or "The Italian Woman."

The idea was conceived in the end of 2010, when the long-time friends Malangatana and the Ferreira Dos Santos family together decided to develop a project of artistic and cultural value that would serve as a major beneficial social cause.
Unfortunately the artist would not live to assist the auction of his masterpiece.

Celebrating the official launching of FIAT in Mozambique on the 5th of April in Maputo, a brand new white Fiat 500 1.4 Pop painted by Malangatana is being auctioned until 8 p.m. on the 6th July, 2011, Mozambique time (UTC/GMT + 2 h), during a gala to be organized to this effect.
The minimum bid started at 125.000,00 USD, with minimum increments of 2.500,00 USD.
Auction regulations and FAQs are available for consultation.

The proceeds of the auction will be donated to the Malangatana Valente Ngwenya foundation.

Malangatana's latest masterpice, "A Italiana" (The Italian Woman) resulted in a fusion of Italian design and evocative African symbolism, with native and nature-inspired imagery represented through warm colours in a harmonious composition.
Embelishing the car's rear and the dashboard is the artist's signature embossed in aluminium.

The Fiat 500 and the art materials were donated by Tecnica Industrial, a company part of JFS Group.



Top image source: O País newspaper

"Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey" by George Stubbs to be auctioned at Christie’s

During the the Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale on 5 July 2011 at Christie's in London, one of the most important works of the British painter George Stubbs (1724-1806) is expected to realise in excess of £20 million.

Commissioned by the horse’s owner, Frederick St. John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, and executed during the year of 1765, "Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey (40in. x 76¼in. (101.6 x 193.6 cm.) shows Gimcrack in the foreground with his trainer and jockey, a stable-lad rubbing him down, and in the background winning a ‘trial’ by some distance.

George Stubbs spent his early artistic career working as a portrait painter, first in his native Liverpool, and subsequently in York. He visited Rome in 1754 and later on spent 18 months in a farmhouse in Lincolnshire dissecting and drawing horses in preparation for the publication of his famous book The Anatomy of the Horse.

His accurate depictions of animals and exceptional talent earned the artist the patronage of many important aristocrats, particularly those involved in horseracing, the ‘sport of Kings’.
Often celebrated as the most remarkable artist-scientist since Leonardo, Stubbs portrayed the horse with anatomical perfection, showing his veins pulsing through his skin.

Gimcrack was one of the most popular and admired of all 18th century racehorses. Although he was small, he had great stamina and won an impressive 28 of his 36 races, finishing unplaced only once.

Sold by the Bolingbroke family in 1943, it was bought by Walter Hutchinson, founder of the National Gallery of British Sports and Pastimes, before being sold again at Christie’s in 1951 when it made £12,600 and entered the Woolavington Collection.

This is the third time that "Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath, with a Trainer, a Stable-Lad, and a Jockey" appears at Christie's.
The painting is offered from the Woolavington Collection, one of the finest private collections of Sporting Art, and will be auctioned at the Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale on 5 July 2011 in London.

Andy Warhol's Self-Portrait (1963-1964) sold for $38 million at Christie's

After the recent financial crisis that also affected the art market, the major auction houses have assisted since the recovery to continuous records. A sign that high-end and insightful art collectors continue to have the means to acquire valuable artworks and believe that art will continue to be a good investment allied to an aesthetical value.

The recent evidence is Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, which took place in New York on the 11th of May and realized $301,683,630 (£184,026,630/€211,178,100), with 95% sold by lot and 99% sold by value.
In this sale, where only three of the 65 works on offer failed to sell, a total of seven new world auction records were established.

Cy Twombly, whose Untitled from 1967 realized $15,202,500; contemporary artist, Urs Fischer, whose Untitled (Lamp/Bear), realized $6,802,500 – six times the artist’s previous world auction record; Richard Diebenkorn, for Ocean Park #121, from 1980 which brought in $7,698,500; Anselm Kiefer, whose Dem Unbekannten Maler (To the Unknown Painter) from 1983 realized $3,554,500.
The sale of Cindy Sherman’s Untitled color coupler print from her 1981 Centerfold series was not only a world auction record for Sherman, but represents a new world auction record for any photograph, thus setting two world auction records for the same work.

But the highlight of this evening sale was Andy Warhol's Self-Portrait, an acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, in four parts overall: 40 x 32 in. (101.6 x 81.3 cm.) that the Pop artist completed between 1963 and 1964 and was bought for $38,442,500 (buyer's premium included), establishing a new world record for a portrait by the artist.
Acclaimed in every Warhol monograph and exhibition catalogue as his first seminal self-portrait, it was part of the Barron Family collection and was sold be Florence Barron who had commissioned the work for $1,600 nearly half a century ago, making payments on an installment plan.



All eight works by Warhol offered at auction were sold for a combined total of $90,988,000, including another self-portrait, a synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas 106¾ x 106½ in. (271.2 x 270.5 cm.) painted in 1986, previously belonging to Anthony d'Offay, London.

Another relevant result for Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale (sale 2440 of May 11, 2011) was Mark Rothko's Abstract Expressionist masterpiece from 1961, Untitled #17, having achieved $33,682,500.

Buyers (by lot / by origin) were 61% American, 23% European, 3% Asian and 13% other.

The Affordable Art Fair New York City 2011

The Spring 2011 edition of the Affordable Art Fair New York City will be inaugurated at 7W 34th Street (7 West 34th Street) on Thursday, May 5th ( private preview on Wednesday, May 4, 6pm - 9pm) and will run until the 8th of May.

Counting with over 60 international exhibiting galleries , the AAF NYC Spring 2011 will include workshops, children's activities, and a special section of nine galleries exhibiting solely work by women artists.

Worth mentioning is a silent art auction in partnertship with The Affordable Art Fair New York City hosted by Children's Cancer & Blood Foundation (CCBF) that will include 10 works donated by AAF NYC's exhibiting galleries.
All proceeds from the auction will go to enable the foundation to provide much needed medication, chemotherapy and other life-saving treatments to children who would not otherwise be able to afford care.

The fair presents quality contemporary art and is an opportunity to learn about art collecting in a relaxed environment and start your own private collection since the prices go from just $100 up to $10,000, making it affordable to practically anyone.

Please refer to this page to learn about location, transports, ticket prices and other relevant information.

The Affordable Art Fair was founded by Will Ramsay in 1999 with the purpose of making contemporary art accessible to everyone, and to show that one doesn't need to be an art expert or a millionaire to enjoy and buy art.

With fairs taking place in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, New York, Milan and Singapore, while affiliate events include Sydney and Melbourne, the AAF has gained global recognition and has been visited by 783,000 people globally, buying over £120 million of art.

Art Auction to Help Victims in Japan

With the purpose of helping the victims of the earthquake and of the tsunami, I've placed an original still life oil painting for auction on Ebay, starting at a minimum bid of USD$30.
The proceeds will go in full to the Salvation Army's Japan Disaster Fund.
This auction will be active until April 5th, which I believe will be enough time for you to decide how much you want to help.

If you are an artist and are conducting an initiative to help the Japanese people in these troublesome times, you are welcome to leave a link in the comments.

The Art Inquirer and its author cannot be held responsible for other people's integrity regarding this subject.

Top 10 Auction Results in 2010

The year of 2010 was certainly positive for the major auction houses, with several records for renowned artists, including old masters.
According to ArtMarketInsight's list, the painting "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" by Pablo Picasso, sold at Christie's NY for $95 000 000, achieved the highest value, while the second place was taken by the statue "L'homme qui marche I" by Alberto Giacometti, sold for $92 521 600 at Sotheby's London. The painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "Nu assis sur un divan (La Belle Romaine)", conquered the third place and was sold at Sotheby's NY for $61 500 000.

The rest of the top 10 was taken by the following works: "Men in her life" by Andy Warhol ($56 500 000, Phillips de Pury NY); "Grande tête mince (1954)" by Alberto Giacometti ($47 500 000, Christie's NY); "Tête" by Amedeo Modigliani ($46 650 450, Christie's Paris); "Portrait d'Angel Fernandez de Soto" by Pablo Picasso ($45 814 900, Christie's London); "Nu de dos, 4 état (Back IV)" by Henri Matisse ($43 500 000, Christie's NY); "Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino" by William Turner ($40 211 100, Sotheby's London); "Kirche in Cassone..." by Gustav Klimt ($38 284 800, Sotheby's London).

The total paid of these works resulted in near $567.5m (hammer price).

Dennis Hopper Collection Auction Results

The Interiors Sale auction, that took place in New York, Rockefeller Plaza – Tuesday and Wednesday, January 11-12, 2011, featured nearly 300 works of art and personal items from the collection of actor, artist and collector Dennis Hopper, including works from renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Gerhard Richter, Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Kenny Scharf, and fellow actor Viggo Mortensen.

Among the works, two of them achieved much higher results than their estimated value.

A screenprint portrait in colours of Mao, one plate (F. & S. II 99), by Andy Warhol, in collaboration with Dennis Hopper, dated from 1972 and punctured by two bullet holes, was sold for $302,500 (€234,496, £193,910) to a private US collector, setting a world record for a single Mao print at auction.

The second highest value was paid by an Asian private collector for Marilyn: one plate (F. & S. II.27) screenprint in colors, 196, also by Andy Warhol: $206,500 (€160,078, £132,372).

The Interiors Auction, including property from the Dennis Hopper Collection, reached the value of $3,427,413 (€2,656,909, £2,197,059).

All sold prices include buyer’s premium.

Modern Masters: Impressionism and Early 20th Century Art (Selling Exhibition, Hong Kong 26-28 November 2010)

Following the preview that took place in Beijing between the 22nd and the 25th of October, Sotheby's presents an Inaugural Selling Exhibition of Impressionist and Modern Art in Hong Kong.

Comprised of approximately 20 works by many of the most relevant artists active in Europe from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the "Modern Masters: Impressionism and Early 20th Century Art" selling exhibition is a reply to the increasing interest throughout Asia and especially within China in the field of Impressionist and Modern Art.

The exhibition shows some of the most beloved and important subjects by the respective artists, such as Monet’s Haystacks, Renoir’s Portraits and Bathers and Chagall’s depictions of the Circus.

An in depth view of certain artists such as Picasso, includes works from many of the different phases of his career – his romantic, early Blue Period; the radical experiments
of Cubism which were then followed by the Neoclassicism of the 1920s; a depiction of his most famed lover, Dora Maar; and his late Expressionist paintings created after 1960.

With works priced from US$2 million to $25 million (HK$15.6 to $195 million), some of the highlights of the exhibition are "Mère Tenant un Enfant (La Maternité)" ,1901, by Pablo Picasso; "Jeune Fille aux Cheveux Noirs (Dora Maar)", a portrait of Dora Maar completed by Picasso in 1939; "Les Demoiselles de Giverny", painted by Claude Monet on the Plaine des Ajoux in 1894, and part of his Haystacks series; "Léontine et Coco (Claude Renoir)" by Renoir, depicting an interior scene portraying his son Claude, also known as Coco, in the company of Léontine, a young woman who worked in the Renoir household in the latter part of his life; "Danseuses au Foyer", a vibrant pastel painting by Edgar Degas; "Le Paysan Allongé", a dense and colourful composition where intense colour and spatial experimentation reflect the essence of Chagall's work.

The Modern Masters: Impressionism and Early 20th Century selling exhibition is taking place between the 26th and the 28th of November 2010 (11am - 7pm), at:
Chief Executive Suite,
5/F, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
1 Harbour Road, Wanchai

Warhol's “Men in Her Life” Sold for $63.4 Million

On the 8th of November, 2010, the black and white painting by Andy Warhol "Men in Her Life" ( Silkscreen and pencil on primed canvas. 84 1/2 x 83 1/4 in. (214.6 x 211.5 cm) from 1962, featuring Elizabeth Taylor walking with both her third husband Mike Todd, seen to the left, and her fourth husband Eddie Fisher, who is seen at the right with his then current wife Debbie Reynolds, sold for $$63,362,500 at the Carte Blanche auction organized by Phillips de Pury & Company in New York.

Previously part of the Mugrabi family private collection, the painting was disputed by two telephone bidders, ending up in the possession of a client brokered by Philippe Ségalot, a French art consultant.

This was the second-highest price paid for a Warhol, after "Green Car Cash (Green Burning Car I)," (1963) sold in 2007 for $71.7 million at Christie's.

Values include the buyer's premium.