09/11/2001
by Luisa Vassallo

Following the tragic events at the WTC, on the 31^st of October Christie’s opened the 19th century sales in New York with a themed auction dedicated to Important Orientalist Paintings from a Private European Collection. Christie’s auction of 19^th Century European Art followed the next day, with Sotheby’s closing the 19^th century season on the 2^nd of November.

The market for Orientalist paintings, which has developed over the last ten years, took a further setback at the Christie’s sale following the disappointing Ottomans and Orientalist auction held in London last June. The collection, consigned by Egyptian-born Alexander Ebeid and valued at over $ 10 million (€ 11.2 million), featured nineteen high quality paintings by the most important artists of this genre. Attendance was low and only five lots were sold for a total of $ 2,461,000 (€ 2,758,100), with a signed single figured composition by Jean Léon Gérôme, The Pelt Merchant, Cairo, fetching on its own $ 1,326,000 (€ 1,486,100), against an estimate of $ 1.2-1.6 million (€ 1.3-1.7 million). The Bezestein Bazaar of El Khan Khalil, Cairo, a tour de force by John Fredrick Lewis, was the star lot of the sale. Estimated at $ 2-3 million (€ 2.2-3.3 million) and considered the most important work of the artist’s late career, it disappointed expectations remaining unsold when the bidding stopped at $1.3 million (€ 1.4 million). Ludwig Deutsch’s The Palace Guard, oil on canvas, estimated at $ 700,000-900,000 (€ 784,500-1,008,900), also disappointed, being finally withdrawn on weak bidding. This is rather surprising considering that in 1999 a larger painting by the artist bearing the same title was hammered at $ 2.9 million (€ 3,250,800), again by Christie’s New York. The sale bore witness to the fact that even paintings of excellent quality are feeling the impact of the crisis in the Middle East, particularly those depicting scenes with Eastern men clad in armour and bearing weapons. Given the current situation in New York, it would perhaps have been wiser to postpone the auction.

The following day Christie’s held its 19th Century European art auction, putting up for sale 110 lots of which only 38% found buyers to raise a total of $ 3,914,850 (€ 4,388,140). In contrast with the previous day, the top three prices were reserved for Orientalist paintings or artists. The best price was posted by The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem by Gustav Bauernfeind, which was estimated at $ 500,000-700,000 (€ 560,400-784,500) and which finally sold for $ 534,000 (€ 598,500). This large oil on canvas (193.5 x 98 cm), signed and inscribed "Die Steine Salomo’s", is part of a series of works of the same subject that dominated Bauernfeind’s later career. Choosing the Favourite by Giulio Rosati, an Italian Orientalist, was also sold at the bottom-end of its range going for $ 446,000 (€ 499,800) against an estimate of $ 400,000-600,000 (€ 448,300-672,400). This evocative oil (60.5 x 100 cm) was painted in the artist’s studio like many Orientalist paintings, but it is interesting to note that Rosati never actually travelled abroad and developed this genre by inventing scenes through careful observation of his contemporaries’ work and meticulous reproduction of Oriental objects. Another successful story was Jean Léon Gérôme, best known for his paintings of Orientalist or historical scenes but who also painted in accurate detail animal subjects. Quaerens Quem Devoret, a signed oil on canvas depicting a lion hunting on a desolate coastline and estimated at $ 120,000-160,000 (€134,400-179,300), was finally sold for $ 303,000 (€ 339,500). Paradoxically, sales in the second auction held by Christie’s does not appear to have been affected by the ongoing conflict, with moderately quoted Orientalist works featuring more peaceful subject matter performing best.

Sotheby’s 19^th Century sale on the 2^nd November sold 118 of the 234 lots on offer for a sales rate of 50%. The Portrait of Jo, the beautiful Irish girl by Gustave Courbet reached the impressive price of $ 1,875,750 (€ 2,101,700) against an estimate of $ 1-1.5 million (€ 1,120,490-1,680,640). The oil (54 x 63.8 cm), executed in Trouville, France, in the last part of the artist’s life, depicts the girl looking into a mirror in an intimate setting, typical of Courbet’s realist approach. The result was undoubtedly helped by the fact that the signed portrait is one of four versions painted by the artist, the other three being in museum collections (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) and also that it will be included in two upcoming catalogues raisonné of Courbet (by Jean Jaques Fernier and Sarah Faunce). Another painting by Courbet, Marine Etretat, a signed oil on canvas (43.8 x 65.1 cm) estimated at $ 300,000-400,000 (€ 336,100-448,100) failed to reach the reserve and remained unsold. British painters provided the other two successes of the sale. With a quotation of $ 200,000-300,000 (€ 224,080-336,100) Sir John Lavery’s The Tennis Match, a signed and inscribed oil on panel (33 x 47.6 cm) from 1885, eventually sold for $ 511,750 (€ 573,350). The piece was painted in Scotland at the same time as Lavery’s most celebrated work, The Tennis Party (Aberdeen Art Gallery) and shows the artist’s innovation in applying plein air naturalism to the depiction of the social rituals of tennis, not actually focusing on the game itself. The sale also featured 16 works by Sir Alfred James Munnings, the majority of which sold within the estimated prices. Among the paintings depicting horse scenes for which the artist is well-known, The Kilkenny Horse Fair, a signed oil (50.8 x 61 cm) from 1922, was the third best seller of the sale, reaching the figure of $ 478,750 (€ 536,300) with a quotation of $ 400,000-600,000 (€ 448,100-672,200). This work will also be included in a forthcoming critical catalogue raisonné (by Lorian Peralta-Ramos), giving the painting greater recognition.

The auction of 19^th Century painting held by Sotheby’s is in line with recent sale rates that have difficulty in rising above the 60% mark, while the two sales held at Christie’s showed the market’s unpredictability in the face of an international crisis, favouring moderately quoted works and being heavily influenced by the subject matter.