|
|
| Increased Auction Activity at Year-end Marita Batņa, Culture Theorist | |
| The 29th November 2008 auction organized by classic art gallery "Antonia" and Ivonna Veiherte Art Gallery had a motto "Wake up!" (after the title of work by Auseklis Baušķenieks) which provided the needed dose of optimism in the general mood following the preceding auctions. Thus far the annual art market event at the central building of Swedbank is the auction of the year in Latvia - considering the number of involved buyers and the quality of offer, ensured by joint efforts of three market participants. With reference to the economic situation, results of the auction are good, without any surprises. 79 works out of 264 (30 per cent) sold for the total amount of 78 300 lats, excluding commissions, (average price - 991 lats). There were comparatively many bidders - 32, of which 24 acquired the works. Each of the two strongest bidders made purchases amounting to 13 thousand lats (excluding commissions) and two other bidders spent a total of 10 thousand lats each. Regarding prices - one-fourth of works - 19 items, were auctioned off at over one thousand lats, and two of these exceeded 5 thousand lats. A good acquisition - "A Woman with a Veil" by Jānis Tīdemanis - went to a bidder for the opening bid of 5000 lats. Several earlier auctions have created a rather "hot" market for Jānis Pauļuks; this time the auction's record price was identified for his painting "Flowers in a Vase", which was sold to its single bidder for 10 thousand lats. The most intensive bidding was of the drawing by Georgs Šēnbergs "The Portrait of a Girl": the initial price of 400 lats reached 2600 lats; one may recall that "Krišjānis Barons" by Šēnbergs was auctioned off for 15 thousand lats at an earlier auction (March 29, 2008). Woks by contemporary artists did not attract much interest. Among a few successful items, two works were sold for their opening bid - "Hundred" (2000) by Ieva Baklāne - 1300 lats and "A Gothic Motif. A Woman and Child" (1995) by Džemma Skulme - 4000 lats. Other works by recognized contemporary artists, many of them large format pieces, did not sell. This provides another reason to examine all the pros and cons of mixing classic and contemporary art in auctions. The auction organized by Baltic Auction House / Private Museum of Latvian Art on December 6, 2008 (at the Radisson SAS hotel in Riga) was even livelier, and quantitative results were similar to the previous auction in Swedbank. 118 works out of 192 (61%) were sold for the amount of 78 530 lats, excluding commissions (average price - 665 lats). Works were acquired by 21 bidders. The activity was greatly stimulated by a range of less valued artwork (mostly, landscapes) and graphics; some of the higher quality works had attractive opening bids. Two buyers acquired a record-high number of items - one of them bought 24 works for around 17 thousand lats, the other one - 18 works for around 10 thousand lats, excluding commissions. Only a small portion - 18 works - was sold for more than one thousand lats. Out of these pieces, two were auctioned off for more than 5 thousand lats, with a significant increase over the opening bid. The drawing by Kārlis Padegs "The Man Collecting Pearls" (1934), with the starting bid of 5000 lats, was sold for 8000 lats. Several bidders competed for the painting by Eduards Kalniņš "Positano" (1935-1936); with the starting bid of 6500 lats, auctioned off for 13 500 lats, the highest bid of the auction. Follow the organizers' information about 2009 spring auctions! Classic Art Gallery "Antonija". www.antonia.lv Baltic Auction House / Private Museum of Latvian Art. www.plmm.lv Gallery "Birkenfelds". www.birkenfelds.lv Ivonna Veiherte Art Gallery. www.veiherte.com Gallery "Jēkabs". www.paintings.lv | |
| go back | |
