Quelltext der Seite New York Braces For 2 Bn Bumper Autumn Art Sales

New York braces for $2 bn bumper autumn art sales By Afp <br>  Published:  06:39, 31 October 2015   |  Updated:  06:39, 31 October 2015   <br>             e-mail       <br>Leaves in Central Park are golden and   so are profits in the art world, as Christie's and Sotheby's prepare to auction off $2 billion worth of works in New York.<br><br>From November 4 to 12, the two auction houses go head to head in selling hundreds of pieces of modern, impressionist, post-war and contemporary art, six months after the spring season smashed a string of records and netted more than $2.6 billion.<br><br>Fuelled by rising demand from Asia and the Gulf, it was 10 days of eye-watering extravagance that set a new world record for any work of art sold at auction -- $179.4 million for a Picasso.<br>        A media person looks at Roy Lichtenstein's "Interior with Yves Klein Sculpture" at a press preview at Christie's New York October 30, 2015 in New York ©Timothy A.<br><br>Clary (AFP)<br> <br>"Buyers in the art market have never been more diversified," explained Michael Macaulay, head of evening sales in contemporary art at Sotheby's.<br><br>"Ten years ago you'd say an American abstract expressionist painting is probably going to end up in the States but I think now genuinely, as never before, it could go to any corner of the world."<br><br>Sotheby's kicks off the season by selling the private collection of the American philanthropist Alfred Taubman but it is rival Christie's that grabs the headlines with two top lots.<br><br>The work estimated to be the most expensive is a sensuous nude by Amedeo Modigliani valued at $100 million, followed by an iconic pop art masterpiece from Roy Lichtenstein estimated at $80 million.<br><br>Modigliani's "Reclining Nude" comes to auction for the first time, expected to set a new record for the Italian artist.<br><br>- Two for one -<br><br>The picture of the naked woman reclining on a luscious red couch and blue cushion, painted in 1917-18, provoked a scandal when it was first exhibited in Paris.<br><br>"It is unquestionably a masterpiece," said Jessica Fertig, co-head of the Christie's sale.<br><br>Christie's believes Lichtenstein's "Nurse" -- a shocked looking blonde with sexy red lips -- could also fetch more than $100 million, which would nearly double the artist's current record.<br><br>That would make it a shrewd investment for its most recent owner, who acquired the comic book-inspired portrait for $1.65 million in 1995.<br><br>US billionaire and Republican party donor, Bill Koch, can also expect a giant windfall.<br><br>He is parting company with Picasso's "La Gommeuse," the portrait of a cabaret artist dating back to 1901 when the artist was just 19 years old and grieving the suicide of a close friend.<br><br>Koch bought the canvas for $3 million in 1984.<br><br>Sotheby's expects it to fetch around $60 million.<br><br>Not only that, but Koch got two for the price of one.<br><br>In 2000, he discovered that there was another painting on the reverse -- a mocking depiction of Picasso's art dealer -- that had been hidden under the lining for a century.<br><br>Koch is also parting company with a Monet Water Lilies piece, which Sotheby's is selling on November 5, valued at $30-50 million.<br><br>- Camilla's ex -<br><br>Another highlight is a Vincent van Gogh -- moving sky over a landscape -- valued at $50-70 million, painted a year before the artist's death and showing storm clouds over fields outside Arles, France.<br><br>Celebrity watchers can also look out for a Picasso portrait of his lover, Dora Maar, valued at $25-35 million and once owned by Gianni Versace, the murdered Italian fashion designer.<br><br>On the contemporary front, the Sotheby's standout is an Untitled by American painter Cy Twombly from his Blackboard series dating back to 1968 and valued at $60 million.<br><br>The former army cryptographer painted six bands of repeated loopy lines on a grey background, which is being sold by a prominent US collector to benefit a reform temple in Los Angeles.<br><br>Another household name is an Andy Warhol painting of Mao, from his first series of the late Chinese communist leader, valued at more than $40 million.<br><br>Back at Christie's, a portrait of the ex-husband of Britain's Duchess of Cornwall, Andrew Parker Bowles, by Lucian Freud is valued at up to $30 million and was painted between 2003-04, shortly before Camilla married the Prince of Wales, her longtime lover.<br><br>In a moment for women artists, Christie's expects to sell Louise Bourgeois' giant bronze statue of a spider for $25-35 million, smashing the French-American's current record of $10.7 million.<br>        A media camera is set up in front of Amedeo Modigliani's "Nu couche" on display at a press preview at Christie's New York October 30, 2015 in New York ©Timothy A.<br><br>Clary (AFP)<br>         "Femme assise sur une chaise" by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso is pictured during Sotheby's press preview of the Autumn Evening Auctions in New York on October 30, 2015 ©Jewel Samad (AFP)<br>         Employees hang the "Moret au coucher du soleil, Octobre" by Alfred Sisley during Sotheby's press preview of the Autumn Evening Auctions in New York on October 30, 2015 ©Jewel Samad (AFP)<br>