Christie's, one of the world's three largest auction houses, announced this evening that it will restart the Shanghai auction suspended due to the epidemic at the new art space at No. 1 On the Bund on the evening of March 1, and for the first time connect the two major auction venues in London and Shanghai in the innovative form of joint auction, presenting the modern and contemporary art of outstanding artists from the East and the West. Among the auctions announced, the Western modernist master Van Donggen's "Woman with a Necklace" in 1908 and Picasso's masterpiece "Sleeping Woman" in the 1930s attracted particular attention.
It is reported that this is the first time that works created by Western artists who died after 1949 before 1949 have been auctioned Chinese mainland, which is of landmark significance. In the view of Chu Xiaobo, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Heritage, this is a new breakthrough and a heavy positive, showing Shanghai's open posture as the forefront of China's reform and opening up, and will also accelerate the pace of Shanghai's entry into the international art trading center.
According to reports, the works of foreign artists collected abroad could only be auctioned after 1949, and Chinese collectors who wanted to collect them needed to buy them abroad. The two works can be auctioned in Shanghai thanks to the signing of a pilot cooperation agreement between the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanghai Municipal Government on November 10, 2020 to jointly promote the comprehensive reform of social cultural relics management, and the only systematic reform pilot in the field of social cultural relics in the country was launched in Shanghai.
The comprehensive reform pilot lasted for 3 years and is intended to boost industry confidence and promote the development of the cultural relics market through a series of policy breakthroughs. Among the specific measures, the industry was encouraged by "supporting foreign auction enterprises to auction some works of foreign artists who died after 1949 collected from overseas". The works created by Van Dongen and Picasso before 1949 were photographed on the mainland for the first time and are seen as a manifestation of the policy dividend. Industry insiders believe that with the advancement of reform, more works of Western art masters are expected to be auctioned in the mainland, which will also attract more antique dealers, auction houses, collectors and related upstream and downstream enterprises around the world to settle in Shanghai.
Yang Yuancao, Chairman of Christie's China, said that Christie's has been deeply involved in the Chinese mainland market for many years, and the opening of the new space and the restart of the Shanghai auction have witnessed the company's continuous investment and confidence in the Chinese art market, and also marked a new chapter in Christie's business development in Chinese mainland. "In the future, we will continue to innovate and inject new energy into the market!"
The reporter learned that the joint auction of Shanghai and London is divided into three parts: "Art of the 20th and 21st Centuries: Shanghai Evening Auction" at 9 pm on March 1 will take the lead in raising the hammer, and 20 pieces of art giants such as Baschia, Picasso, Chagall, Zao Wou-Ki, Huang Yuxing, Amook Bofu, Ava Yuskevich, Ye Linghan and other 20 art giants and pioneer artists who have attracted much attention in recent years will kick off the joint auction. The next major auctions, Art of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: London Evening Sale and Surrealist Art Evening Sale, will take over from London, with around 90 blockbuster lots continuing this feast of modern and contemporary art in the East and the West. All three auctions will be broadcast live, presenting Christie's four major auction venues in Shanghai, Hong Kong, London and New York in real time for a global audience.
"We are trying to present an auction that reflects the current collection hotspots and is both forward-looking." Zhuang Jun, director of Christie's "Art of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: Shanghai Evening Sale", revealed that "The Woman with the Necklace" fully embodies van Donggen's painting style and color control, and Picasso's "Sleeping Woman" has always been treasured by Picasso's granddaughter and is rarely seen in the market. In addition to these two works of art, the most popular Western contemporary artist in the market, Jean Michay Baschia's golden age of "Leader", is also the first time to be photographed on Chinese mainland. Created in 1982 and inspired by Baschia's legendary journey to Modena, Italy, the work showcases the confidence and maturity that characterizes the artist during this important period.
Image: Courtesy of Christie's
Author: Li Ting
Editor: Wang Xiaoli
Editor-in-Charge: Wang Yan
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