HONG KONG— One of the biggest names in Western art history is poised to headline not just one, but three separate sales in Hong Kong this fall. Seven works by Picasso will be featured in an exhibition and private sale at Sotheby’s in late November, and two of the city's top galleries are offering an additional 33 works by the Spanish modern between them. Offering assured market power as an international center of finance, Hong Kong also provides a chance to test the Asian market’s burgeoning interest in Western art — and what could be better for the job than Picasso, with his ironically askew portraits and lascivious nudes?
Sotheby’s sale — which also includes pieces by Chagall, Monet, Degas, and Renoir — will cover the Picasso's Blue Period, as well as his Cubist works and later Expressionist paintings from after 1960. The works will first be shown in Beijing from October 22 to 25 before being exhibited in Hong Kong from November 26 to 28. With prices ranging from $2 million to $25 million, the works on view will include the standout "Jeune Fille aux Cheveux Noirs (Dora Maar)," a celebrated 1939 portrait of the artist’s most famous lover and muse. Although the price is confidential, David Norman, co-chairman of Sotheby's worldwide Impressionist and Modern art department, told ARTINFO that in his view the piece is "comparable if not superior" to a slightly smaller Maar portrait that Sotheby's sold for $16 million in another private sale.
The Hong Kong branch of London gallery Ben Brown Fine Arts will also offer 15 Picasso paintings for sale, priced from $2 million to $15 million and representing the artist’s late period from the 1960s to 70s, which has recently been seized on as an autumnal artistic blossoming. The sale begins in mid-November and runs through the Chinese New Year.
After leaving London to set up shop in Hong Kong’s financial district, Edouard Malingue inaugurated his new 1,600-square-foot, Rem Koolhaas-designed gallery last month with a show of 18 Picasso works that will run through December 4. Among the star pieces on view are "Tête de Femme au Chapeau" ("Head of Woman with a Hat"), a portrait of the artist's last wife, Jacqueline Roque, that was completed in 1962 when Picasso was over 80 years old, and a watercolor study for "Deux Femmes Nues" ("Two Nudes"), a 1906 painting that is in MoMA’s collection.
While Western art is still something of a novelty on the Chinese market, dealers have been encouraged by two strong recent performances in an otherwise lackluster sale by Seoul Auction in Hong Kong earlier this month: a late Picasso, "Le Modèle dans l’Atelier" ("The Model in the Studio") fetched $HK18 million ($2.4 million) and a late Chagall, "Bestiaire et Musique" ("Bestiary and Music") went for for $HK28.5 million ($3.7 million), setting a record for the sale of a Western work in Asia.
Yet Ben Brown does not expect to find local buyers, telling the Wall Street Journal "I’d be pleasantly surprised if I sold anything from my show to an Asian buyer, though it’s an opportunity to educate people about Picasso, to see his paintings in person." He added that he is targeting an international market of travelers who come to Hong Kong at least once a year.
Sotheby's co-chairman Norman, however, sees much more potential in the Asian market, telling ARTINFO that Chinese collectors are broadening their interests "very, very notably in the last five years," and that collectors who have focused on Asian art, watches, and wine are now starting to develop an interest in Western paintings. During his last three Asian sales, Norman has seen collectors from mainland China become first-time bidders in the field of Impressionist and modern art, with several lots in recent auctions attracting underbidders from the region. Asian collectors have a great deal of familiarity and interaction with Asian art, but "there just isn't as much Western art for them to see, for them to engage with," he says. Norman hopes that this sale will furnish a chance for his department to be "exclusively focused on this audience," with interpreters on board to bridge the language gap, and try to spark a passion for occidental art.
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