Man Putting on His Shirt by John Koch
On Wednesday, July 16th, Sotheby’s New York hosted their Modern Discoveries online sale, featuring ninety works of art primarily by nineteenth- and twentieth-century European and North American artists. Normally, I would not pay any attention to this sort of auction. The paintings are nice enough, but I was very interested in what became the top lot. Among the post-impressionist landscapes and bronze sculptures, there was Man Putting on His Shirt by John Koch. The artist may not be the most well-known of the early twentieth-century American realists, yet his urban interiors and other looks at mid-century life have caught the attention of certain collectors. The three paintings by the artists available at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, however, are rather different. All of them are rather intimate, showing men in various phases of undress, ranging from workers resting shirtless in a field to a man in a bathing suit playing with a child. Man Putting on His Shirt is probably the most intimate of the three. The painting is somewhat erotically charged, with the subject’s raised arms framing his exposed torso. This is not unusual for some of Koch’s paintings, which led some of his contemporaries to question his sexuality. Sources conflict on this matter, with some claiming that the artist was indeed gay but closeted, while others say that he was happily married to his wife Dora for nearly fifty years. Regardless, the last time Man Putting on His Shirt sold at auction was back in 1996, when it sold at Christie’s for $17.8K w/p. Sotheby’s specialists did not expect the painting to do much better than that, assigning it an estimate range of $8K to $12K. From the moment the lot opened, the Koch received considerable attention. By the time the clock ran out, the hammer price had skyrocketed, surpassing the high estimate by a factor of 25. The Koch eventually sold for $300K (or $381K w/p). This makes the painting the third most expensive work by the artist to ever sell at auction.
Blue Lake by Sergei Vinogradov
Behind the Koch was a landscape by the Soviet painter Sergei Vinogradov. Blue Lake shows exactly that: bright blue water, only interrupted by tall grasses and water lilies, stretching to the opposite tree-lined shore. Vinogradov was a Russian impressionist painter who was also associated with a group known as the Peredvizhniki, or the Wanderers. These were Russian realist painters who actively opposed the conservatism of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. These painters often focused on landscapes and scenes of everyday life. Blue Lake also proved incredibly popular with Sotheby’s buyers, selling far beyond its $30K maximum estimate. It eventually sold for $140K (or $177.8K w/p), or more than four-and-a-half times the high estimate. And finally, a bit of sculpture came in third place with Auguste Rodin’s Mouvement de danse, étude type A, agrandissement. The work is part of a series of sculptures Rodin executed in the last decade of his life, showing dancers in various poses, achieving the difficult task of making a static object appear fluid and dynamic. Rodin created the design for this particular sculpture around 1911. However, Rodin’s estate would not have it cast until 1958 as one of ten copies. While the other top lots sold exponentially beyond their high estimates, the Rodin sold for a more reasonable price by comparison. Sotheby’s expected the Rodin to sell for between $60K and $80K, with several interested bidders raising the final price to $130K (or $165.1K w/p) before the online timer ran out.
Mouvement de danse, étude type A, agrandissement by Auguste Rodin
There were a handful of other lots that sold for more than twice their high estimates, including one of the other Koch paintings, Farmers Nooning, which sold for $28K against a $10K high estimate. The sale overall did exceptionally well. Of the ninety-five total lots, thirty sold within their estimates, giving Sotheby’s a 32% accuracy rate. Twenty-six lots (27%) each sold above and below their respective estimates. This left thirteen lots unsold, giving Sotheby’s an 86% sell-through rate. Against the $1.2 million total low estimate, the auction achieved a total hammer of $1.76 million (or $2.24 million w/p). Even if the Koch and the Vinogradov had not sold exponentially above their estimates, the auction’s total would have still fallen within the pre-sale total.
Sotheby’s New York Modern Discoveries
Man Putting on His Shirt by John Koch
On Wednesday, July 16th, Sotheby’s New York hosted their Modern Discoveries online sale, featuring ninety works of art primarily by nineteenth- and twentieth-century European and North American artists. Normally, I would not pay any attention to this sort of auction. The paintings are nice enough, but I was very interested in what became the top lot. Among the post-impressionist landscapes and bronze sculptures, there was Man Putting on His Shirt by John Koch. The artist may not be the most well-known of the early twentieth-century American realists, yet his urban interiors and other looks at mid-century life have caught the attention of certain collectors. The three paintings by the artists available at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, however, are rather different. All of them are rather intimate, showing men in various phases of undress, ranging from workers resting shirtless in a field to a man in a bathing suit playing with a child. Man Putting on His Shirt is probably the most intimate of the three. The painting is somewhat erotically charged, with the subject’s raised arms framing his exposed torso. This is not unusual for some of Koch’s paintings, which led some of his contemporaries to question his sexuality. Sources conflict on this matter, with some claiming that the artist was indeed gay but closeted, while others say that he was happily married to his wife Dora for nearly fifty years. Regardless, the last time Man Putting on His Shirt sold at auction was back in 1996, when it sold at Christie’s for $17.8K w/p. Sotheby’s specialists did not expect the painting to do much better than that, assigning it an estimate range of $8K to $12K. From the moment the lot opened, the Koch received considerable attention. By the time the clock ran out, the hammer price had skyrocketed, surpassing the high estimate by a factor of 25. The Koch eventually sold for $300K (or $381K w/p). This makes the painting the third most expensive work by the artist to ever sell at auction.
Blue Lake by Sergei Vinogradov
Behind the Koch was a landscape by the Soviet painter Sergei Vinogradov. Blue Lake shows exactly that: bright blue water, only interrupted by tall grasses and water lilies, stretching to the opposite tree-lined shore. Vinogradov was a Russian impressionist painter who was also associated with a group known as the Peredvizhniki, or the Wanderers. These were Russian realist painters who actively opposed the conservatism of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. These painters often focused on landscapes and scenes of everyday life. Blue Lake also proved incredibly popular with Sotheby’s buyers, selling far beyond its $30K maximum estimate. It eventually sold for $140K (or $177.8K w/p), or more than four-and-a-half times the high estimate. And finally, a bit of sculpture came in third place with Auguste Rodin’s Mouvement de danse, étude type A, agrandissement. The work is part of a series of sculptures Rodin executed in the last decade of his life, showing dancers in various poses, achieving the difficult task of making a static object appear fluid and dynamic. Rodin created the design for this particular sculpture around 1911. However, Rodin’s estate would not have it cast until 1958 as one of ten copies. While the other top lots sold exponentially beyond their high estimates, the Rodin sold for a more reasonable price by comparison. Sotheby’s expected the Rodin to sell for between $60K and $80K, with several interested bidders raising the final price to $130K (or $165.1K w/p) before the online timer ran out.
Mouvement de danse, étude type A, agrandissement by Auguste Rodin
There were a handful of other lots that sold for more than twice their high estimates, including one of the other Koch paintings, Farmers Nooning, which sold for $28K against a $10K high estimate. The sale overall did exceptionally well. Of the ninety-five total lots, thirty sold within their estimates, giving Sotheby’s a 32% accuracy rate. Twenty-six lots (27%) each sold above and below their respective estimates. This left thirteen lots unsold, giving Sotheby’s an 86% sell-through rate. Against the $1.2 million total low estimate, the auction achieved a total hammer of $1.76 million (or $2.24 million w/p). Even if the Koch and the Vinogradov had not sold exponentially above their estimates, the auction’s total would have still fallen within the pre-sale total.