Crow Auction Bidders Gasp as Aivazovsky Painting Reaches $1.6 Million Vs. $300,000-$500,000 Estimate Heritage Auction Galleries auctioned over $4 million of fine art and collectibles at its Crow Art Partnership auction held on Saturday, October 13, at the Dallas Anatole Hotel's new Stemmons Ballroom.
News-Antique.com - Oct 16,2007 - Dallas, Texas: Heritage Auction Galleries auctioned over $4 million of fine art and collectibles at its Crow Art Partnership auction held on Saturday, October 13, at the Dallas Anatole Hotel's new Stemmons Ballroom. Headlining the auction was the sale of Russian artist Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky's Pushkin at the Water's Edge which sold for a total of $1.61 million. The auction of this particular painting was advertised extensively in Russia by Heritage, and was ultimately purchased by a telephone bidder from Moscow, who stretched to outbid a half-dozen other serious phone and Internet bidders, including at least one bidder's representative from Russia who was present at the auction. Painted by the Crimean artist known for his magnificent seascapes, Aivazovsky actually met the iconic Russian poet Alexander Pushkin early in his career and admired the man as a Russian hero, including Pushkin in many of his works. In Pushkin at the Water's Edge , Aivazovsky depicts Pushkin sitting by the sea admiring his wife, a woman he fought and died for, defending her honor in a duel many years before this painting was completed in 1886.
Among many other paintings and decorative pieces owned and displayed by the Crow family in many of its Dallas buildings were Marc Chagall's Fleurs et Couple which sold for $448,125 including the buyer's premium. The same piece sold in a 1999 Christies auction for just 37% of the price realized in the Heritage auction. An impressive collection of Danish artist Bjørn Wiinblad's ceramics, tapestries and paintings also were sold, many of which were once prominent at such Crow landmarks as the Anatole Hotel and Dallas Trade Mart. Wiinblad's famous sculptures of The Gossips, seen for years by Dallas residents at the Anatole, sold for $71,700 including the buyer's premium. A wide range of Croatian art collected over many years was purchased by collectors and museums from the middle-European countries and will be taken back to be displayed in the lands where they were created.
An Egyptian sarcophagus, circa 1000 B.C., sold for $119,500 including buyer's premium. The sarcophagus stands six feet and is in the form of a woman, with a multi-stranded necklace and red cross-over mummy braces, the rest of the body and sides painted with numerous divinities and wings, all on a yellow background.
Heritage Auction Galleries is the world's third largest auction house and is increasing its presence in the fine art market, especially with the success of the Crow Art Partnership auction today. For further information, including images, contact Kelly Norwine at 214.409.1583.
