: Sotheby's Arcade Fine Art: Old Master to Contemporary sale took
place June 29-30, bringing $4,497,980, a record total for an
Arcade sale.
The top lot of the sale, William V. Cahill's "The Dress Fitting,"
which had been estimated at $2,5/3,500, brought a staggering
$327,200, shattering the former auction record of $6,500. The
winning bidder was Edenhurst Galleries of Los Angeles and Palm
Desert.
Jennifer Roth, director of the Arcade Fine Art department, said:
"We are absolutely delighted with the total of the sale. The
market for modern and contemporary art is extremely strong right
now. There were many highlights in the contemporary section of
the sale, including property from the estate of Larry Aldrich.
All 17 lots sold from this estate sold, exceeding their high
estimate"
Commenting on the surprise of the sale - Cahill's "The Dress
Fitting" - Roth said, "This charming work from 1912, painted
under the influence of Cahill's teachers Tarbell and Benson,
attracted numerous bids up to $80,000."
Rounding out the sale's top ten were: Anthony Thieme, "St George
Street, St Augustine, Florida," $84,000; Odd Nerdrum, "Man with a
Woman's Head," $69,600; Edouard Leon Cortes, "Theatre du
Chatelet," $48,000; Charles Sprague Pearce, "La Bourasque,"
$42,000; Franz Kline, untitled, $39,000; Henri Matisse, "Tete de
Femme," $39,000; Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA, "Portrait of George,
Lord Vernon," $39,000; Edouard Leon Cortes, "Boulevard de la
Madeleine," $36,000; and Meret Oppenheim, "Grosser bewölkter
Himmel über Kontinenten (Large Cloudy Sky Over the Continents),"
$34,800.
Prices reported include buyer's premium, which is 20 percent of
the hammer price on the first $100,000, and 12 percent on any
amount above that.
