Degas auction at Sotheby's

[Kim Nutter]

Printed, not with permission, as posted on USA Today's web page,
http://www.usatoday.com, May 14. Anyone got an extra $11 mil=20
on them?

- k

News in Brief: [IRare paintings bring record prices
Washington
Politics NEW YORK - Sotheby's auction of impressionist and
National modern art opened with an $81.3 million haul, led by
States record sales for works by Austrian painter Gustav
World Klimt and French impressionist Edgar Degas.
Weird
The auction features 20th century German and Austrian
Specialties: art from two private collections, as well as major
Opinion works by Degas and Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.
Columnists
Snapshots A 1915 oil landscape by Klimt pulled in $14.7 million
Tuesday night, far above its pre-auction estimate of
Resources: $5 million to $7 million.
Marketplace
Index "That's a record for the artist at auction," said
Search Sotheby's spokesman Matthew Weigman. The buyer of
Feedback Tavern at Litzlberg was not identified. Klimt founded
What's hot the school of painting known as the Vienna Sezession.
About us
Jobs "The picture is of superb quality and it's
exceedingly rare, and when you have that kind of
[SHORT BAR] quality people like to pay quite a premium," said
Alexander Apsis, head of Sotheby's impressionist and
modern art department.
[Image]
An 1899 Degas pastel, Dancers, which had never before
been on the market, fetched $11 million, a record for
a Degas pastel and well above the predicted $5
million to $7 million.

Apsis said Degas shows at the National Gallery in
London and the Art Institute of Chicago last year
were extremely well received and "underlined what a
great artist Degas was later in his career."

The previous record for a Klimt painting was $11.6
million set in May 1994. The previous record for a
Degas pastel was $8.7 million set last fall.

Other highlights of the sale, conducted mostly
through telephone bidding:

* Jeanne Hebuterne Wearing a Hat by Modigliani, a
portrait of his wife and mistress that has never
been on the market, fetched $9.57 million.
* Flowers and Fruit, by Pierre Auguste Renoir,
$3.6 million.
* Conversion by Egon Schiele, $3.4 million.
* The City (Study) by Fernand Leger, $2.2 million.
* The Dario Palace by Claude Monet, $2.2 million.

The two-week round of spring sales of impressionist,
modern and contemporary art, which began May 6, was
expected to bring in more than $350 million at
auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's.

By The Associated Press
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05/14/97- Updated 04:58 PM ET
--
Kim Nutter =20
kim_n...@unison.com