Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Auctions 14 & 15 February 2012 london, king street

A foreword by Francis Outred, Christie's Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe:

“This February we are delighted to present an unprecedented series of auctions which combine our normal evening and day auctions alongside two private collections which incorporate contemporary art in totally different ways and the presentation of the master prints of Lucian Freud from the print makers studio. The clean lines and intellectual enquiry of 'A Way of Thinking' and the diverse accumulation of works from different periods and styles of 'Living with Art' both feature a rich variety of works of art by the most significant creators of the 20th and 21st centuries and present an inspiring counterpoint to some of the outstanding works in the main auctions. The Freud prints, show the central position these works played in his oeuvre and the obsessive devotion he paid to their depictions which stand alongside his paintings, much as Rembrandts prints did.

“Our Evening Auction showcases a highly varied and important selection of works from the last fifty years of international art. It is led by Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, the most seductive painting of a female figure ever realised by Francis Bacon. It forms part of the pantheon of great paintings realised in 1963, of which three of Bacon’s seven large-format works are housed in museum collections. Formerly part of the Schniewind Collection, it was acquired by the present owner in 1983, almost thirty years ago.

“Other important works include Mark Rothko’s majestic Untitled (1955) from the height of his classic period. Previously part of the Oliver-Hoffman Family Collection, Untitled was executed in 1955, the year after the artist’s breakthrough exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, and is the first major canvas by Rothko to come to a London auction in a decade. It belongs to a noble series of works, the majority of which are now held in some of the best international museum collections.

“The auction will also feature several exceptional works by Lucian Freud, including the important rediscovered drawing, Boat, Connemara (1948), the sensuous, nude portrait Small Figure (1983) and Annie (circa 1960) one of the earliest paintings of one of the artist’s children. Major works by Gerhard Richter, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Louise Bourgeois and Nicolas de Staël amongst others will also feature at auction.

“‘A Way of Thinking’ offers a unique assembly of works, collected over the course of three decades. It contains exceptional and perfectly preserved works that have since become milestones in the passage of contemporary art. Uniting names such as Gerhard Richter, Jeff Wall, Thomas Struth, Thomas Schütte and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, ‘A Way of Thinking’ includes some of the greatest adherents of Arte Povera, second generation Conceptual Art, British sculpture and photography.

“The Hubertus Wald collection will offer Le Feu (1949), a seminal work by Wols, Yves Klein’s Untitled Blue Monochrome (IKB 176) as well as works by Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Georg Baselitz, Cy Twombly, Piero Manzoni, Gerhard Richter and Arman”.

Click here to read releases on British highlights; Rothko and the Abstractionists; additional highlights and "A Way of Thnking", plus sales calendar.