Alberto Giacometti could become Tuesday, October 27 the second artist after Picasso to have four works sold for more than 100 million dollars.
Will the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti equal Pablo Picasso and become, on Tuesday, the second artist with four works beyond the symbolic threshold of 100 million dollars? Plausible hypothesis, but the final price of the sculpture sold at Sotheby’s could remain secret.
The auction house chose a hybrid format, said in a sealed envelope (sealed bid), to propose Tall woman I (2.68 m), which is part of a series comprising the largest sculptures, in size, of the work of the adopted Parisian. Concretely, these are blind auctions, during which each interested collector can only offer one price, unknown to all until the end of the sale, and necessarily greater than or equal to $ 90 million.
Tuesday October 27 around 4:00 p.m. GMT, after the end of the auction period which started on October 21 in New York, Sotheby’s will take note of the bids, the work going to the highest, if it is more than 5% higher. in the second (otherwise a new round will take place).
Unlike a traditional auction, Sotheby’s will not reveal the purchase price, only the buyer being able to reveal it. It could therefore be that the amount remains secret. The formula has the merit of drawing attention to a work, as in a classic auction, while preserving the confidentiality of the transaction, like a private sale.
Since 2010, three works by the Swiss artist have already crossed the threshold of 100 million dollars, the only sculptures to have reached this level. The man with the finger, sold for $ 141.2 million in 2015, is the sixth most expensive work of all time at auction.
Alberto Giacometti’s characteristic characters, with their extremely slender bodies, have never been in greater demand, driven in part by a new market appetite for sculpture.
Tall woman I, which is part of a series of four sculptures, is “the apotheosis of exploration (by Alberto Giacometti) of the woman standing throughout her life “, explained Brooke Lampley, vice president for fine arts at Sotheby’s.
Throughout his career, the sculptor gradually enlarged the size of his works, to arrive, at the end of his life, at these Tall women monumental. “The Great Woman wants to be vast, enormous and superior to the human being “, situe Brooke Lampley, to “stimulate reflection and introspection about your place in this world.”
Star of these autumn sales at Sotheby’s, the Big woman will be followed on Wednesday by two consecutive sales, one devoted to contemporary art and the second to Impressionists and modern art.
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