December 2020, the month of Italian auctions. Here are the results

December was a busy month for auction sales in Italy. Some of the country’s major auction houses, in fact, have been running sessions right in the pre-Christmas period, the last appointment before turning the page and moving on to planning for the following year. Below we highlight some of the auctions held in the previous weeks with a selection of some of the best results achieved.

Mediartrade (Milan) on December 9 and 10, offered a diverse catalog on the Italian and international 900s. Representing Italian art of the second half of the 20th century Summit I (1971) by Piero Dorazio sold for €96,000 just below its low estimate. Alighiero Boetti’s Planes (1981), on the other hand, found a new owner for € 92,400, exceeding the high estimate set at € 85,000. Internationally, Georges Mathieu ’s Serpent tenebreux (1987) changes hands for € 84,300 and Sam Francis ’s acrylic on paper, Senza Titotlo (1975), reaches € 33,600.

Blindarte (Milan) sets its auction at Dec. 10. Among the best results are Christo ’s The Gates, project for Central Park, New York City (1982), which changes hands for € 117,800, and Shozo Shimamoto’s Palazzo ducale 27 (Performance with cups and bottles), a work made during the first anthological exhibition dedicated to the artist in Italy at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa in 2008, which finds a new owner for € 124,000. Encouraging results were those of Jan Fabre’s two monumental works. Engel: Revelation (2000), a colorful sculpture composed of beetles, fetches € 111,600, while De loyaliteit pist in de mond van de dood (Loyalty pisses in death’s mouth) from the series: Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas (2016), made with beetle wings, reaches € 111,600.

Bolaffi (Turin) gives a date of December 14. The sale of the work A Settori (1962) by Carla Accardi stands out, starting from the auction base of € 80,000 and reaching € 120,000. Jannis Kounellis, on the other hand, featured in the catalog with Untitled (1961), settled below his low estimate and changed hands for € 58,000. Well for Alighiero Boetti, his Un’idea brillante (1992) sells for € 26,000.

Il Ponte (Milan) presents a rich selection of Italian and international 20th-century artworks. On Dec. 15 and 16, the Milan auction house achieves a total of €5.2 million. Among the most notable results are Enrico Castellani and Renato Guttuso. The former’s White Surface No. 1 (1967), from a €180,000 auction base, flies to €310,000, while Renato Guttuso’s painting Pedestrian Passage (1957), part of a cycle of works with which the Sicilian painter reflects on the social fervor that resulted in the economic boom of the 1960s, shatters the low estimate of €15,000 and changes hands for an impressive €180,000. Excellent results also for Alighiero Boetti, whose Aerei (1983) finds a new owner for € 170,000, and for Irma Blank, whose Radical Writings, Short Sea Story 18-10-87 (1987) triples the low estimate of € 20,000 and reaches € 60,000. Internationally noteworthy are Karel Appel ’s Angoisse (1961), which rises from € 130,000 to € 230,000, and Sam Francis ’ work Untitled (Yellow Splashes) (1956), which reaches € 170,000.

Cambi (Milan) offers its selection on Dec. 18. Notable results are those achieved by Ubaldo Oppi, present with the work La jeune fille sentimentale,(1920-1922), which changes hands for € 50.000 and by the splendid Verso Matera (1960) by Giuseppe Santomaso, which, given its remarkable exhibition record, finds a new owner for € 150,000. Non parto non resto (1979) by Alighiero Boetti, exceeds the maximum estimate of € 150,000 and is sold for € 165,000.

Georges Mathieu, Serpent tenebreux (1987). Courtesy Mediartrade

Christo, The Gates, project for Central Park, New York City (1982). Courtesy Blindarte

Jan Fabre, De loyaliteit pist in de mond van de dood (Loyalty pisses in death’s mouth) (2016). Courtesy Blindarte

Enrico Castellani, White surface no. 11967. Courtesy Il Ponte

Renato Guttuso, Pedestrian passage (1957). Courtesy Il Ponte

Giuseppe Santomaso, Toward Matera (1960). Courtesy Cambi

Alighiero Boetti, Non parto non resto (1979). Courtesy Cambi

December 2020, the month of Italian auctions. Here are the results

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