MUNICH.- Total proceeds of around € 62 million – Ketterer Kunst closes the anniversary year 2019 with this more than appropriate result. “We were able to strengthen and expand our leading position on the German art auction market mainly because of three key factors: We beat our own record from last year by around 15%. We had the best-selling auction in Germany for the third consecutive time. We realized the highest individual hammer prices in the millions“, states Robert Ketterer, auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst. He continues: “We look ahead at 2020 with great optimism and confidence. Ketterer Kunst is the best market place for German Art of the 19th, 20th and 21st Century, as well as for Rare Books.”

But that‘s not all the records that Ketterer Kunst set in 2019: The remarkable amount of 114 objects scored a price of at least € 100,000, most of them clearly more. Seven – more than ever before in one year – even crossed the magic mark of € 1 million, among them a bible from the Gutenberg-Press that was met with tremendous international attention. In total some 21 world records were realized. These top results are ever more impressive as Ketterer Kunst is significantly growing contrary to the overall market trend.

Art of the 20th and 21st Century
In comparison with the spring auctions, the second term even saw more increases. This is definitely also due to the new concept with a stronger focus on the sections Evening Sale, Limited Editions, Modern and Post War Art / Contemporary Art, while works with estimate prices of up to € 10,000 are increasingly offered in a separate ONLINE ONLY Auction. Robert Ketterer explains as follows: “The internet is omnipresent. We allow for the trend by selling more and more fascinating artworks online. Excellent increases, some of them even reached a sixteen-fold of the calling price, show how much our clients can benefit from this strategy.“

In total the department of Art of the 20th and 21st Century grossed more than € 53 million, which is a plus of around € 8 million in comparison with the previous year.

Wassily Kandinsky‘s oil painting “Treppe zum Schloss (Murnau)“ was the undisputed star of the anniversary year and also set a new German record. Some 20 works by Günther Uecker were also quite sought-after, his nail picture “Weisses Feld“ became top lot of the auction year‘s second term. Thus in total Ketterer Kunst has now scored five results in the millions for works by Günther Uecker. 28 works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner found new owners, two of them even made the top ten. Apart from more results with seven figure sums for works by Hermann Max Pechstein, Andy Warhol and Gerhard Richter, one lady was met with particular enthusiasm: Anita Rée‘s “Blaue Frau“ set an impressive world record realizing a 24-fold of the calling price. Other new records were set by works from Pierre Alechinsky, Norbert Bisky, Jonas Burgert, John Chamberlain, Tony Cragg, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Wojciech Fangor, Katharina Grosse, Barbara Hepworth, Alex Katz, Konrad Klapheck, Wolfgang Mattheuer, Fausto Melotti, David Nash, Daniel Richter, Henry Stazewski, Leon Tarasewicz, Fred Thieler and William Turnbull.

19th Century Art
With total proceeds of around € 2.7 million, this department records one of its best results ever. The big interest in this section is not only reflected by the sale figures but also by the impressive sales quota of 78% by lots. It is quite remarkable that from such a concentrated range of offers of just 175 works around a third of them realized results above the € 10,000 line.

Apart from the TOP 3 mentioned below, more than half a dozen works by Franz von Stuck were quite sought-after. Eventually all of them were sold with sharp increases while the array was led by the bronze “Phryne“ (calling price: € 12,000, result: € 75,000). Similar figures were realized for five lots by Edward Theodore Compton, with increases up to four times the calling price, as well as for three works by Karl Hagemeister. However, the most astonishing increase was realized by a bronze from Sascha Schneider. Called up at € 4.000, his work “Jünglingsbüste mit ägyptischer Kopfbedeckung“ soared to a result of € 60,000.

Rare Books - Manuscripts - Autographs - Decorative Prints
The formidable result of more than € 4 million grossed by this department is a success based on the undisputed top quality of the range of offerings. “With a result of more than € 1 million for the Fust-Schöffer-Bible from 1462 we even set a one-of-a-kind record. The Book of Books became the most expensive bible in German auction history, which directly reflects the importance of this ingenious masterpiece from Gutenberg‘s printing press“, says Christoph Calaminus, auctioneer and head of the department. In depth research and a high quality presentation are key ingredients for this success, which also found expression in the separate catalog conceived for the bible.

Online Only Auctions
Figures are completed by around € 1.7 million grossed in the monthly Online Only-Auctions on www.ketterer-internet-auctions.com, which are met with increasing popularity, partly also because of their innovative concepts (e.g. 1-Euro-Auction) as well as because of the excellent quality of the range of offerings. A good example of the unusually high results and the sharp increases is the sale of the wooden sculpture “Cross Egg“ by David Nash, called up at € 3,600 it soared to a result of € 75,000.