MUNICH.- Ketterer Kunst completed the most successful auction in the company’s history this December. With total proceeds of € 59 million* for the second half of 2022, the company scored the German industry’s best season result for the ninth consecutive time.

At the same time, the auction house’s figures cracked the € 100 million. With an annual total of € 103 million, it not only once more confirmed first place in the German art auction ranking, but also consolidated its top position among the international competitors.

Some 13 results beyond the million euro mark and an additional 163 works sold for six digit prices complete the sensational performance.

“Everything was perfect to the smallest detail”, says Robert Ketterer, auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst. ”The art market remains strong and the vast array of top quality motivated domestic and international bidders to many fierce bidding fights that eventually led to top prices. This may have surprised some, but part of the market’s psychology is that times of uncertainty are good times for investments. This is true for both classic works of Modern Art as well as for quality pieces of Contemporary Art.“

Accordingly, the recent December auction showed a convincing performance: Bidding was dominated by German and international private collectors. Most bids were submitted over the phone, as proxies and online, although some art lovers from the US even attended in person. The top quality range of offers let the packed saleroom vibrate, which provided a fitting backdrop for the professionally directed live stream that brought the sales of top lots to the screens of art enthusiasts around the globe. More than 50 percent of the proceeds were made with international bidders.

It is not justified to identify a single lot as the evening’s top star, as the entire second tranche of works from “Painters of the Brücke - Collection Hermann Gerlinger“ made for many surprises and records:

The sale of what is both the collection’s as well as the auction’s top lot was anticipated with great excitement: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Das blaue Mädchen in der Sonne“ (lot 10). Fighting against half a dozen phones from Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, the USA and from Scandinavia, a persistent bidder on site won the icon of German Expressionism, and also beat other competitors in the saleroom. With a result of € 4,750,000*, he did not only more than double the starting price of € 1,800,000, but also set a new European record** for a work by the artist.




Another European record**, this time for a rare sculpture by the artist, was set by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Hockende“ (LOT 6), which fetched a result of € 4,290,000*. This figure is both a multiple of the € 650,000 starting price and a multiple of the previous record. An American phone bidder beat tough phone competitors from Germany and Great Britain, as well as a number of online bidders.

The auction’s first highlight came early when Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s “Lesende“ (lot 4) was called up. It only took three phones to let the dazzling avant-garde personality Else Lasker-Schüler soar from a starting price of € 650,000 to the stunning result of € 4,060,000*, thus setting a new record** for a work by the artist in Continental Europe and a new number three in the global ranking. A North Rhine-Westphalian entrepreneur relegated competitors from Southern Germany and a Scandinavian art agent to places second and beyond.

The fourth sale in the millions was Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s “Rote Düne“ (lot 19). The nude in strong colors from 1913 will remain in Germany. Called up at € 700,000, a Hessian collector stopped the bidding fight in the saleroom and on the phones with the result of € 1,945,000*.

The next two million euro prices were also realized by Brücke painters: While Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s declaration of love for the “Mondschein“ (lot 52) will remain part of a German private collection for a result of € 1,105,000*, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s “Fehmarnküste mit Leuchtturm“ (lot 45) was sold to a Swiss collector for € 1,225,000*, who had to stand his ground against a fellow countryman over the phone.

“I am particularly delighted to see that the art market recognizes professor Gerlinger’s high quality standard“, says Robert Ketterer. Apart from the collection’s masterpieces, the entire array of contemporary documents of Germany’s most important artist group “Brücke“, among them annual reports, portfolios with woodcuts and etchings, vignettes, membership cards, programs and invitation cards, found new owners – in most cases after fierce bidding fights. “I am ever the more happy“, added Robert Ketterer, “that we will be able to offer more treasures from the Gerlinger Collection next year.“

But there were also top works of MODERN ART that did not come from the Gerlinger Collection that also showed a top performance, among them Emil Nolde’s “Meer (D)“ (lot 44), which was sold to a Swiss private collector for € 985,000*. Max Beckmann’s “Holzsäger im Wald“ (lot 9) was honored by a Northern German collector with € 865,000*, while Lovis Corinth’s “Die Lesende“ (Los 5) was lifted to € 562,500* by a German collection, more than twice its starting price.

In the section of CONTEMPORARY ART top class works were honored with international top prices. ”The confidence that clients put in us motivates the entire team at Ketterer Kunst to peak performance again and again“, says company owner Robert Ketterer. “This also enabled us this time to present a number of one-off works that one would usually expect to find in auctions in London or New York.

Ketterer’s claim to excellence in the section of German and international Contemporary Art was underlined by, among others, the two seven digit results of € 1,045,000* for both Richard Serra’s monumental steel work “Corner Prop No 6 (Leena and Tuula)“ (lot 27), which also set a new European record**, as well as for Georg Baselitz’s oil painting “Hofteich“ (lot 50). While the first found a new home in Florida after a heated battle against phones from Paris and New York, the latter will go to Baden-Württemberg. A special result was realized by “He kept following me“ from David Wojnarowicz. The price of € 437,500 put the work in the artist’s top 5, as well as the seconds best in this format.

Next to Günther Uecker’s emotionally stirring nail work “Sturz des künstlerischen Genius (für Joseph Beuys)“ (lot 8), which was bought by a Southern German saleroom bidder for € 685,000* against strong opposition on the phone from Belgium, and Anselm Kiefer’s “Die Ordnung der Engel“ (lot 58), which a previously successful Northern German collector won against bids from the rest of Germany, Belgium and Portugal, Stanley Whitney’s “N. O. 9Th Ward“ (lot 3) raised the interest of more than a dozen phones from all over Europe, the USA and China. It was nothing less than the first work by the American artist ever offered on the German auction market. Accordingly, it was little surprising that the stunning result of € 575.000* (starting price: € 150,000) is a new Continental European record**, as Robert Ketterer mentioned with a wink.