ZURICH.- With an outstanding result of CHF 3.45 million for «St. Tropez. La ville et les pins» Koller honoured the pointillist Paul Signac on his 150th Birthday. At their Swiss art auction four of five works by Albert Anker could be sold for over a million Swiss Francs each. The newly launched auctions for PostWar & Contemporary brought a top result for James Rosenquist with CHF 572 000.

"This is a very special painting. I would have loved to keep it myself,“ Cyril Koller says about the work of Paul Signac. Two ambitious private collectors struggled on the telephone, after bidders in the room dropped out of the bidding contest, in CHF 50 000 steps to the top result of CHF 3.45 million.

Koller achieved further results in the millions in the field of classical Modern art with the paintings of Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The beach view "Pourville près Dieppe“ by Claude Monet was bought by a British collector for CHF 1.4 million. Renoir‘s "Le pont d‘Argenteuil“ also went to a foreign private collector for CHF 1.17 million.

With CHF 997 500 the portrait of a women by lithuanian painter Chaim Soutine from 1929 remained just below the million mark. In the end a collector from the artist‘s home country was able to secure the piece for himself.

PostWar & Contemporary
Contemporary art catches up
Excellent results were also recorded at their PostWar & Contemporary art auction on December 7. The strong demand was reflected in the multitude of telephone and written bids as well as in the packed auction room.

Tony Cragg’s wonderful chrome steel sculpture from 2008 was sold for CHF 384 000; it was the real star of the evening, over which two telephone bidders and two bidder in the room fought very persistently. Another highlight was James Rosenquist’s "Sister shrieks“, which was purchased for CHF 572 000 by a private collector. Tom Wesselmann’s "ris nude with Motherwell (filled in)“ made CHF 480 000. "Memo to Charlie Parker,“ the lively and colourful work by John Chamberlain, one of the most important sculptors of Abstract Expressionism, was sold for CHF 420 000.

Swiss Art
Four paintings by Albert Anker sold for over one million Swiss francs
With a result of CHF 1.86 million, the representation of three girls making wreaths – a tribute to the then newly introduced class of handcraft for girls – was the highlight of the auction. The painting "Old Man with coffee grinder“ that had an estimate of CHF 900 000 to 1.3 million generated CHF 1.4 million at auction.

Two further works by Anker with a lower estimate were the real suprise. Both "Portrait of a Bernese girl“ and "Boy carrying lop“ achieved CHF 1.17 million each, over three times the estimate.

Modern & Contemporary Prints
Great interest due to good mix of works offered
Roy Lichtensteins coloured relief print exceeded the estimate of CHF 90 000 significantly and changed hands for CHF 180 000. Lucio Fontana’s two-part brass sculpture from the Concetto-Spaziale series "Natura“ also sold above the estimate with CHF 98 400. The prints by Pablo Picasso were very successful too– all nine lots found a new owner. The colour lino cut "Après la pique“ from 1959 achieved a result of CHF 55 200.