MUNICH.- About € 26 million - that's the all-time record result of Ketterer Kunst's auctions in the first half-year of 2015. Accordingly, Germany's top selling auction house did not only excel its best semi-annual record so far from 2014 by almost € 6 million, it also realized the highest individual prices in Germany, as well as new records, for instance for works by Lucio Fontana, Enrico Castellani, Johannes Jan Schoonhoven and Günther Uecker.

Last weekend's summer auctions made for numerous top results and records at the traditional Munich auction house. Günther Uecker's nail object “Hommage à Paul Scheerbart (Scheerbartwesen)” soared from a calling price of € 300,000 to the new record price of € 1,875,000. Thus Ketterer Kunst now occupies the first three positions of auction results for works by Günther Uecker world-wide, additionally, all three results established the artist's price level beyond the million euro benchmark.

With the Uecker record and the € 1,500,000 realized for Lucio Fontana's “Concetto spaziale, Attesa”, the auction house also enters the highest individual results for works sold in Germany in the first half-year of 2015 in its books.

Owner and auctioneer Robert Ketterer sums up: “Our concept of offering high quality at appealing price estimates has once more proven to be successful and provided the highest proceeds that we ever realized in the first half-year. Accordingly, our prospect is filled with optimism and we look forward to the coming auctions this autumn.”

The fact that high-quality art is in demand more than ever and that buyers are willing to dig deeper into their pockets is proven by the scores of records and sharp increases. Additionally, 40 results beyond the € 100,000 benchmark – compared with 29 in the same period last year – deliver proof thereof.

The section of Post War Art alone provided a total of 28 results in these magic realms and had an average increase of almost 90%**** per sold object. Günther Uecker's top lot soared to more than a six-fold of the calling price and is a prime example for the remarkable results in the section of ZERO art. The one of a kind range of offerings of around 120 ZERO works was met with enthusiasm. It was not only almost entirely sold, but also mostly with fabulous increases. Buyers in the Post War department, of which some 35% were first time buyers, were amongts others particularly keen on works by Willi Baumeister, Günther Förg, Yves Klein, Gerhard Richter, Emil Schumacher and Andy Warhol.

The section of Classic Modernism saw a new world record for a work by Dorothea MaetzelJohannsen, which made sure that Ketterer Kunst now occupies the first 5 spots in the global ranking for works by the artist. Additionally, works by Max Pechsteins and Alexej von Jawlensky climbed to results in the mid- and upper six-digit realms. Next to excellent results for works by Karl Hofer, Gabriele Münter, Emil Nolde and Egon Schiele, objects by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Lyonel Feininger and Oskar Schlemmer also realized great results.

The offers in the section of Contemporary Art, its presentation in an own catalog has become firmly established, were also quite sought-after. Especially German artists like Norbert Bisky, Jonas Burgert, Martin Eder, Martin Klimas, Karin Kneffel, Neo Rauch, Anselm Reyle, Cornelia Schleime and Dirk Skreber were particularly popular with the buyers. International names in the array of young artists in demand are, among others, Chuck Close, Jonathan Meese, Erwin Wurm and Russel Young.

The section of Old Masters & Art of the 19th Century closes the spring season with a result of more than € 1.2 million. Its select range of offers was accompanied by an extra auction with its own catalog of works from the collection Max Geiger, former director of the 'Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank'. This section was especially popular with the Southern German audience, which valued the works by, among others, Franz von Defregger, Karl Altmann, Oswald Achenbach and Heinrich Bürkel so much that it fought hard against the international competition. In the end, the remarkable average increase of more than 80% per sold object was not all too surprising.

The overall proceeds of more than € 1.5 million made for great satisfaction in the department of Rare Books - Manuscripts - Autographs - Deco rative Prints . Despite the concentration from around 1300 to 1100 lots offered, the result is on par with that of last year and even suggests a slight upward tendency. Christoph Calaminus, head of the department explains: “A total of 20% first time buyers show how much this auction appeals to a large number of new clients, also from abroad. “He continues: “Both long-time clients as well as an ever increasing number of new book lovers treasure the offering's quality. This is proven by the above average increase of almost 60% per sold object.