Modern & Contemporary Art: Sex Sells - Sexy Highlights From The Art Auctions

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - New York`s fall auctions for modern & contemporary art came to an end. A nude by Modigliani reached the highest prices. During the auction "The Artist`s Muse" at Christies`s the  Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian bought Amedeo Modigliani’s “Nu Couche (Reclining Nude)” from 1917 for $174,2 million. This is the second-highest price for an artwork at auction (bloomberg).

It is interesting that the record for a painting at an auction was reached by another sexy painting: Pablo Picasso`s Les Femmes d'Alger (Women of Algiers), which shows a scene in a brothel, for $179.4 million at another Christie`s auction in May.

Christie`s "The Artist´s Muse" auction sold more sex on canvas. The impressionist painting “Femme nue couchee" by the French artist Gustave Courbet from 1862 fetched $15,3 million, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner`s "Im See badende Mädchen"/Bathing Girls in the Lake" was auctioned at $13,6 million (christies).



                               Sex On Canvas


It seems that many artists and the curators & collectors of their works show a large interest in sex. At least at these year´s auctions at the big auction houses you could see a lot of sex on canvas. Below I show images I collected at this year`s auctions:

At Christie`s May auction for contemporary art appeared:
 "Isa" by Richard Phillips,  (2006, oil on canvas);
"The Collaborator" by John Currin,  (2010, oil on canvas);
Egon Schiele`s, Liegender Akt mit gehobenem Bein (1918, black Conté crayon on paper);
John Kacere`s "Kathy" (1972, oil on canvas) & "Beth ´72" (1972, oil on canvas);
& Elizabeth Peyton`s "Georgia O´Keefe (Nude)" (2006, ink on paper)

Above images from  @ Christie`s November contemporary art auction. There you could see Tom Wesselmann`s "Monica Reclining on Blanket and Pillow (Black)" (1986-89, enamel on laser-cut steel)

The smaller competitor Phillips offered @ the May auction for contmporary art Urs Fischer`s "Untiled (Candle) (wax, wick, pigment, bricks)" & "Scout" by Lisa Yuskavage,  (2012, oil on linen).



Sotheby`s contemporary art November auction had also some delicacies:



                                 

"Val Veeta" by Mel Ramos (1965, oil on canvas);
 John Altoon`s "Untitled (F-8A) (1962-63, pastel and ink on illustration board);
 Eric Fishl`s "Overnight" (1981, oil on canvas)
& Hayv Kahraman "Persian Couple 2" (2009, oil on linen)



Enjoy!