The Fine Art Group & Christie’s Bring Old Master Sale to New York

MASTERWORKS FROM THE ALANA COLLECTION

The Fine Art Group is delighted to announce Old Masters | New Perspectives: Masterworks from the Alana Collection, to be sold with Christie’s New York on June 9, 2022. This selection is one of the most important collections of Italian Old Master Paintings, Sculptures, and Antiquities to ever be offered at auction.

The Fine Art Group is honored to advise our client, a world-renowned collector and his family, in the sale of this extraordinary group of masterworks, refining the public offering to maximize return through selective curation, sales management and marketing optimization. Assembled with great expertise and passion over decades, the Alana Collection’s Gothic, Italian Renaissance, and Baroque paintings comprehensively tell the history of Italian art and have gained international renown following the acclaimed 2019-2020 exhibition at the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris. Masterpieces by Fra Angelico, El Greco, Orazio Gentileschi and Lorenzo Monaco will be offered alongside important antiquities, rare sculpture, and spectacular jewelry.

The auction comprises over 50 outstanding works that will be sold in a single owner live auction taking place at Rockefeller Center on June 9, 2022, after completing a global tour alongside Impressionist, Modern, and Post-War highlights to London, Hong Kong, New York, and Los Angeles. Proceeds from the sale will benefit a charitable organization that focuses on arts and education. In total, the sale of these works is expected to fetch $30 million – 50 million.

Please contact our team for opportunities to preview the collection.

Chief Executive Philip Hoffman comments, “In recent years, The Fine Art Group has ably assisted families shape their collections for the next generation, such as the ‘white glove’ sale for prominent Saudi collector Walid Juffali at Bonhams in 2018, as well as assisting distinguished collectors to refine their extensive holdings for their next phase of collecting, such as the extraordinary Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence auction – a collection of $110 million of jewelry sold at Christie’s in 2019.  Masterworks from the Alana Collection is a fantastic example of these two streams coming together and my global team and I are delighted to be working on behalf of the family, and alongside the team at Christie’s again, to bring a carefully curated selection of works from the wider collection to market.”

Bonnie Brennan, Christie’s President of Americas, comments, “It is an honor to partner with The Fine Art Group to present this once in a generation collection with some of the finest works of their kind to ever come on the public market. The profound quality and breadth of these works stand as a testament of the supreme care and vision that guided the formation of the Alana Collection. We are especially excited to debut these works alongside 20th and 21st century masterpieces, creating a dialogue across the entirety of history.”

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Image 1: Orazio Gentileschi, The Madonna and Child, courtesy of Christie’s

JULIAN OPIE SITE-SPECIFIC COMMISSIONS

The Fine Art Group is delighted to announce the completion of two major new, site-specific commissions by Julian Opie for Swire Properties in Hong Kong.

Parade. (2020) depicts sixty-two colourful and dynamic characters from all walks of life as they go about their daily business. The multi-layered and dimensional metal figures are finished in glossy varnish, accompanying passers-by in their journey through the pedestrian link between the Mall, Three Pacific Place and Starstreet Precinct.

Located along the walkway between the Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong and Conrad Hong Kong, Running 3. (2020) occupies a dramatic position along a prominent raised walkway. Conceived as a continuous frieze of thirteen life-sized figures in black vinyl, Running 3. embodies the dynamic of central Hong Kong.

Opie’s distinctive formal language is instantly recognisable and reflects his artistic preoccupation with the idea of representation and the means by which images are perceived and understood. Always exploring different techniques both contemporary and ancient, Opie plays with ways of seeing through reinterpreting the vocabulary of everyday life; his reductive style evokes both a visual and spatial experience of the world around us. Drawing influence from classical portraiture, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Japanese woodblock prints, as well as public signage, information boards and traffic signs, the artist connects the clean visual language of modern life with the fundamentals of art history.

The artist has commented on observing busy city crowds:

“A constant flow in both directions. Each person a mass of decisions and style and attributes with a destination and only a fleeting moment in front of me but combined, they create a constant flowing crowd. Each random person would be great to draw, better than I could ever invent.

I draw using a graphic program that allows me to bend thick lines over the photograph and fill the gaps with flat colour. A gang of characters emerges, caught in mid stride, going about their business with bags or phones or cold drinks. Their random, momentary decisions became frozen into a set piece, a logo and symbol drawn in the most emphatic and generalised way I could manage while sticking to the details of what I saw. Symbols and hieroglyphs, images and road signs perform similar tasks of turning objects and people into a language that is specific enough to describe but general enough to be read. These words can be combined to form sentences just as the people combine to form crowds. Walkways and pavements turn pedestrians into lines of text, read left to right.”

The series of figures, created for Pacific Place by British artist Julian Opie, is the latest addition to Swire Properties’ permanent art collection, as part of the Company’s long-time support of the arts and place-making. Inspired by and designed to engage with its community – the workers, shoppers of Pacific Place and people of Hong Kong Parade. and Running 3. is a noteworthy highlight for the Pacific Place community and beyond.

Find out more about the project here.

Visit www.julianopie.com to find out more about the artist and his works.

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Image 1: Image courtesy Julian Opie; Image 2: Image courtesy Pacific Place; Image 3: Image courtesy Julian Opie; Image 4: Image courtesy Pacific Place; Image 5: Image courtesy Julian Opie

SUCCESSFUL SALE OF JEWELRY ADVISORY CLIENT COLLECTION

We are pleased to have assisted a client in successfully selling their impressive jewelry collection in the Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels Sale.

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 29

Fancy Vivid Orange Diamond and Diamond Ring
Estimate: $1,000,000-$1,500,000
Sold: $1,895,500

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 30

Fancy Red Diamond and Diamond Pendant-Necklace
Estimate: $2,500,000-$3,500,000
Sold: $3,166,000

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 191

Padparadscha Sapphire and Diamond Ring
Estimate: $180,000-$220,000
Sold: $226,800

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 192

Suna Sapphire and Diamond Necklace and Pair of Earrings
Estimate: $100,000-$150,000
Sold: $126,000

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 184

Emerald and Diamond Ring
Estimate: $75,000-$100,000
Sold: $163,800

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 185

Oscar Heyman & Brothers
Emerald and Diamond Ring
Estimate: $50,000-$70,000
Sold: $151,200

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 183

Oscar Heyman & Brothers
Emerald, Black Opal and Diamond 
Estimate: $50,000-$70,000
Sold: $88,200

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 178

Oscar Heyman & Brothers
Black Opal, Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire ‘Clover’ Necklace 
Estimate: $50,000-$70,000
Sold: $100,800

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 176

Oscar Heyman & Brothers
Black Opal, Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire  
Estimate: $10,000-$15,000
Sold: $17,640

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 177

Oscar Heyman & Brothers
Black Opal, Diamond, Ruby and Sapphire Bracelet
Estimate: $30,000-$50,000
Sold: $52,920

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 16

Van Cleef & Arpels 
Diamond and Pearl Lapel-Watch
Estimate: $25,000-$35,000
Sold: $37,800

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 187

Oscar Heyman & Brothers
Diamond, Colored Diamond and Ruby Brooch
Estimate: $35,000-$45,000
Sold: $88,200

Sotheby’s
December 9, 2020 – Magnificent Jewels
Lot 186

Oscar Heyman & Brothers
Pair of Sapphire and Diamond Pendant-Earclips
Estimate: $40,000-$60,000
Sold: $69,300

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

A client has put this impressive work by contemporary street artist Retna for auction. The work They Can’t Come is one of the largest pieces of Retna’s to go to sale.

Heritage Auctions
Urban Art Signature Auction
Lot 66039

RETNA (B. 1979)
They Can’t Come
2015
Acrylic on canvas
96 x 120 inches (243.8 x 304.8 cm)
Signed, dated, and titled in ink to verso

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Our team understands the complex and varied needs of institutional and corporate clients. Between our Appraisal and Advisory departments, we can create bespoke plans, working within institutional missions and processes to ensure their collections are properly insured, protected and cultivated.

We are proud to have advised the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh over the last few years to ensure that their beautiful rare book collection is appropriately insured and worked with law enforcement on the recovery of many volumes for the city of Pittsburgh.

“In the fall of 2016, library officials decided it was time to audit the collection again, and hired the Pall Mall Art Advisors to do the appraisal. Kerry-Lee Jeffrey ….. began their audit on April 3, 2017, a Monday, using the 1991 inventory as a guide. Within an hour, there was trouble. Jeffrey was looking for Thomas McKenney and James Hall’s History of the Indian Tribes of North America. This landmark work included 120 hand-colored lithographs, the result of a project that began in 1821 with McKenney’s attempt to document in full color the dress and spiritual practices of Native Americans who had visited Washington, D.C. to arrange treaties with the government. The three-volume set of folios, produced between 1836 and 1844, is large and gorgeous and would be a highlight in any collection. But the Carnegie Library’s version had been hidden on a top shelf at the end of a row. When Jeffrey discovered why, her stomach dropped. “Once a plump book filled with plates,” she would recall, “the sides had caved in on themselves.” All those stunning illustrations had been cut from the binding.”

Read more at Smithsonian Magazine

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Denison Museum in Granville, Ohio is currently hosting Say It Loud, a curated exhibition of the work of contemporary celebrated black artists.

While it’s not possible during this unprecedented time to see the exhibition in person,  you can experience Say It Loud through a short video filmed at Denison University Art Museum.

“From the collection of Hedy Fischer and Randy Shull, Say It Loud includes the work of world-renowned contemporary black artists who document and challenge dominant historical perspectives and events. The exhibition illustrates the struggles and achievements of African-Americans, with themes focused on ethnic identity, institutional racism, gender, and beauty. Works come from an array of Guggenheim, Whitney, and MoMA artists, including Kehinde Wiley (Obama’s official portraitist), Kerry James Marshall, Alison Saar, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Mickalene Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, and Sanford Biggers.”

Denison Museum

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

Good assets sold through the correct method and in the appropriate sale will hold value and perform well, even in the most uncertain markets.

We are pleased to have assisted a client in selling their Picault bronzes for £100,000, more than doubling their low estimate. 

Sotheby’s
The Orientalist Sale
Sale L20100
Lot 44

Émile-Louis Picault
The Priest and The Scribe
Bronze, dark brown patina, with gilt bronze highlights and rouge griotte marble attributes, on gilt bronze, black and rouge griotte marble bases
41 in.
Estimate: £40,000-£60,000

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

We are delighted to announce that on November 12, 2019, our advisory department assisted one of our clients with acquiring an important Gauguin painting at Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale in New York at $240,000 hammer.

Paul Gauguin (French, 1840-1903)
La ferme de la Groue à Osny
1883
Oil on canvas
15 1/8 x 18 in.
Signed and dated ‘P Gauguin 83′ lower right
Sold: $240,000 (Hammer)

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

We are delighted to announce that Lot 485, Platinum, A Ruby and Diamond Ring and Lot 491, Unmounted Fancy Intense Orangy Pink Diamond both sold for well over the high estimate.

Sale: Important Jewelry, October 16, 2019

Doyle
Lot 485

Platinum, Ruby and Diamond Ring
Centering one cushion-shaped ruby approximately 7.46 cts., flanked by 2 tapered baguette diamonds.
Size 8 1/4.
Estimate: $70,000-$90,000
Sold for $125,000 (with Buyer’s Premium)

Doyle
Lot 491

Unmounted Fancy Intense Orangy Pink Diamond
One cut-cornered rectangular Fancy Intense Orangy Pink diamond.
Approximately 2.
Estimate: $100,000-$150,000
Sold for $200,000 (with Buyer’s Premium)

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.

NEW PUBLIC SCULPTURE UNVEILED OF CHARLES DARWIN

ON THE WEST SQUARE OF THE TAIKOO HUI DEVELOPMENT, PART OF SWIRE PROPERTIES

On Thursday 27th June, Phillip King unveiled a new sculpture, named after the celebrated biologist Charles Darwin, at its permanent home in China.

The Fine Art Group advisory team worked closely with the commissioner Swire Properties, the artist, and Thomas Dane Gallery on this exceptional commission. We are delighted to be involved in such an important piece of public sculpture, the second work by the artist in China.

Phillip King said at the unveiling, “My feeling on coming here to witness the unveiling of my work, Darwin, 2019, is mostly one of humility at the honour of being perhaps one of the few British artists who will have a public work in this great historic city.”

King, who like Darwin graduated from Christ’s College Cambridge, based the sculpture on Darwin’s impact, through science and history, on the world today and how he helped us see the world in a new way.

THE SCULPTURE’S MEANING

The composition consists of four interrelated elements. The man himself is found in the dynamically raised triangle, positioned on a tilting slope to represent the unknown world. The circle is placed on the corner of the slope symbolising the known world. These elements are separate from a fourth, a square gate through which both living and non-living entities are able to reach the “Great Unknown”. King explains that he included an angled panel in the doorway as a reminder that the entrance is only partially open.

King goes on to explain that he was not consciously of this symbolism when he worked on the Darwin project. The elements “reflect how the eye connects to the brain through a king of developing filter of past memories and acquired conceptions, for example, the use of the triangle, the circle, and the square which go back to the beginning of my sculptural concerns in the early sixties.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Phillip King is a British sculptor, born in Tunis in 1934. He studied Modern Languages at Christ’s College, Cambridge from 1954–57, and sculpture at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, from 1957–58; where he was a favourite pupil of Anthony Caro. Following his studies, King spent a year working as an assistant to Henry Moore and teaching at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London. King lives and works in London.

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Arts Council of Great Britain
British Council, London, UK
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
City of Rotterdam, Netherlands
Contemporary Arts Society, London, UK
Cultural Centre, Adelaide, Australia
Government Art Collection, London, UK
Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan
Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
New Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Prefectural Museum of Contemporary Art, Toyama, Japan
Rijksmuseum, Netherlands
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK
Stuyvesant Foundation, New York, USA
Tate Gallery, London, UK
Tel Aviv Museum, Israel
Yale Centre for British Art, USA

RECENT SELECTED SOLO SHOWS

2018 Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York NY
2017 Thomas Dane Gallery, London, England and Galerie Lelong, Paris, France
2015 Kistefos Museet, Norway
2014 Thomas Dane Gallery, Ranelagh Gardens, and Duveen Galleries, Tate Britain, all London, England
2013 Consortium in Dijon, France
2012 Speerstra Foundation, Apples
2011 Flowers Cork Street, London
2008 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
2007 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
2006 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
2003 Jesus College, Cambridge
2002 Place Gallery, Cavagnole, Italy
2001 Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London  and Garth Clark Gallery, New York

PROFESSORSHIP

St Martin’s School of Art, London, England 1959-1980
Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, Germany 1979–1980
Professor Emeritus, Royal College of Art, London, England 1980-1990
Professor of Sculpture, Royal Academy Schools, London, England, 1990-1999
President of the Royal Academy, London, England 1999-2004

OUR SERVICES

Offering expert Advisory across sectors, our dedicated Advisory and Sales Agency teams combine strategic insight with transparent advice to guide our clients seamlessly through the market. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss our strategies and services in depth.