Highlights from the Spring Auction for Modern and Contemporary Art at the Auction House im Kinsky on April 18th and 19th, 2023
The first day came on strong with likewise works of the Modern Art section. A "Bouquet" by Rudolf Wacker was sold above the estimate at € 128,000. A wonderful motif by Carl Moll also aroused a great deal of interest; the "Forest track near Kreuzberg an der Rax" was sold for € 115,500. The nude drawing "Standing Lovers (Study for Adam and Eve") by Gustav Klimt also achieved a top result, reaching € 96,000.
The auction for Contemporary Art on April 19th brought the expected great success for Maria Lassnig's early "Light Body" with € 262,500. There was also a great deal of interest in a large-format red splatter painting by Hermann Nitsch, which fetched € 145,000 . A "Venetian Head" by Kiki Kogelnik, whose impressive solo presentation is currently showing at the Bank Austria Kunstforum, reached € 41,000.
The turnover of both auction days amounted to € 4 million including fees and post-auction sales.
For € 128,000, Rudolf Wacker's "Bouquet" found a new owner after a bidding war. The symbolism of the withering flowers refers to Wacker's fateful year of 1938, when the Gestapo searched the home and interrogated of the master of the Neue Sachlichkeit.
A wonderful motif by the 82-year-old painter Carl Moll also aroused a great deal of interest; the "Forest track near Kreuzberg an der Rax" from 1943 was sold for € 115,500 . He created the plein air painting near his retirement home, the former summer house of Alma Mahler in Breitenstein an der Rax.
The nude drawing "Standing Lovers (Study for Adam and Eve") by Gustav Klimt climbed to € 96,000. In 1917, a year before his death, the Secessionist created this study for his unfinished painting "Adam and Eve", which belongs to the collection of the Belvedere Museum in Vienna.
The early work "Light Body" by the internationally established Maria Lassnig can be understood as a precursor of her body awareness paintings, in which she depicted her inner tensions. The work aroused great interest and the hammer fell finally at € 262,500.
Pop Art artist Kiki Kogelnik is finally attracting the attention she deserves with her current solo presentation at the Bank Austria Kunstforum. The colorful heads of the Venetian Heads series are often seen as self-portraits, but can also be seen as representations of the human condition. The depicted head reached a result of € 41,000 after a bidding war.
Finally, a large-format red splatter painting created in 2013 by the actionist Hermann Nitsch, who died last year, climbed to € 145,000. These works are an unmistakable, essential part of his oeuvre and are in great demand on the market.
(Alexandra Markl)