Autumn auction

EVENING SALE PRAGUE
Sunday November 10, 2024 at 4 PM in Expo 58 ART EXHIBITION HALL
(Letenske sady 1500/80, Prague 7, Czech Republic)

PRE-EXHIBITION EXHIBITION:
(Letenské sady 1500/80, 170 00 Prague 7)
OCTOBER 9- NOVEMBER 9, 2024: 10 AM-6 PM
10 NOVEMBER 2024: 10 AM-3:30 PM

The selective auction of contemporary and modern art, organized by the Adolf Loos Apartment and Gallery auction house in Prague, once again recorded beautiful results and many new records were set. Of the 86 art lots offered, the vast majority of the works were sold for a total price of EUR 2 864 110.

One of the most important lots of the autumn auction was a large-format canvas of extraordinary quality by Zdenek Sykora, entitled Line No. 226, which was auctioned for EUR 478 500. Zdenek Sykora was one of the most distinctive and original personalities of European art in the second half of the twentieth century. He became a world pioneer in the use of the computer as an auxiliary tool in composing artworks, creating line paintings from the mid-1970s. These works are among the most important of his internationally acclaimed oeuvre, which is highly sought after by collectors.

Three representative oils by the Czech-French painter Josef Sima a have been acquired for the auction. Josef Sima's top work, Lumiére froide, from 1969, was auctioned for EUR 368 420. The painting originally came from the collection of publisher and prominent art collector Jean Hugues, who was a close friend of Josef Sima and owned his best paintings. Sima's gallery-quality oil Clouds and Vegetation, from 1929, from the collection of the famous architect, painter and scenographer Bedrich Feuerstein, was auctioned for an impressive EUR 358 880. The painting was exhibited at SIma's exhibition at the Umelecka beseda (Municipal House) in Prague in 1936. Sima's rare, rarity Portrait of Bedrich Feuerstein from 1934, which was auctioned for EUR 95 680, also comes from this collection. Feuerstein acquired both works directly from his friend Josef Sima, with whom he travelled in France in 1921. The works were included in the auction directly by the family of Bedrich Feuerstein.

Vaclav Bostik, the most prominent representative of the lyrical stream of Czech post-war abstraction, was represented at the auction by an extraordinary large-format canvas Genesis 1, from 1995, on which the painter captured the magical moment of the divine creation of the world, the origin of the plant and animal kingdoms. The work, from the renowned collection of the Wannieck Gallery, Brno, was auctioned for EUR 306 210. This is a new world auction record of the author.

The unique Seascape at Trégastel by the world-famous Frantisek Kupka was also part of the pre-auction offer. Kupka painted the oil on wood from 1900 - 1902 in the vicinity of the small town of Trégastel in Brittany, where he often went on holiday. The work was auctioned for EUR 119 630. Another work by Kupka that appeared in the auction was an abstract watercolour from 1931, Composition aux triangles, which has been exhibited many times, which was auctioned for EUR 86 110.

Vaclav Spala's blue work entitled Pink and White Peonies, Yellow Irises, Red Daisies in a Jar, from 1932, achieved a beautiful result of EUR 83 540.

The gouache work May Night by Josef Lada was auctioned for EUR 66 820.

Another extraordinary convolute of gallery quality that appeared in the auction were works from the collection of the renowned Richard Adam Gallery (formerly Wannieck Gallery). Among the works offered from this unique collection, the auction offered, in addition to the aforementioned Sykora or Bostik, also Jan Merta and his first-class painting Quarry, from 1991 - 1997, with a final price of EUR 43 050, or the work of the popular Josef Bolf, Untitled, with a final price of EUR 55 020. 

A new world auction record has been set eight times for premium lots from this collection:

Vladimír Skrepl, Without Cleopatra, 1986, the work achieved the sum of EUR 29 070 - a new world auction record of the author

Jiří Kovanda, Untitled (Roll), 1985, the work achieved the sum of EUR 26 690 - a new world auction record of the author

Stanislav Divis, Golgota, 1986, the work achieved the sum of EUR 24 300 - a new world auction record of the author

Jiji Petrbok, Princesses in Milk III., 1998, the work achieved the sum of EUR 17 630 - a new world auction record of the author

Vit Soukup, Napkin III., 2004, the work achieved the sum of EUR 11 440 - a new world auction record of the author

Jan Serych, Times of My Awakening (1), 2004/2007, the work achieved the sum of EUR 7 630 - a new world auction record of the author

Daniel Balaban, On the Lake, 1989, the work achieved the sum of EUR 7 150 - a new world auction record of the author

Milan Salak, Trabant, 1997, the work achieved the sum of EUR 6 190 - a new world auction record of the author

Among the works with this unique provenance, the auction included important paintings by Jiri Naceradsky, Lubomir Typlt, Vladimir Kokolia, Jiri David and many others.

Collectors and investors were undoubtedly attracted by the offer of sculptural works. Josef Maratka was represented in the auction by a unique patinated bronze sculpture, Intelligence, which allegorically depicts human intelligence as a young slender woman dressed in a long flowing dress, holding a book in her left hand. The statue was auctioned for EUR 27 720. The auction also offered three bronze statues of Kazi, Teta, Libuse by Olbram Zoubek, which were auctioned for EUR 28 680, EUR 31 550 and EUR 28 680.

Glass lovers could enjoy a unique glass object from the workshop of Frantisek Vízner. The work Bowl with Line, 1989, was auctioned for EUR 33 460. Rony Plesl was also represented in the auction by Foculus Small, 2022, with a final price of EUR 29 160.

Czech painting of the first half of the twentieth century was represented in the auction by such sought-after names as Vaclav Radimsky, Joza Uprka, Otakar Kubin (Othon Coubine), Alois Kalvoda, Alfons Mucha, Josef Lada, Josef Capek, Vaclav Spala, Bedrich Feuerstein, Jan Hala and others. The second half of the twentieth century introduced the works of painters such as Vlastimil Benes, Josef Jira, Jan Bauch, Pravoslav Kotik or Bohumir Matal.

Contemporary Czech and Slovak art was represented by the top works by Jiri G. Dokoupil, Jan Mancuska, Jan Mikulka, Jan Gemrot, Ivan Exner and others.

Congratulations to all auction bidders!
 

All works of art have been examined by the most important Czech experts and foreign experts.
The auction house is the only one in the Czech Republic to offer a lifetime guarantee of the authenticity of the offered works of art.