The private collection of the late German curator Kasper König sold for €6 million ($6.5 million) last week at the auction house Van Ham in Cologne. Following his death in Berlin on August 9th, König’s esteemed collection, featuring 249 lots accumulated over six decades, was sold in two segments on October 1st and 2nd. The sale was initiated by König prior to his death.
Among the auction’s highlights were May 7, 1967 (1967) by On Kawara, which sold for €1.06 million ($1.16 million), and 21 Nov 2003 (2003), which sold for €290,400 ($318,000). The latter painting was given by the artist to König for his sixtieth birthday. Kawara and König shared a close friendship, strengthened during their time as neighbors in New York in the 1960s and ’70s. Born in Mettigen, Germany in 1943, König co-founded the Skulptur Projekte Münster in 1977 and directed the Museum Ludwig in Cologne from 2000 to 2012. His curatorial expertise was globally recognized, leading to roles in curating the Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2003 and overseeing Manifesta 10 in Saint Petersburg in 2014. The curator was the father of Johann König, who runs KÖNIG GALERIE, and the New York art dealer Leo Koenig. Known for supporting emerging artists and their careers, the elder König was driven by personal connections to the art and artists he collected.
“Supporting artists early in their careers was always particularly close to Professor Kasper König’s heart,” said Dr. Renate Goldmann, director of Van Ham Art Estate. “It was important to us in the creation of the catalog to make the personal connection with each work clear. The research quickly made it clear: the art history of the 20th and 21st centuries is inseparably linked to the work of Kasper König.”
König’s collection featured a large selection of sculpture work from artists including Richard Artschwager, Thomas Bayrle, and John Chamberlain. One standout lot was Thomas Schütte’s Rote Girlande (1979), which sold for €132,000 ($144,760), doubling its presale estimate. König was an early supporter of Schütte who invited the then-23-year-old to participate in “Westkunst,” the sprawling survey of Western art König co-organized in Cologne in 1981.
Meanwhile, several works at lower price points exceeded their estimates. Nicole Eisenman’s Untitled (1965) smashed its presale estimate of €4,000–€6,000 ($4,390–$6,580), bringing in €19,800 ($21,700). Katharina Fritsch’s Maus (1999) sold for €13,200 ($14,470), surpassing its estimate of €3,000–€5,000 ($3,290–$5,480). Works by Andy Warhol, John Wesley, Claes Oldenburg, and Monika Baer were also included in the sale.
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/BeFAS7w
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