Modernist Offerings
The curated collection of Gilbert and Lee Bachman at Freeman’s brought in $1.9 million
The curated collection of Gilbert and Lee Bachman at Freeman’s brought in $1.9 million
After the success of the sale of the collection of Dorrance “Dodo” H. Hamilton in April, Freeman’s followed up with another single-owner sale on June 4.A group of 18 paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the Boca Raton Estate of Gilbert and Lee Bachman totaled more than $1.9 million, with 90 percent sold by value.
The sale came one day after the auction house’s American Art & Pennsylvania Impressionists sale. Freeman’s chairman Alasdair Nichol notes,“it was a nice, tight sale that resonated with people.we had people from Norway, Switzerland, Greece and Italy, all buying. It’s gratifying that it got international interest.”
The top lot of the sale was Helen Frankenthaler’s Cinquecento, which sold for $598,000 against an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000.The canvas work is a “large, imposing piece,” according to Nichol, in which Frankenthaler stained an unprimed canvas with diluted paints.
Three works by Hans Hofmann made an impression. Cataclysm (Homage to Howard Putzel) sailed over its high estimate of $250,000 after a heated round of bidding to achieve $322,000, and has been requested for an upcoming University of California, Berkeley retrospective. Other Hofmann works included Composition No. 43 (est. $150/250,000) which sold within
estimate for $175,000, and Phantasie in Red reached $43,750 over a high estimate of $30,000.
Other notable works included Head #3 by Willem de Kooning, which sold for $283,000.The bronze was completed in 1973, just one year before the artist completed his final works in the medium.another bronze, Dog by Colombian artist Fernando Botero surpassed presale estimates of $120,000 to $180,000 selling for $200,000.A painting by Nancy Graves titled Izy Boukir sold for more than four times its high estimate of $10,000, reaching $40,625.