The Auction Block

Breaking News: Weschler’s
Moving to Rockville
After 127 years in Washington, D.C., Weschler’s will move in June from the firm’s historic building at 909 E St. NW to a new location in Rockville, Maryland. A farewell reception will be held Saturday, May 6, at the E Street gallery to preview the Capital Collections and Metro Auctions and learn about the firm’s new location. The last Metro Auction in Washington is slated for Tuesday, May 23, at 9:30 a.m. During the relocation, from Memorial Day weekend through June 11, the offices will be closed.

Sotheby’s
“Danaë”
Egon Schiele (1890–1918)
Estimate: $30 million – $40 million

Sotheby’s
“Danaë”
Egon Schiele (1890–1918)
Estimate: $30 million – $40 million
Auction Date: May 16
Painted in 1909 when the artist was just 19 years old, “Danaë” is Egon Schiele’s first early masterpiece and an extraordinary example of his daring technique. “Danaë” introduces the artist’s iconic aesthetic and epitomises the Jugendstil movement’s influence at the time. The composition also pays homage to Schiele’s informal mentor, Gustav Klimt. This Modern Art Evening Sale will feature an array of paintings and works on paper by Monet, Klimt, Picasso and other prominent artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Christie’s
“Femme Assise, Robe Bleue”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Estimate: $35 million – $50 million
Auction Date: May 15

Christie’s
“Femme Assise, Robe Bleue”
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
Estimate: $35 million – $50 million
Auction Date: May 15
This Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale initiates 20th-Century Week at Christie’s New York with 56 exceptional masterworks and sculptures. Featuring fresh-to-the-market pieces from outstanding private collections, the classic Impressionism of Claude Monet will meet Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, the bronzes of Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin and the modernism of Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky.

Freeman’s
“Matière et Mémoire ou Les Lithographes à l’École”
Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
Estimate: $40,000 – $60,000

Freeman’s
“Matière et Mémoire ou Les Lithographes à l’École”
Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985)
Estimate: $40,000 – $60,000
Auction Date: May 16
This Modern & Contemporary Art auction will offer a selection of prints, drawings, paintings and sculpture by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso (10 works), Lynn Chadwick, Richard Anuszkiewicz, Will Barnet, Wolf Kahn, Robert Motherwell, Salvador Dalí and others. The auction will open with works by Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse, followed by a complete set of 34 lithographs by Jean Dubuffet, entitled “Matière et Mémoire ou Les Lithographes à l’École.”

Bonhams
“Camellia Cake,” 1995
Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920)
Estimate: $500,000 – $700,000
Auction Date: May 16
Reminiscent of memories celebrating love, life and experience, Wayne Thiebaud’s confectionery portraits embody the warmth and comfort of an old friend and the sweetness of shared excitement and joy. Thiebaud’s “Camellia Cake,” part of this Post-War and Contemporary Art sale at Bonhams, epitomizes his transformative powers of re-envisioning the commonplace into the extraordinary. Like many artists before him, Thiebaud concentrates on food as subject matter, urging the viewer to use a variety of senses to aid in the recollection of past experience.