On 18 January, Sotheby’s will stage its first sale of the year in Asia with an auction of Modern and Contemporary Art in Singapore. Highlights will go on public view from 14 to 18 January at 5 Jiak Kim Street, ahead of the live auction.
For the first time, Sotheby’s sale in the city-state will coincide with Singapore Art Week (SAW), a week-long celebration of art and culture.
Exhibited alongside the auction highlights, a seminal work by Vincent van Gogh on loan from an Important Private Asian Collection will also be unveiled for the first time in this region.
A selection of the offerings explores the subject of landscape seen through different lenses across cultures, time, geography, history and stylistic movements, under the title of Landscapes: as far as the heart can see.
The curation reflects the cosmopolitan nature of Singaporean society and the ever-increasing demand from a growing collector base in the Southeast Asian region.
Jasmine Prasetio, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Sotheby’s said: “Sotheby’s is thrilled to stage its Modern and Contemporary Auction to coincide with Singapore Art Week – a buzzing moment when collectors and the art community gather to celebrate the wonder and excitement that art brings. The selection of rarely seen works by era-defining artists, from Raden Saleh to Marc Chagall, is emblematic of our commitment to the region. We look forward to connecting with collectors on the ground and beyond for regional and global art world in our very first sale of the year in Asia.”
The number of Singapore-based bidders consistently ranks among the top five regions in Sotheby’s Asia sales and last year saw a 22% surge in new bidders from Southeast Asia. Sotheby’s has held live Modern and Contemporary Art auctions every year in Singapore since its return to the city-state in 2022.
The staging of its forthcoming auction during SAW is testament to the company’s continued investment in Southeast Asia and its commitment to engage with audiences across the region and beyond.
The sale will feature more than 50 artworks by emerging and acclaimed artists from the region, Greater Asia, Europe and the United States. This includes celebrated Singaporean pioneers such as Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng, Kim Lim, alongside renowned artists from the region including Raden Saleh, S. Sudjojono, Le Pho, Vu Cao Dam, Christine Ay Tjoe and I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih.
Further highlights include Japanese contemporary artists MR., Kei Imazu, Ayako Rokkaku as well as Takashi Murakami.Ultra-contemporary Western artists Lucas Arruda and Daisy Dodd-Noble will make their auction debut in Singapore.
Headlining the sale is La danse autour de la corbeille (above) by Marc Chagall, a first-generation European modernist and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Painted in the final decade of the artist’s life, on his wedding anniversary in 1975, the work is an ode to love dedicated to his second wife and muse, Vava (Valentina Brodsky), who originally owned the work and assumed the place formerly occupied by Chagall’s late first wife, Bella Rosenfeld, as the central female figure in his paintings.
The striking palette and playful figural arrangement exude an atmosphere of joyous love synonymous with the artist’s late works. This piece is one of only six Chagall paintings featuring the corbeille motif (basket of fruits) to ever appear at auction and stands unique among them for its striking orange palette.
The auction also spotlights two rare, fresh-to-market paintings by Raden Saleh, the 19th-century nationalist artist of Indonesia and one of the most important artists in the region. Held in the same private collection and unseen in public for the past century, these two paintings capture the landscapes of Java, Saleh’s homeland and an endless source of inspiration following his return from Europe.
As the first artist of Asian origin to receive professional training in Europe, Saleh was widely recognised by European royal courts and institutions. His landscape paintings epitomised European Romanticism and often depicted the grandeur and mystery of nature, emphasising its sublime power to evoke profound emotional responses in the viewer.
When he returned to Java in 1852, inspired by a renewed passion for his homeland, he painted numerous landscapes in the 1860s and 1870s. During this period, Javanese Landscape: View of Merbabu and Merapi was created, depicting the two volcanoes from which the painting takes its title.
Over the past 30 years, less than 10 works from Saleh’s late Javanese landscapes series have surfaced at auction. His paintings are also part of prestigious museum and institutional collections, including the National Gallery Singapore and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Presented alongside Raden Saleh’s paintings, The Indestructible Desert by S. Sudjojono, known as the founding father of Indonesian modern art who depicted the landscape as an allegory for the people, representing their strength and integrity. Rich with personal relevance and symbolic parallels to the artist’s life, the work portrays an apocalyptic landscape with familiar motifs from the artist’s oeuvre, such as the Kapok tree and the red ball.
As a nationalist artist, S. Sudjojono remained committed to producing works that reflected the country’s social reality, using his art to help develop Indonesia’s modern art scene.
AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Modern and Contemporary Art
Marc Chagall, La danse autour de la corbeille
Oil, tempera and ink on canvas, 65.9 x 81.3 cm, 1975
Est: SG$ 1.35 – 2.7m
Raden Saleh, Javanese Landscape: View of Merbabu and Merapi
Oil on canvas, 77 x 102 cm, 1862
Est: SG$ 1 – 2.2m
Raden Saleh, Javanese Landscape: View of Talagabodas
Oil on canvas, 35.8 x 61 cm
Est: SG$ 130,000 – 280,000
Christine Ay Tjoe, Lights for the Layer
Oil on canvas, 170 x 200 cm, 2011
Est: SG$ 950,000 – 3m
Chu Teh-Chun, Voies inexploirees
Oil on canvas, 97 x 130 cm, 2007
Est: SG$ 520,000 – 850,000
S. Sudjojono, The Indestructible Desert
Oil on canvas, 100 x 300 cm, 1976
Est: SG$ 680,000 – 2m
I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih, Musik Mengusir Buta Kala
Tempera on textile, 150 x 100 cm, 1997
Est: SG$ 20,000 – 50,000
Kim Lim, RONIN
Bronze sculpture with wood base, 38 x 76 x 31 cm,
1963
Est: SG$ 140,000 – 380,000
Exhibition dates : Tuesday – Saturday, 14 – 18 January 2025
Location : 5 Jiak Kim Street, Singapore 169425
Admission price : Free
Website : www.sothebys.com
Opening hours : 11am – 6pm (14 – 17 January)
11am – 2:30pm (18 January)
Auction date : Saturday, 18 January 2025
Time : 5pm SGT
Location : 5 Jiak Kim Street, Singapore 169425
Website : https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2025/modern-contemporary-art?locale=en
Exhibition: 14-18 January 2025
Live Auction: 18 January 2025
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