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Giacometti work most pricey lot at US auction

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Giacometti work most pricey lot at US auction
Detail of Giacometti sculpture. Photo: Sotheby's

A bronze sculpture by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti valued at more than $100 million and 20 works by pop art icon Andy Warhol headline New York's fall art auction season this week.

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 Art worth at least $1.7 billion from impressionist and modern; post-war and contemporary go under the hammer at Christie's and Sotheby's at combined evening and day sales from November 4th to 12th.
   
The most expensive lot under the hammer is Giacometti's 1950 "Chariot," the highlight of Sotheby's impressionist sale on Tuesday.

The auction house calls it one of the seminal achievements of modern art and values it at more than $100 million.
   
"The market is rediscovering sculpture and they are now among the most desirable works of art," said Simon Shaw, co-head of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby's.
   
"This is really what collectors from Brazil, Asia, Russia are dreaming of."
   
It is incredibly rare. Of Giacometti's six chariots, four are in museums and the fifth is with a private owner who has no intention of selling.
   
The Sotheby's "Chariot," which depicts a goddess frozen in motion and considered a beacon of hope for the post-World War generation, has been in the same private collection for four decades.
   
"Given the $104.3 million achieved at Sotheby's by Giacometti's 'Homme qui marche I' in 2010, we believe that 'Chariot' could sell for in excess of $100 million," said Shaw.

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