Big money for a Modigliani
Chinese buyer sets record at New York auction
CHINESE COLLECTOR Liu Yiqian bought Amedeo Modigliani’s signature portrait of a nude woman for $170.4 million (Bt6.1 billion) on Monday at Christie’s in New York, setting a record for the Italian artist’s works.
Liu, founder of the Long Museum in Shanghai, won the bidding after more than 10 rounds for Modigliani’s “Reclining Nude”, from 1917, at a price that, according to Christie’s, also was the second-highest ever paid for artwork sold at auction.
The winning bid also was the highest that a Chinese buyer has ever paid for a Western artwork. In recent years, super-rich Chinese buyers have frequently offered high prices for works by Western masters such as Picasso, Van Gogh and Monet. According to Jussi Pylkkanen, Christie’s global president, the auction house has created a good relationship with collectors from China.
After the purchase, Liu, 52, wrote on his WeChat account that Modigliani’s piece opens a new phase for the Long Museum’s collection.
Regarding the purchase, the Long Museum wrote in an |e-mail to China Daily that the masterpiece will enrich the collection of Liu and his wife, who began buying artwork years ago, purchasing not only Chinese artwork, but also art from elsewhere in Asia as well as Europe and the US.
“Reclining Nude” will be housed in the Long Museum and shown to the public later, according to the museum.
Liu founded his art museum in 2012 in Shanghai with his wife, Wang Wei. He has made several high-priced purchases of Chinese antiques, each grabbing headlines.
In July last year, Liu bought a chicken cup used by emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong for a record price of $36.3 million. When he got the chicken cup, he used it for sipping tea, stirring a hot discussion among netizens about whether an antique cup should be used by its owner for such a purpose.
In November last year, he bought an embroidered silk thangka at Christie’s in Hong Kong for $45 million, setting a record for a Chinese piece of art. The thangka, which dates back 600 years, depicts Buddhist imagery on fabric.
Liu said at last year’s Chinese Art Market Summit that he enjoys offering high bids at auction and has become somewhat addicted to buying artworks at international auction houses.
