Tobacco firm art sale raises over €13m

Tuesday 09 March 2010

The sale of 160 paintings and sculptures from the British American Tobacco modern art collection raised over €13m at Sotheby's auction in Amsterdam on Monday, almost triple the sale estimates.

The most expensive painting of the night was Dinosaueriei (dinosaur egg) by German artists Martin Kippenberger, which went for €900,000. The work had been valued at €200,000 to €300,000.

The sale also included works by Karel Appel, Jan Schoonhoven, Niki de Sainte Phalle and Simon Hantai.

'Sotheby's Amsterdam made history this evening with the sale of works from one of the most beloved corporate art collections ever formed,' managing director Mark Grol told ArtDaily.org. 'The results achieved tonight represent the highest total ever achieved in the Netherlands for a sale of fine art.'

Factory

The collection was created in the 1960s when the director of the Turmac tobacco company Alexander Orlow commissioned art to decorate the walls of the company's cigarette rolling factory in Zevenaar.

He wanted to improve the working environment of his dedicated employees and did this by building a world-class collection of large, colourful contemporary works specifically chosen to be shown in the factories above the machinery and so provide inspiration and stimulation.

According to some reports he came to believe the art actually enhanced the productivity of the workers.

In 2000, Turmac was bought by British American Tobacco Company (BAT), and the art collection renamed the BAT Artventure collection. But in 2006 the Zevenaar factory was closed down, leaving the collection looking for a new home.

According to Britain's Telegraaf newspaper, Jan de Ruiter, the mayor of Zevenaar, supported by Martijn Sanders of the Stedelijk Museum, looked for a way to buy the collection and keep it locally, possibly as a wing of the museum.

But 'BAT did not really want to make a deal,' De Ruiter was quoted as saying.

© DutchNews.nl

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