Brancusi sculpture tops 2018 art auction ranking

“La jeune fille sophistiquee (Nancy Cunard)", a polished bronze work made by Constantin Brancusi in Paris in 1932, is the most expensive sculpture sold at an auction in 2018: it was sold for USD 71 million, local Bursa.ro reported. Brancusi’s sculpture represents Nancy Cunard, an activist, militant for gender equality and civil rights in the United States, who was also an editor and admirer of the Surrealism and Dadaism art movements. She has also served as muse to French poet Louis Aragon and Irish novelist James Joyce inspiring many others. The sculpture was sold at Christie's New York in May, becoming an absolute record for Brancusi at a price well above that paid for his second best-sold sculpture "Muse endormie" (1913), sold in 2017 for USD 57.3 million. The price of the latter increased gradually as it was sold several times over decades. It was estimated at USD 6.6 million in 1997, later at between USD 25 and USD 35 million in 2017 to finally reach the price of USD 57.3 million in an auction that took 10 minutes. The highest prices recorded in auctions during 2018 were paid for French artists of the twentieth century: five paintings of Giacometti were sold for over USD 10 million each, Rodin registered the fourth best bid with "Baiser, moyen modèle dit Taille de at the Porte "(1890) and Matisse won the second best auction with "Not allonge I (Aurore) "(1907). editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Christies.com)