Van Ham, the Cologne-based auction house that has been tasked to sell the private collection of the late Kasper König this fall, will stick to its plan despite the former museum director’s death on Saturday.
“Although we are deeply saddened by the news of Kasper König’s death, our work on the auction catalog for ‘The Kasper König Collection — His Private Choice’ auction continues,” a spokesperson from the auction house said in an email on Tuesday, adding the house has reached an agreement with König’s family to continue with the auction.
On Kawara’s May 7, 1967 on Kasper König’s wall. Copyright: Daniel Poller / Van Ham Kunstauktion.
The esteemed German curator and former art professor co-founded Skulptur Projekte Münster, a world-renowned outdoor exhibition that takes place across public sites in the German town of Münster every 10 years, and served as director of Museum Ludwig in Cologne for from 2000 to 2012. He died in Berlin on August 10. He was 80 years old.
Shortly before his death, Van Ham announced that it would be launching its autumn season with the sale of König’s private collection on October 1 and 2 as a single-owner sale titled “The Kasper König Collection — His Private Choice.” According to the sale announcement in July, König assembled a collection of more than 400 modern and contemporary artworks over many decades.
The sale will be divided into three parts, an evening live auction on October 1, which will consist of about 60 key works. This will be followed by the day sale on October 2, where 200 works will be offered. The rest are expected to be sold via an online-only sale running from September 26 to October 10. Among the highlights include works by American painter Richard Artschwager, German sculptor and painter Thomas Bayrle, American artist William Copley, and German painter and photographer Sigmar Polke, whose mixed media canvas work titled Masterpiece Auctioned Off as Junk will be among the lots featured, with presale estimates at €30,000 to €50,000 ($32,852 to $54,751).
Kasper König writing postcards. Copyright: Daniel Poller / Van Ham Kunstauktion.
Works by the late New York-based Japanese artist On Kawara (1932-2014) will be a focus. König was a neighbor of Kawara in New York and was a key supporter of his work. With König’s supprt, Kawara began working on his postcards from 1968, addressing the first ones to König. Among the highlights include Kawara’s May 7, 1967 (1967), which was hung on König’s wall. The work has a presale estimate of between €500,000 to €700,000 ($547,647 to $766,706).
König was to curate the preview exhibition of the auction with Renate Goldmann, director of Van Ham Art Estate. “Yes, Kasper König wanted to curate the preview of the sale. There were several meetings and calls for this exhibition since June,” Van Ham’s spokesperson noted, adding that the house will continue working with König’s family and office “to enable us to present the collection in his spirit.”
Van Ham has yet to announced the full sale catalog. Details of all the lots featured in the sale are expected to be revealed next month.