Europe

Described by Bonhams (15% buyer’s premium) as “the ultimate in rally equipment from the 1960s”, a pair of stopwatches mounted on an original Heuer plate intended to be attached to the dashboard of a racing or rally car received a suitably enthusiastic response.

Among the salerooms in Paris holding auctions of drawings, or sales with a drawing section, around the time of the Salon du Dessin is Christie’s.

A group of works assembled by a collector from Normandy focusing on paintings and drawings from the region will be offered at the Hôtel des ventes de la Seine in Rouen on May 19.

This street scene by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761-1845) will feature in the sale of Old Master and Modern drawings from 1500-1900 to be held by Millon on May 19 at Drouot in Paris.

This table by Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) sold for €92,000 (£77,700) at Stockholms Auktionsverk in Helsinki – a record for the Finnish designer.

Ader is holding a sale of Old Master drawings on May 20 at Drouot in Paris.

Paris opens its doors to the world of drawings later this month with three dedicated fairs plus a selection of auctions featuring works on paper and a raft of drawing-related events in the city’s museums – all under the umbrella of the 'Semaine du Dessin' (or Drawing Week).

Since 1962, when the German artist Horst Antes (b.1936) first introduced his profile of the male figure to his art, it has become an instantly recognisable aspect, not only of his paintings and lithographs but also of his sculptures.

Passengers on the Cunard liner Queen Mary 2 encounter paintings by the German artist Karin Kneffel (b.1957) whenever they visit the Britannia restaurant: eight of her monumental paintings of fruit adorn the walls. A more accessible way of finding a work by her presents itself at the June 1-3 sale at Grisebach in Berlin. On offer is her diptych (F XXXVIII) from 1997 which consists of two canvases, each measuring 5ft 11in x 5ft 11in (1.8 x 1.8m).

The starting point for the careers of many of the most successful Post-war German artists was the group ZERO which came into existence in the late 1950s.

This painting by Joan Miró (1893-1983) titled 'L’Oiseau Bleu' will feature in a Modern and Contemporary Art sale to be held by Beaussant Lefèvre at Drouot on June 3.

The catalogue cover lot for the sale of Contemporary Art at Aguttes in Neuilly on April 28 will be this 2ft 7in x 2ft 5½in (78.5 x 75cm) acrylic on panel from 1983 by Victor Vasarely (1906-97) titled Pereg.

It took the German painter Günter Fruhtrunk many decades before he arrived at the art form for which he is best known.

One of the highlights of the Contemporary art auction at Dorotheum in Vienna on June 1 is Andy Warhol’s portrait of his favourite artist, the Surrealist and photographer Man Ray, which he created in 1974 after a photo session in Paris.

It was a white-glove result for the sale of works from the collection of André Mourgues at Sotheby’s Paris (25/20/10.9% buyer’s premium plus 1% overhead premium) where the 79 lots raised a premium-inclusive total that was just a shade under €10m.

The toast of Briscadieu’s (23% buyer’s premium) sale in Bordeaux on April 9 was this freeform ceramic wall sculpture by the French ceramicist Georges Jouve (1910-40).

Since 2005, the German painter Georg Baselitz has been creating a new body of work by revisiting several of his iconic works, primarily from the 1960s, and interpreting them anew. He worked only from photographs, executing not copies, but what he calls a “remix”.

This wooden Nagaland pipe from north-east India is offered at this month’s Tribal Art Fair online. Available from Shropshire dealership Handbury Tribal Art, it comes from a UK private collection and is priced at €750.