newsfromchristies201102

Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction confirmed strong demand for Andy Warhol artworks. Having been in a private collection since 1974, his rediscovered self-portrait, from 1967, was sold for £10.7 million ($17.4 million _ €12.8 million), against an estimate of £3 million to £5 million. When, in the previous evening, another work by the same artist was sold for £3 million at Sotheby's. However, the evening would also be remembered by six new artist records, for works by Jenny Saville, Martial Raysse, Miquel Barcelò, Wade Guyton, Ged Quinn and Adriana Varejão.

The auction presented a strong group of global artists from the 21st century. Leading highlights included Parede com Incisões a la Fontana II (Wall with Incisions a la Fontana II) (executed in 2001), an important masterpiece by Adriana Varejão (b. 1964), one of Brazil’s leading contemporary artists. It was sold for £1,105,250 _ $1,786,084 _ € 1,316,353 – far exceeding the estimate of £200,000 to £300,000 and setting a record for the artist’s work at auction. Whereas, Saville's (b. 1970) Branded (painted in 1992) was auctionned for £1,497,250, which was sold within its pre-sale estimate at £700,000-£1 million; L'année dernière à Capri (titre exotique) (Last Year in Capri (Exotic Title)) by Raysse (b. 1936) fetched £4 million (est. £1-£1.5 million); Tres equis (executed in 1990), a mixed media on canvas, by Barceló (b. 1957), an arresting images of the corrida, or bullfight, that was sold for £1,273,250 (announced at £400,000-£600,000)

«'The torero always talks of distance, of space, but these are invisible spaces, a sort of phantom geometry, and this is very close to painting with this idea of perspective... But the most important thing is what happens on the sand. In a bullfight, you can read what happened in the sand; it's a beautiful metaphor of painting because my paintings are like traces of what has happened there, all that happens in the head, in fact. The picture object is a bit like the sand of the arena, a sort of detritus of what took place there'» (Barceló, quoted in Miquel Barceló: Mapamundi, exh. cat., Saint-Paul, 2002, p. 98);

Guyton's (b. 1972) epson ultrachrome inkjet on linen Untitled (executed in 2005) was sold for £187,250 (against an estimate of £50,000-£70,000); and Quinn's (b. 1963), meticulously executed and beautifully rendered romantic landscape Gone to Yours (oil on linen, painted in 2005), which was bought for £193,250 (far exceeding its estimate £40,000-£60,000).

This evening auction realized £61,380,500 _ $99,190,888 _ €73,104,176 (against an pre-sale estimate of £35,860,000 to £51,760,000). This is the highest total for the Post-War and Contemporary art category, in London, since June 2008. Accordingly to Francis Outred, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, at Christie’s Europe, "this was a global auction that offered art from 5 continents, drew buyers from 21 countries and realized the highest total for the category in London since June 2008."

Auction data:
_ Sold by lot 92%
_ Sold by value 98%
_ Of the 63 lots offered, 58 sold (5 unsold)
_ 16 works sold for over £1 million, and 28 sold for over $1 million.

Top five lots sold:
_ Lot 11 Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Self-Portrait, 1967 for £10,793,250 _ $17,441,892 _ €12,854,761 (est. £3-€5 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 14 Martial Raysse (b. 1936), L'année dernière à Capri (titre exotique), (Last Year in Capri (Exotic Title)), 1962 for £4,073,250 _ $6,582,372 _ €4,851,241 (est. £1-£1.5 million) to an anonymous buyer - ***World Record Price of a Work by a Living French Artist and World Record Price for the Artist at Auction***
_ Lot 8 Gerhard Richter (b. 1932), Abstraktes Bild, 1990 for £3,177,250 _ $5,134,436 _ €3,784,105 (est. £1-£1.5 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 16 Jeff Koons (b. 1955), Winter Bears, 1988 for £2,953,250 _ $4,772,452 _ €3,517,321 (est. £2.5-£3.5 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 19 Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, 1961 for £2,729,250 _ $4,410,468 _ €3,250,537 (est. £2-£3 million) to an anonymous buyer.