Art market continuing recovery

The Post-War & Contemporary Art sale held last Wednesday, September 14th, by London Christie's, in South Kensington, achieve a final figure of £2,882,100 ($4,524,897/€3,317,297) for 176 lots (264 lots were on sale). "A considerable increase on the equivalent sale in September 2010, resulting in a record year for the category at Christie’s South Kensington saleroom - £6,221,400 for the two annual sales combined", said Darren Leak, Christie's Specialist and Head of Sale. Cildo Meireles (b. 1948), Jogo de Velha Serie C 8A (Tic-Tac-Toe Serie C 8A), 1997 (estimate £60,000-£80,000), achieved the second highest price for the artist at an auction. The installation composed by yellow wooden rulers arranged into nine squares on masonite went for £181,250 ($284,563/€208,619), for a South American private. Meireles' painted four X's in black and five O's in an identical yellow on each square. Like so many other pieces this is a political work, it «visually engages the viewer through the visual tension between the daubed markings and the details of the rulers ... The X's almost appear like targets and themes from his earlier political works are discernable. With the rulers one cannot help seeing the oppressive force in the need to measure and corral.» Jan Fabre (b. 1958), The Battle in the Hour Blue, 1989 (estimate £12,000-£18,000), was bought by an European trader for £169,250 ($265,723/€194,807), also the second highest price for the artist at an auction. The sales to be held during Frieze Art Fair, in London, next month, and the upcoming season in New York, in November, would clearly indicate if the art market for Post-War and Contemporary art is in a continuation of the recovery, since the 2009 crisis, or, instead, owners may hold off selling, with obvious impacts on auctions results and on the market liquid capacity.

On the previous day, at the Rockefeller Plaza (New York), Christie's held an auction dedicated to South Asian Modern & Contemporary Art , which was flooded by works by the recently deceased Maqbool Fida Husain (b. 1915, died in London on June 9). Twelve paintings and one watercolour by the Picasso of India counted for almost 60% ($4,222,750) of the final sales ($7,375,775), from over more than one hundred lots on sale. The artist dead clearly influenced the developments in, and the
competitiveness of, the art market towards his work.