newsfromchristies201110

Post-War & Contemporary auctions held in London, this October, by the three main auction houses, has showed that there is significant activity in this segment of the market when works of quality are presented with realistic estimates.

Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening and Day Sale auction, at King Street, in London, on October 14th and 15th, totaled £47,485,225 (US$71,936,715 - including premium). The evening auctions of Post-War & Contemporary Art Auction and The Italian Sale realised a combined total of £55,630,000 / $87,672,880 / €63,473,83, the second highest total for an October sale in London. Whereas the Post-War & Contemporary Art day auction totaled £9,414,875 / $14,837,843.

With three lots on the top ten prices of the Evening Sale, the German visual artist Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) confirmed another market principle: a good exhibition helps to sell an artist, but a major retrospective helps even further - Tate Modern had opened Gerhard Richter: Panorama the week before (from 6 October 2011 to 8 January 2012). The first two lots with the highest price at the evening auction were Kerze (Candle) (1982, Lot 10) and Abstraktes Bild (1992, Lot 23), both by Richter. The first piece, bought by an anonymous for £10,457,250 (US$16,480,626 / ) (estimate £6,000,000 - 9,000,000) established a world record prices for the artist at auction; the second work achieved £3,625,250 (US$5,713,394 / €4,136,410) (estimate £3,500,000 - 3,500,000); while Abstraktes Bild (1988, Lot 1) went to a private European collector for £1,026,850 (US$1,618,316 / €1,171,636) (estimate £500,000 - 700,000).Angel of the North, a life-size maquette made in 1996 became a world record price for Antony Gormley (b. 1950) at auction: £3,401,250 (US$5,360,370 / €3,880,826) (estimate £1,500,000 - 2,000,000); while Martin Kippenberger's (1953-1997), Untitled (1990), which was bought for £1,329,250 (US$2,094,898 / €1,516,674) (400% higher than the minimum price estimate £250,000), achieved a world auction record for a sculpture by the artist.

On the Day Sale the “auction produced solid results and saw strong prices for a broad and international range of living international artists, as highlighted by the top 10 prices of the sale", said Carolyn Hodler and Edward Tang (Co-Heads of the Sale). If there were anywhere but desert. Thursday, a work by Ugo Rondinone (1963), which the artists executed in 2000, was sold for £505,250 (estimate £250,000 - 350,000).

Christie's London :
Post-War & Contemporary Art (Sale 7990 and 7991), Oct. 14 and 15 2011. Auction Result £65,044,875 (with the Italian Sale)
Post-War & Contemporary Art (Sale 7914 and 7873), Oct. 14 and 15 2010. Auction Result £45,253,137 (with the Italian Sale)
Post-War & Contemporary Art (Sale 7758 and 7756), Oct. 16 and 17 2009. Auction Result £20,523,725 (with the Italian Sale)
Post-War & Contemporary Art (Sale 7617 and 7619), Oct. 19 and 21 2008. Auction Result £49,115,350 (with the Italian Sale)
Post-War & Contemporary Art (Sale 7425 and 7487), Oct. 14 and 16 2007. Auction Result £58,719,475 (with the Italian Sale)