Christie’s Post-war and Contemporary Art Day Sale Realised a Total of £14,168,940 / RMB 117,474,682 / $18,802,183 / €16,931,883Running Total to Date of£263,239,095 / RMB 2,205,429,789 / $352,805,261 / €314,321,648
• REFLECTING THE DEPTH OF INTEREST WITNESSED IN THE SHANGHAI TO LONDON SALE SERIES ON 1 MARCH, THE POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART DAY SALE ACHIEVED STRONG SELL THROUGH RATES OF 98% BY VALUE AND 89% BY LOT
• BANKSY’S LOVE IS IN THE AIR REALISED THE TOP PRICE IN THE SALE (£978,000) WHILE GÜNTER FÖRG’S UNTITLED SOLD FOR £604,800
• YAYOI KUSAMA’S PUMPKIN [TOWSSO] SOLD FOR £831,600, MORE THAN FOUR TIMES THE LOW ESTIMATE
MIRRORING THE GLOBAL APPETITE FOR CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS, WORK BY FLORA YUKHNOVICH, HILARY PECIS, ISSHAQ ISMAIL, TOMOKAZU MATSUYAMA, MR. AND PAULA REGO ACHIEVED COMPETITIVE RESULTS THAT FAR EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS
• SIX WORLD AUCTION RECORDS WERE SET
• ITALIAN MASTERS ATTRACTED STRONG INTEREST: LUCIO FONTANA, ARNALDO POMODORO, AND ALIGHIERO BOETTI
London - The Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale realised a total of £14,168,940, selling 98% by value and 89% by lot. Banksy’s iconic Love is in the Air realised the top price, selling for £978,000. Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin [TOWSSO] achieved £831,600 against a pre-sale estimate of £200,000 while Waves at Daybreak sold for £201,600 (estimated at £50,000-70,000). This level of bidding reflected the depth of interest witnessed in the Shanghai to London Evening Sale series on 1 March and was followed by MR.’s May – Blue Hawaii, which soared above estimate to realise a world auction record for the artist (£504,000). Günther Förg’s Untitled sold for £604,800, Etel Adnan’s Untitled realised £201,000 and Stanley Whitney’s Untitled achieved £163,800.
Further records were set for Atanda Quadri Adebayo’s Let Love Lead (£20,160)*, Winston Branch’s When I need my Father’s Eyes (£126,000), Anne Collier’s Woman Crying (Comic) #16 (£100,800), Peter Uka’s Invisible Guardian (£56,700)*, and Adjei Tawiah’s Pink Suit (£50,400)*, with a record in the medium for a painting by Eileen Agar’s Harlequin (£63,000).
Outstanding results were achieved for Flora Yukhnovich’s Study of Putti (£302,400), Hilary Pecis’ Kitchen Counter (£252,000), Isshaq Ismail’s Unknown Faces No 3 (£138,600), Tomokazu Matsuyama’s Losing You More (£214,200), and Paula Rego’s School for Little Witches (£415,800).
Italian Masters attracted strong bidding with Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Sfera con perforazione (£567,000), Lucio Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Attese (£592,200), and Alighiero Boetti’s Far quadrare tutto (To Square Everything Up) (£189,000).
Christie’s 20th/21st Century Art Sales continue on 4 March with The Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works on Paper Sale while First Open: Post-War and Contemporary Art Online remains open for bidding until 9 March 2022.
