RELEASE: CHRISTIE’S POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART OCTOBER AUCTIONS TOTAL
PRESS RELEASE | LONDON
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 17 OCTOBER 2013
CHRISTIE’S POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART OCTOBER AUCTIONS TOTAL
£129,196,575 / $206,750,233 / €162,057,210
Highest-ever Post-War & Contemporary Art October Auction Week
Essl Collection, Evening and Day Auctions, and The Italian Sale
Contributed to record-breaking October totals
London – Christie’s October week of Post-War and Contemporary Art auctions in London resulted in a record breaking combined total of £129,196,575 /$206,750,233/ €162,057,210, doubling last year’s previous record of £67,854,250, and making it the highest Post-War and Contemporary Art October auction week ever. The successes of the Essl Collection, the Evening and Day Auctions and The Italian Sale demonstrated an appetite for the highest quality work from bidders around the world, and created 13 artist records across the week’s auctions.
Francis Outred, Chairman and Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe, Middle East, Russia, India, says: “When I began in this business in 1999, the October sales were lucky if they generated turnover of £5 million pounds a year, now after last year’s record season of over £67 million we have virtually doubled that to achieve over £129 million. With German masterpieces by Polke, Richter, Baselitz and Kippenberger from Essl collection, the strength of Boetti at one level and Scheggi at the other in the Italian sale and Peter Doig, Gerhard Richter and Basquiat leading the way in the Evening auction, this has been another momentous week for Post -War and Contemporary Art at Christies.”
The Essl Collection
The Frieze Week auctions began with the highest value single owner Post-War and Contemporary Art collection ever sold at Christie’s London. It consisted of 43 works from the Essl Collection, one of the most important private collections of Post-War and Contemporary Art in Europe, with holdings of over 7,000 works. The carefully curated selection of works by German masters Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz and Martin Kippenberger, as well as major works by international artists such as Cindy Sherman, Frank Stella, Louise Bourgeois and Morris Louis sold 91% by lot and totalled £46,861,500 / $75,306,431 / €59,420,382.
Led by five major works by Sigmar Polke, arguably the greatest grouping of Polke works ever offered at auction, which realized £16,252,500 / €20,608,170 / $26,117,770, the sale saw strong bidding from international buyers resulting in half of the lots (49% / 21 lots) selling above estimate, many for double or even five times of their pre-sale estimate – such as Aggregate (2004) by Antony Gormley which sold for £1,258,500 / $2,022,410 / €1,595,778 against an estimate of £150,000 - 200,000. Auction records were also set for Bernd & Hilla Becher, Fördertürme England / English Mineheads, sold for £242,500 / $389,698 / €307,490, and a sculpture by Georg Baselitz, Meine neue Mütze / My New Hat, 2003, sold for £1,426,500 / $2,292,386 / €1,808,802.
Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction
The record breaking Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction realised a total of £40,344,500 / $64,309,133 / €50,228,903 selling 89% by lot and 94% value against a pre-sale estimate of £32,170,000 – £47,100,000, the highest ever October Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction, doubling the record Christie’s set last year. Record prices at auction were established for five artists including Brett Wadden, Joe Bradley (pictured left), Rachel Whiteread, Toby Ziegler and Louis Eisner.
The top lot of the evening was Peter Doig’s The Heart of Old San Juan, 1999 which sold for £4,562,500 / $7,272,625 / €5,680,313. This image of an emerald basketball court on the edge of the sea holds a significant place in the artist’s oeuvre as it is his first painting in a tropical landscape. This work represents a shift away from the autumnal and wintery landscapes of snowy Canada in the early 1990s towards a renewed fascination with the tropics that has occupied him for the last 15 years.
Waldstück, 1969 (estimate: £3,000,000 – £5,000,000), which is one of Richter’s three large-scale paintings capturing the heart [do you mean heat, not heart? Check the catalogue] of the Chilean rainforest, sold for £4,450,500/ $7,094,097 / €5,540,873. Dissolving in and out of focus, the blurred edges evoke an atmospheric haze of humidity, pushing the composition to the edge of abstraction. Previously part of the prestigious Onnasch collection, this work has remained in the same hands for nearly forty years and dates from a breakthrough moment in Richter’s career coinciding with his first New York exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum.
The Italian Sale
The 14th edition of Christie's Italian Sale realised a total of £27,584,000 / $43,968,896 / €34,342,080. It was 88% sold by lot and 88% by value against a pre-sale estimate of £22,485,000 – 32,355,000. The top price was paid for Alighiero Boetti’s Colonna, 1968, (pictured right) which sold for £2,434,500 / $3,880,593 / €3,030,953 and set a world record price for the artist at auction. This significant Arte Povera sculpture is a highly important and pivotal work that marks both the culmination of the artist’s early Arte Povera explorations and the beginning of the more conceptual direction that his art would take on after this decisive year. As well as this, five artist records were also set for works by Carla Accardi, Marina Apollonio, Agostino Bonalumi, Nanda Vigo and Piero D’Orazio.
Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction
Finishing off the week’s success, the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction saw its highest total ever for October, realising £14,406,575 / $23,165,773/ €18,065,840, and selling 93% by lot and 84% by value. Andy Warhol’s Barbie, Portrait of BillyBoy*, 1986 (pictured right) was the auction’s top lot, and sold for £722,500 / $1,161,780 / €906,015. It is one of only two existing paintings of Barbie created by the artist; the second known example with a ruby red background was commissioned later by Mattel in 1986. The work is distinguished for its deeply personal provenance as Warhol gave it to the young designer, BillyBoy*, who was a highly original creator of couture clothes for Barbie, whose surreal couture clothes and bijou jewellery impressed Warhol. Another highlight of the sale was David Hockney’s Ravel’s Garden 3, 1980 which realised a price of £578,500 / $930,228 / €725,439.
Cristian Albu and Rosanna Widen, co-heads of the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction comment: “This was a record October Day Auction. We saw particularly strong prices for German artists – the Richters and Schuttes and German art in general sold particularly well. We saw truly global bidding for Andy Warhol’s Barbie, Portrait of BillyBoy*, which doubled its high estimate, selling for £600,000 to an Asian buyer. The success of the Day Auction comes down to presenting and curating interesting sales, providing quality works at accessible prices – both from established names and younger artists - with an enormous amount of material fresh to the market, as highlighted by the fantastic success of a previously unseen Martin Kippenberger painting.”
Post-War and Contemporary Art – pre-sale estimates: Results
Essl: 44 Works: £39,920,000 – 56,780,000 £46,861,500 / $75,306,431 / €59,420,382
Post-War & Contemporary Evening Auction: £32,170,000 – 47,100,000 £40,344,500 / $64,309,133 / €50,228,903
The Italian Sale: £22,485,000 – 32,355,000 £27,584,000 / $43,968,896 / €34,342,080
Post-War &Contemporary Day Auction: £9,982,000 – 14,134,000 £14,406,575 /$23,165,773/€18,065,845
Pre-sale estimate: £104,557,000 – £150,369,000 £129,196,575 /$206,750,233/€162,057,210
13 POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY ARTIST RECORDS: Previous record
ESSL: 44 WORKS
Lot 9, Bernd & Hilla Becher, £242,500 / $389,698 / €307,490 $289,000 – May 2008
*Lot 18, Georg Baselitz, £1,426,500 / $2,292,386 / €1,808,802 $1,650,500 – November 2012
EVENING AUCTION
Lot 50 Brent Wadden, £74,500 / $118,753 / €92,753 No previous record
Lot 53 Toby Ziegler, £98,500 / $157,009 / €122,633 £15,000 – October 2013
Lot 54 Joe Bradley, £986,500 / $1,572,481 / €1,228,193 $965,000– May 2014
Lot 61 Rachel Whiteread, £578,500 / $922,129 / €720,233 £445,250 – July 2008
Lot 89 Louis Eisner, £134,500 / $214,393/ €167,453 $137,000– May 2014
THE ITALIAN SALE
Lot 107 Marina Apollonio, £92,500 / $147,445 / €115,163 £40,000 – October 2013
Lot 108 Carla Accardi, £170,500 / $271,777 / €212,273 €195,100 – March 2008
Lot 125 Alighiero Boetti, £2,434,500 / $3,880,593 / €3,030,953 £1,833,250 – June 2010
Lot 135 Agostino Bonalumi, £386,500 / $616,081 / €481,193 €404,400 – April 2014
Lot 140 Piero D’Orazio , £278,500 / $443,929 / €346,733 $386,500 – November 2011
Lot 166 Nanda Vigo, £52,500 / $83,685 / €65,363 €28,600– April 2014
*WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR THE MEDIUM BY THE ARTIST
PRESS CONTACTS:
John Diviney │ +44 207936 1290 / +44 7720 337488│
Rosanna Wollenberg │ +44 207 936 1292 / +44 7715 039621│
Images available on request
About Christie’s
Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had global auction and private sales in 2013 that totaled £4.5 billion/ $7.1 billion, making it the highest annual total in Christie’s history. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers around 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Private sales totaled £760.5 million ($1.19 billion) in 2013, an increase of 20% on the previous year.
Christie’s has a global presence with 53 offices in 32 countries and 12 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Mumbai. More recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded initiatives in growth markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai.
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.