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At times, it can feel like auction house specialists are part of a cult whose mantra is, ““High-quality, well-priced, fresh-to-market artworks will always sell.”
On Wednesday, in London, Christie’s Tessa Lord was the latest to adopt the cliché after the auction house’s 20th/21st Century evening sale generated a respectable £82.1 million, on a high estimate of £93 million. Immediately following, Christie’s held its annual “The Art of the Surreal” sale, which smashed the high estimate of £38.98 million, generating over £48 million. That brought the night’s total to £130.1 million
“One of the defining characteristics of [mid-season auctions] is that collectors will always respond well to fresh-to-the-market material that is well priced and high quality,” Lord, the house’s head of post-war and contemporary art in London, told ARTnews.
In this case, Lord’s assessment was appropriate. 61 percent of the sale’s 51 lots had never been sold at auction before. (At Sotheby’s equivalent sale Tuesday, over half of the lots also had never hit the block before.) 94 percent of works sold by lot, and 96 percent by value. Four lots were withdrawn ahead of the sale, and three were bought in.
(All prices mentioned include buyer’s premium and other fees unless otherwise mentioned.)
Many of the lots exceeded expectations. Michael Andrews’ School IV: Barracuda under Skipjack Tuna (1978) achieved a new record for the artist, selling for over £6 million on a high estimate of £5 million. Wassily Kandinksy’s watercolor Schwarze Begleitung (1923) more than doubled its high estimate, going for £2.2 million after a bidding battle that lasted several minutes.
“There was real energy,” Lord said, describing the sale atmosphere as “dynamic and spontaneous,” with a noticeable depth of bidding. She added, “The bidding was fiercer, people were excited.”
British artists fared well: Lucian Freud’s Mark the Collector achieved £1.6 million (high estimate: £1.8 million); David Hockney’s Between Kilham and Langtoft (2006) went for £5.1 million (high estimate: £6 million); Primrose Hill – Early Summer (1981-2) by Frank Auerbach realized £2.4 million (high estimate: £3 million); and Daphne (1988) by Bridget Riley sold for £1.3 million (£1.8 million).
“It was wonderful to build such a strong British identity with the contemporary works—the London identity was quite deliberate,” Lord said.
Other lots worth mentioning: Tamara de Lempicka’s striking 1928 Portrait du Docteur Boucard sold mid-estimate for £6.6 million, and a nice Egon Schiele drawing (Boy in a Sailor Suit, 1914) went for £3.3 million, more than double its high estimate.
At the Surrealism sale, now in its 25th year, there were many overperformances among the 25 lots. René Magritte’s 1933 La reconnaissance infine stole the show, landing more than £10 million. Three rare works by Paul Delvaux took a combined £12.4 million. Ninety-six percent of artworks sold by lot, while 98 percent sold by value. No lots were withdrawn, and only one was bought in.
Olivier Camu, the house’s deputy chairman of impressionist and modern art, told ARTnews he believed it was the house’s most successful Surrealist sale ever. “All of the stars aligned,” he said.
“The sale realty took off. Surrealism is the single most important movement in art history of the 20th century … It’s about opening the door to the subconscious and using techniques that are totally different from other artistic techniques, he said. “[Surrealist works] are still a bit undervalued. The volume of Wednesday’s sale wasn’t that high, but the quality was very high throughout.”
Camu said the excellent result was due to hard work of his colleagues in arranging the sale. “Relentless daily meetings going through lot by lot, by lot, with 100 colleagues in London and around the world on the phone,” he said. “‘Did you call this person about this and the reserve?’; ‘What’s that canonical faction?’; ‘Do you know who the under bidders were five years ago?’; ‘Ten years ago?’ It’s unbelievable.”
As for Christie’s total result for the night? “I think it shows that the market is really going up,” Camu added.
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