Two Sotheby’s auctions, held back-to-back on June 26 in London, reflected how nimble houses have become, particularly in the post-pandemic era. Sotheby’s main sale of modern and contemporary art directly followed a smaller sale of ultra-contemporary lots (The Now). The mix of jobs was wide and there was no shortage of power offerings.
With nearly 60 lots on offer in the final evening sale, auctioneer Helena Newman skillfully orchestrated the proceedings, moving at a rapid pace; the sale lasted just under two hours.
An expensive portrait of Klimt has created a new high water mark for the European market, breaking the 12-year record for the most expensive work sold at auction on the continent (a rank previously held by Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture walking man). But there was more to the sale than the headlines.
Below is the story in numbers…
Total sales after fees: £190,320,940 ($241,929,227)
Lots sold, including guaranteed lots: 50
Lots offered before withdrawals: 60
Lots withdrawn Presale: 1
Lots purchased: 9
Sale rate including withdrawals: 83 percent
Sale rate excluding withdrawals: 85 percent
Total Hammer: £136.98 million ($165.3 million)
Low pre-sale estimate before withdrawals: £155.5m to £197.5m ($198.2m to $251.8m)
Hammer Total vs Presale Low Estimate: -£18.52 million
Total low estimate of withdrawn batches: £1 million
Total Low Estimate of Guaranteed Lots: £111.6 million
Lots with house guarantees: 1
Total low estimate of guaranteed third-party prizes: £107.6 million ($137.2 million)
Lots with Third Party Guarantees: 22
Top rated seller: Gustave Klimt, Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a fan) (1917-18) hammered at £74m (£85.3m after fees)
Quote of the night: Newman proudly declared Klimt’s portrait to be “the most valuable ever sold in Europe”, as the hall erupted in applause after a ten-minute bidding war. Earlier in the sale, there was momentary confusion over a painting by Renoir which Newman had originally advertised as a withdrawn lot, but she quickly recovered and said confidently, amid murmurs in the room: ” For what would be we withdraw this marvelous Renoir? Why indeed? The portrait, Young Woman (Portrait of Margot) (1877) then hammered home for £1.2 million.
Sotheby’s auctioneer Michael Macauley at ‘The Now’ contemporary art sale in London on June 23. Photo by Haydon Perrier. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
“The Now”
The thin offering of ultra-contemporary art which started the afternoon under the label The Now was further reduced at the start of the sale, when it was revealed that three lots had been withdrawn. With that out of the way, auctioneer Michael Macauley went through the remaining 14 bids in just under 40 minutes. Demand for the lots on offer seemed robust overall.
Here’s how the data broke…
Total sales after fees: £8.7 million ($11 million)
Lots sold, including guaranteed lots: 13
Lots offered before withdrawals: 17
Lots withdrawn Presale: 3
Lots purchased: 1
Sale rate including withdrawals: 76 percent
Sale rate excluding withdrawals: 93 percent
Total Hammer: £7.02 million ($8.9 million)
Low pre-sale estimate before withdrawals: £6.6m to £9.9m ($8.4m to $12.6m)
Hammer Total vs Presale Low Estimate: +£420,000 ($535,000)
Total low estimate of withdrawn batches: £440,000 ($561,000)
Total low estimate guaranteed prizes: £3.5 million ($4.4 million)
Lots with house guarantees: 0
Total low estimate of guaranteed third-party prizes: £3.5 million ($4.4 million)
Lots with third-party guarantees: 2
Top rated seller: Mark Bradford, soldier on the ground (2018) hammered to £2.5m (£3m after fees)
Quote of the night: When a woman sitting in the room won the sculpture by Simone Yvette Leigh Mandeville (2015), for a hammer price of £380,000, there was a break in the proceedings as she either had no paddle or seemed unable to locate her paddle number for the required call at the end auction activity. Auctioneer Macauley assured him there were no worries, adding “We know you very well”.
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