Christie’s staff members in the 20th/21st century of the house evening sale in London yesterday (June 28) got an A for effort. The auction came a day after rival The flagship sale of Sotheby’s of the last portrait of Gustav Klimt, Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a fan), which set a new record for the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction in Europe. It wasn’t the easiest act to follow, and the auction professionals at Christie’s tried to stay energetic and positive. But no matter how hard auctioneer Veronica Scarpati tried to liven up the two-and-a-half-hour sale, it just didn’t seem like enough.
Despite a relatively high sales rate and several artist records set, the results were far from spectacular. More than a quarter of the works were awarded below the lower limit of their pre-sale estimates, which do not include fees. These include works from the Gerald Fineberg Collection, including a 1956 piece by Cy Twombly, which fetched £1.2m from a low estimate of £2m; Enrico Castellani Bianca area (1968), with a hammer price of £200,000 and a presale estimate of £250,000; Sigmar Polke’s untitled work in 2022, which fetched £380,000 from a low estimate of £500,000; The work of Jean Dubuffet from 1950 Mold Spotted Head, which had a hammer price of £270,000, down from the low estimate of £300,000. THE disappointment seemed to have crossed the Atlantic from New York to London.
Gerard Richter, Grünes Feld (green field) (1969). Courtesy of Christie’s.
Here’s a breakdown of key data from the sale…
Total sales after fees: £63.8m ($81m)
Lots sold (including guaranteed lots): 61
Lots offered before withdrawals: 68
Lots withdrawn: 2
Lots purchased: 5
Sale rate including withdrawals: 89 percent
Sale rate excluding withdrawals: 92 percent
Total Hammer: £51.7 million ($65.4 million)
Low pre-sale estimate before withdrawals: £57.5 million ($72.7 million)
Hammer Total vs Presale Low Estimate: –£5.8 million (–$7.3 million)
Total low estimate of withdrawn batches: £2.3m ($2.9m, 4% of total pre-sale low estimate before withdrawals)
Total Low Estimate of Guaranteed Lots: £18.5m ($23m, 32% of total pre-sale low estimate before withdrawals)
Total low estimate of guaranteed third-party prizes: as above
Lots with house guarantees: None
Top rated seller: by Paul Signac Calanque des Canoubiers (Pointe de Bamer), Saint-Tropez (1896), which fetched a hammer price of £6.7 million ($8.5 million) and ultimately sold for £8 million ($10 million).
Lasting memory: When no one came up with a bid over £2.8million for Gerhard Richter’s 1969 landscape painting Grünes Feld (green field), the third most expensive lot in the evening sale (estimated at between $5 million and $7.4 million), many in the King Street saleroom seemed disappointed. It was billed as a rare work that has been in a private German collection since it was acquired directly from the artist in 1975. Tessa Lord, Acting Director of Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary, London, was always optimistic after the sale. “Richter continues to be one of the most in-demand artists today,” she said. “Richter’s early landscapes are quite distinct. It’s a market that has room to grow.
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay one step ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news, revealing interviews and incisive reviews that move the conversation forward.
