With the only title with a seven-figure estimate pulled at the last minute and no-holds-barred works hammered in at prices as low as £100 ($127), London’s June sale week ended in difficulty with the Phillips auction from the 20th century to today. Friday. The sale reached a total of £9 million ($11.5 million) including fees, with 93 lots, or 84% of the 111 on offer, finding takers.
The hammer’s total of £7.1 million ($9 million) against a presale low estimate of £8.6 million ($10.9 million) when adjusted to reflect withdrawn lots, has definitely a disappointment. Nearly 30% of lots hammered at prices below their low estimates, including nine of the top 10 lots. Only one of the first 10 was sold at a price consistent with the low estimate.
The lackluster performance was the latest confirmation that a market correction is underway. While there were bright spots certain of Christie’s And Sotheby’s last week’s sales in London did not allay fears of a sluggish market.
Elizabeth Peyton, Prince Harry, September 1998. Courtesy of Philips.
Phillips held June sales in London in 2019 and 2022, skipping the worst years of the pandemic. Both years they held daytime and evening sales. In 2022, total combined sales including fees were £23.6m ($28.7m) and of the 137 lots on offer, 122 lots, or 89%, were sold. In 2019, total sales were £45.5 million ($57.7 million) and 161 lots, or 81%, of the 198 lots on offer found buyers.
This year, the house has opted for a single sale starting at 2 p.m. Initially, they offered a total of 116 lots, much smaller than the combined total of daytime and evening sales in June 2022 and 2019. Pre-sale expectations were also a fraction of past results.
Asked the reason for the new format, Olivia Thornton, head of 20th century and contemporary art at Phillips, Europe, told Artnet News via email that the house “sees this as an opportunity to explore a new format for June in London as we continue to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace. This approach aims to foster engaging dialogues between emerging voices and established masters, while highlighting exciting synergies between modern art and contemporary.
Anna Weyant, Cloud Hill. Courtesy of Philips.
The head of the sale was Lucio Fontana Concetto Spaziale (1966-67), which fetched a hammer price of £450,000 ($571,729), below the low estimate of £550,000. The work sold for £571,500 ($721,633) including fees to benefit the Museu Vassouras in Rio de Janeiro.
Five lots were withdrawn before the nearly three-hour sale. Lucio Fontana’s lacerated canvas Concetto spaziale, Attese, the only work that had seven-figure estimates (£1.8m/$2.3m to £2.5m/$3.1m), was pulled at the last minute . Other withdrawn works included a large-scale piece by Anselm Kiefer which had presale expectations between £500,000 and £700,000 ($634,268 and $887,975).
“We were interested in both works before the sale, but it didn’t meet the sellers’ expectations,” Thornton said. Two works by Andy Warhol and one by Hermann Nitsch have also been removed.
Two third guarantees were in place: for a sculpture by Sarah Lucas and a painting by Georg Baselitz, Wel lam ruch nichtet mihr (Frebl aill lew) (2013). Baselitz’s work hammered the low estimate at £450,000 and sold for £571,500 ($721,633) including fees.
Doron Langberg, Dad (2016), hammered into pre-sale expectations and sold for £40,640 including shipping at the Phillips sale in London on June 30, 2023. Photo courtesy of Phillips.
The eye-catching painting by American artist Elizabeth Peyton Prince Harry, September 1998 (1998) hammered in at £385,000, below the low estimate of £400,000. The inclusive price of £488,950 ($617,397) made it the third most expensive lot sold at the sale.
Some market darlings did not perform as well as expected. Paint Cloud Hill (2020) by Anna Weyant, one of the hottest names in the art market last year, hammered in at £225,000, below the low estimate of £250,000. The work sold for £285,750 ($360,817) including fees. The three works by Damien Hirst sold to raise funds for the Ruwenzori Foundation were all hammered at prices below their low estimate. Works by Emily Mae Smith, Shara Hughes, George Condo and a work by Kusama did not find a buyer.
Nine of the 24 works in the collection of the late lawyer and art collector Thomas B. Lemann have been offered without reservation. Among them are the two works on paper by Bernard Meadows hammered at £100, against the low estimate of £700. Adding the costs, the work sold for £127 ($161). Phillips’s Thornton noted that “it is not uncommon to offer unreserved lots”, and said the collection was “good value and fresh on the market, and buyers responded by pledging with enthusiasm”. The collection reached a total of £641,985 ($815,320), including costs.
Nonetheless, Friday’s sale saw artist records set for Ellen Berkenblit, Duncan McCormick, Ludovic Nkoth and Sayre Gomez. Among them is McCormick’s work in 2022 Trevor’s Dream hammered at £140,000, 14 times the low estimate. It sold for £177,800 ($224,508) including postage, breaking a record set earlier this year.
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