Sometimes, the auction house experts are part of a cult with a mantra that “high quality, good price, fresh-to-market artwork will be sold forever”.
In London on Wednesday, Christie’s Tessa Lord, the auction house’s latest adoption of clichés after the evening sale of the 20th/21st century, generated a considerable estimate of £82.1 million and overestimated £93 million. It was followed by Christie’s annual “Surreal Art” sale, which sold an overestimated £38.98 million, generating more than £48 million. This brought the total to £130.1 million that night
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“ [mid-season auctions] Yes, collectors always respond well to quality fresh market materials at a high price and high quality. Artnews.
In this case, the Lord’s assessment is appropriate. 51 batches sold at auction have never been sold. (On Sotheby’s equivalent sales Tuesday, more than half of the plots have never encountered blocks.) 94% of the batches sold works, worth 96%. Four batches were withdrawn before the sale and three were purchased.
(Unless otherwise mentioned, all mentioned prices include buyer’s premiums and other fees.)
Many plots exceeded expectations. Michael Andrews School IV: Barracuda under Skipjack Tuna (1978) set a new record for the artist, selling for more than £6 million and overestimating £5 million. Wassily Kandinksy’s watercolor painting Schwarze Begleitung The estimated number of (1923) has more than doubled, and after a bidding battle lasted for several minutes, it was priced at £2.2 million.
“There is real energy,” Lord said, and the sales atmosphere is “dynamic and spontaneous” with significant depth of bidding. “The bidding was intense and people were excited,” she added.
British artist performs well: Lucian Freud Tag Collector To £1.6 million (overestimated: £1.8 million); David Hockney Between Kilham and Langtoft (2006) at £5.1 million (overestimated: £6 million); Primrose Mountain – Early Summer (1981-2) Frank Auerbach achieved £2.4 million (overestimated: £3 million); and daphne (1988) Bridget Riley sold for £1.3 million (£1.8 million).
“It’s great to build such a strong British identity in contemporary works – London identity is very intentional,” Lord said.
Other places worth mentioning: Tamara de Lempicka’s eye-catching 1928 portrait do doct docteur boucard Sold for £6.6m in the midterm, and there is a nice Egon Schiele drawing (Boy in sailor suit1914) received more than twice the high estimate for £3.3 million.
Over-performance in 25 lots now in surreal sales. René Magritte’s 1933 LA reconnaissance is nowhere to be done The show was stolen and landed more than £10 million. Paul Delvaux’s three rare works total £12.4 million. 16% of art sold, while 98% are sold at value. Not many things were withdrawn, and only one was bought.
House Vice-Chairman of Impressionism and Modern Art Olivier Camu told Artnews He believes this is the most successful surreal sales of the house ever. “All the stars are allied,” he said.
“Selling real estate began. Surrealism, he said, was the most important movement in the history of art in the 20th century…it was about opening the door to the subconscious and using technologies that were completely different from other art technologies.”[Surrealist works] Still underrated. The sales volume wasn’t that high on Wednesday, but the quality was high throughout. ”
CAMU said the good result was due to his colleagues’ hard work in arranging the sale. “The daily meetings are held in many cases, with 100 colleagues from London and around the world taking the phone over the phone,” he said. “‘Did you call this person and the reserve?’; “What is that norm faction?” “; “Do you know who the bidder was five years ago? ” “Ten years ago? “Incredible.”
As for Christie’s overall score at night? “I think that shows that the market is really up,” Camu added.
