SG MAG APRIL 2019 MAIN_2

As reported by Artprice Mar 19, 2019
“In London, the year’s first major results in Post-War & Contemporary Art were encouraging. Christie’s and
Sotheby’s both posted excellent totals, doubling their combined 2018 sales turnover.
Sotheby’s posted $145 million from its sales on 5 and 6 March while Christie’s generated 140 million
(including the total from the much anticipated Georges Michael collection), and that’s without counting
their respective online sales. The combined total of $285 million is almost exactly double the total posted
for their London Post-War & Contemporary Art sales of March 2018 when the world’s two dominant
auctioneers generated $143 million (6 and 7 March 2018).
The strongest results were hammered for David Hockney, Nicolas De Stael, Cecily Brown, Gerhard Richter,
Jenny Saville and Lucian Freud, with David HOCKNEY fetching the highest bid at Christie’s when his
Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott (1969) – with similar dimensions to Portrait of an artist (Pool
with two figures) (1972) – generated his second best-ever auction result at $49.3 million. In 1992, the
painting was worth $1.1 million when it was sold at Sotheby’s in New York.
Some of the results at Christie’s sale of the George Michael Collection were disappointing. The singer’s fame
failed to ‘ignite’ the bidding and two important works by Damien HIRST sold beneath their estimates. The
most anticipated, The Incomplete Truth (a dove in flight… in a formol bath of course) fetched just $1.2 million
versus the $2 million expected. Tracey EMIN got a better reception when her canvas Hurricane largely
doubled its high estimate, fetching $572,000. In total, the George Michael sale brought in $14.6 million, a
sum donated to charity organisations in honour of the singer’s philanthropic commitments during his lifetime.
We also saw that painters Kerry James Marshall, Adrian Ghenie and Cecily Brown are still appealing
to major collectors. Marshall generated another superb result with the sale of Untitled
(Painter) (2008). Estimated between $1.8 million and $2.5 million by Sotheby’s, it reached $7.3 million on
1 March. The same day, two small drawings by the American artist also exceeded their estimates. The young
Romanian painter Adrian GHENIE also exceeded all expectations: two large paintings dated 2009 brought
in more than $9 million, while at Phillips, Cecily BROWN‘s Armed and Fearless (2014) doubled its estimate
reaching $2.3 million.
More unexpectedly for a Post-War & Contemporary Art sale, Nicolas de Staël returned to centre-stage
with three oils-on-canvas sold at Christie’s on 6 March bringing in a total of $13 million.
In contrast… the Jeff KOONS contraction appears to be continuing. His Box Car (1986) (Ed 1/3)
was auctioned for the third time, with a worrying fall in value:
• $1,945,000 on 13 May 2008 (Sotheby’s London)
• $845,000 on 11 November 2015 (Christie’s New York)
• $485,000 on 6 March 2019 (Christie’s New York)
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