post-war & contemporary - end of week release draft_merged[1]

8
 For Immediate Release 15 February 2012 Contact: Cristiano De Lorenzo tel. +44 7500 815 344 [email protected] CHRISTIE’S FEBRUARY AUCTIONS OF POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART  REALISE £ 109.5 MILLION / $ 172.1 MILLION / € 130.5 MILLION  The Highest Total Achieved by a Series of Post-War & Contemporary Art Auctions at Christie's London  TOP LOT OF THE EVENING SALE  TOP LOT OF ‘A WAY OF THINKING’ TOP LOT OF THE DAY SALE  Francis Bacon Ellsworth Kelly Gerhard Richter Portrait of Henrietta Moraes  Untitled (EK683) Umgeschlagene Blätter sold for £21,321,250 sold for £713,250 sold for £1,497,250   Top price of the week - £21.3 million for Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Henrietta Moraes   1 work sold for over £10 million / 3 o ver £5 million / 16 lots over £1 million  Strong prices at every level / 13 artist records London - Christie's February auctions of Post-War & Contemporary Art in London realised £109,514,400 ($172,110,443/  €130,573,642) - the highest total for a series of Post-War & Contemporary Art Auctions at Christie's London. The top price of the week was paid for Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Henrietta Moraes,  which sold for £19.1 million / $30.1 million / € 22.9 million - the highest price for a work of Post-War & Contemporary  Art at Christie's London since February 2008. In total, 17 lots sold for over £1 mil lion (29 for over $1 million).

Upload: gavel

Post on 06-Apr-2018

218 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

8/3/2019 Post-War & Contemporary - End of Week Release DRAFT_merged[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/post-war-contemporary-end-of-week-release-draftmerged1 1/7

 

For Immediate Release

15 February 2012

Contact: Cristiano De Lorenzo tel. +44 7500 815 344 [email protected]

CHRISTIE’S FEBRUARY AUCTIONS OF 

POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART  

REALISE

£ 109.5 MILLION / $ 172.1 MILLION / € 130.5 MILLION

 The Highest Total Achieved by a Series of 

Post-War & Contemporary Art Auctions at Christie's London

 TOP LOT OF THE EVENING SALE  TOP LOT OF ‘A WAY OF THINKING’ TOP LOT OF THE DAY SALE Francis Bacon Ellsworth Kelly Gerhard Richter 

Portrait of Henrietta Moraes   Untitled (EK683) Umgeschlagene Blätter 

sold for £21,321,250 sold for £713,250 sold for £1,497,250

   Top price of the week - £21.3 million for Francis Bacon’s

Portrait of Henrietta Moraes  

  1 work sold for over £10 million / 3 over £5 million / 16 lots over £1 million

  Strong prices at every level / 13 artist records

London - Christie's February auctions of  Post-War & Contemporary Art  in London realised £109,514,400

($172,110,443/  €130,573,642) - the highest total for  a series of Post-War &  Contemporary Art Auctions at

Christie's London. The top price of the week was paid for Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, which sold

for £19.1 million / $30.1 million / € 22.9 million - the highest price for a work of Post-War & Contemporary 

 Art at Christie's London since February 2008. In total, 17 lots sold for over £1 million (29 for over $1 million).

8/3/2019 Post-War & Contemporary - End of Week Release DRAFT_merged[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/post-war-contemporary-end-of-week-release-draftmerged1 2/7

 

Please find a table of results below:

  Auction totals: £ $ € sold by lot

Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction  £80,576,100 $126,504,477  €96,127,287 89%

Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale  £15,349,100 $24,128,785  €18,280,778 77%

‘  A Way of Thinking ’   £4,009,325 $6,302,659  €4,775,106 78%

‘ Living With Art ’   £9,579,875 $15,174,522  €11,390,471 100%

(Post-War & Contemporary works only) 

OVERALL TOTAL*: £109,514,400 $172,110,443  €130,573,642

 The Highest Total Achieved by a Series of Post-War & Contemporary Art Auctions at Christie's London

*The pre-sale estimate for the week of auctions was £85 million to £125 million

*The works of Post-War & Contemporary Art from the Hubertus Wald Collection sold 100%, totaling £6,949,725

 About Christie’s 

Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had global auction and private sales in 2011 that totaled £3.6 billion/$5.7

billion. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well asinternational glamour. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated

auctions through the centuries providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers over 450

auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles,

 wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting 

private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War and Contemporary, Impressionist and Modern, Old

Masters and Jewellery. Private sales totaled £502 million / $808.6m in 2011, an increase of 44% on the previous year.

Christie’s has a global presence with 53 offices in 32 countries and 10 salerooms around the world including in London,

New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, and Hong Kong. More recently, Christie’s has led the market

 with expanded initiatives in emerging and new markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with

successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai.

*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financ ing fees or 

application of buyer’s or seller’s credits .

# # #

Images available on request

 Visit Christie’s Web site at www.christies.com

*Full results can be found at the following link: http://www.christies.com/results/ 

8/3/2019 Post-War & Contemporary - End of Week Release DRAFT_merged[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/post-war-contemporary-end-of-week-release-draftmerged1 3/7

 

For Immediate Release

14 February 2012

Contact: Cristiano De Lorenzo +44 (0)207 389 2283 [email protected] 

CHRISTIE’S LONDON EVENING AUCTION OF POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART

 TOTALS £80.6 Million / $126.5 Million / €96.1 Million 

Francis Bacon’s Portrait of Henrietta Moraes realises £21.3 million

  International Buying brings Strong Results

   Three lots sold above £5 million / 16 lots sold above £1 million

  Record prices established for Wool, de Bruyckere, Houseago

London - Christie's evening auction of  Post-War & Contemporary Art  totaled £80,576,100 ($126,504,477 /

 €96,127,287 ) selling 95% by value and 89% by lot. This is the 2nd highest total for the category at Christie‟s

London. The top lot of the sale was Francis Bacon‟s Portrait of Henrietta Moraes which sold for £21.3 million.

Combined with Post-War & Contemporary art offered from Living With Art: A Private European Collection on

9th and 10th February, sales in the category this month have realised £96.6 million to date.

Francis Outred, Christie's Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe : “I am thrilled with the 

outstanding results of our evening auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art, the second highest total in these rooms for the 

category, only surpassed by the June 2008 auction at the height of the market (£ 86.2 million). Following the exceptional success 

of the Henry Moore last week, the best of British was completed by the Francis Bacon, ‘   Portrait of Henrietta Moraes ’   which 

achieved over 20million pounds. Having had only two owners in its near 50 year history, the work had not been on the open 

market before and had not been seen in public for almost twenty years. As a result it created a fierce battle of 6 telephone bidders 

to achieve its over-estimate price. During the week of the opening of the extraordinary Lucian Freud exhibition at the National 

Portrait gallery, the ‘   Boat, Connemara ’   drawing, a complete discovery, went well beyond the estimate to achieve £657,250. In an 

Olympics year with so much profile on British art, Christie ’  s is proud to have set these results as a message to the world of the 

strength and popularity of British art ”.

8/3/2019 Post-War & Contemporary - End of Week Release DRAFT_merged[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/post-war-contemporary-end-of-week-release-draftmerged1 4/7

Leading highlights of the sale:

  Portrait of Henrietta Moraes , one of the most seductive and sexually charged paintings by  Francis Bacon,

sold for £21,321,250 ($33,474,363 /€ 25,436,251), becoming the 2nd most valuable work of Post-War &

Contemporary Art auctioned at Christie's London and the highest price achieved in the category in

London since February 2008. Offered at auction for the first time having remained in the same private

collection for almost thirty years, this rare painting  depicts the artist‟s close friend and model Henrietta

Moraes. It was painted by Francis Bacon towards the end of 1963, the year after his breakthrough

retrospective at the Tate Gallery, London, and the same year as his first major American exhibition at

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. For many years, the work formed part of the Schniewind

collection of important post-War paintings, the present owner acquiring it from the family in 1983, almost

thirty years ago. Portrait of Henrietta Moraes  represents part of the pantheon of great paintings by Bacon

executed in 1963, the majority of which are now housed in major international museum collections.

  Gerhard Richter‟s outstanding  Abstraktes Bild sold for £9,897,250 ($15,538,683 / € 11,807,419), against

an estimate of £5 million to £7 million. Created in 1994, this majestic painting belongs to the finest period

of the artist‟s abstraction and was executed using the spontaneous squeegee technique which reveals layers

of bursting azure, emerald and mauve throughout the canvas. The painting was shown in the historicalmonographic exhibition staged at the d‟Offay Gallery in London in 1995. 

   Agrigente , an extraordinary abstract landscape from the renowned series of „Agrigente‟ paintings by 

Nicolas de Staël, realized £5,305,250 / $8,329,243 / €6,329,163  (estimate £3.5 million to £5 million),

becoming the 2nd most valuable work by the artist sold at auction. This particular work, which was realised

in Provence in August 1953, on his return from a visit to Agrigento, Sicily, is one of the largest paintings

from the series. The thick impasto is applied with a palette knife in a technique honed down by the artist,

fully emphasising the large juxtaposed strips of vivid colour. De Staël unusually signed, titled and dated the

piece on its reverse, revealing its particular importance.

  Rediscovered recently, the meticulous and emotional drawing  Boat, Connemara  was executed in 1948 by 

Lucian Freud and sold for £657,250 / $1,031,883 /  €784,099, against an estimate of £200,000-300,000.

Originally purchased from the artist‟s studio by accomplished architect, collector and patron W. G.

Howell, this is the only known Irish landscape by the artist and is a significant piece in his oeuvre,

showcasing his fine draughtsman-ship skills with just a pen and tempera, and reflecting his style of the late

1940s before the focus of his work switched to oil portraiture. Freud travelled to Ireland for three weeks

in August 1948 and produced only two works during his stay on the Irish coast, one of which is Boat,

Connemara , where he sketched his picturesque surroundings and the lonely vision of this large vessel resting 

upon the empty shore.

  Following the success of works from the collection in the Impressionist and Modern art sales last week, all

nine Post-War & Contemporary lots from the Hubertus Wald Collection (lots 47-55) sold this evening 

realising a total of £6,464,450 ($10,149,187 / €7,712,089). The top lots from this section were a 1959

 Achrome by Piero Manzoni, fetching £1.7 million, and Wols‟ Le feu , which sold for £1.4 million.

 The profits from the sale will benefit The Hubertus Wald Charitable Foundation in Hamburg.

# # #

Images available on request

 Visit Christie‟s Web site at  www.christies.com 

*Full results can be found at the following link: http://www.christies.com/results/ 

8/3/2019 Post-War & Contemporary - End of Week Release DRAFT_merged[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/post-war-contemporary-end-of-week-release-draftmerged1 5/7

 

Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening AuctionLondon - Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Sale no: 8052 - Top Ten[  All sold prices include buyer’s premium  ]

Sold: £80,576,100 $126,504,477   €96,127,287Lots Sold: 58 Lots Offered: 65 Sold by Lot: 89% Sold by £: 95%

Exchange Rate: £ = $1.570/ €1.193

Lot Description Estimate (£)Purchase

PriceBuyer

12Francis Bacon (1909-1992), Portrait of Henrietta Moraes ,1963

Estimate On Request£21,321,250$33,474,363

 €25,436,251 Anonymous

25 Gerhard Richter (b. 1932), Abstraktes Bild , 1994 5,000,000 - 7,000,000£9,897,250$15,538,683

 €11,807,419 Anonymous

32 Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), Agrigente , 1953 3,500,000 - 5,000,000£5,305,250$8,329,243 €6,329,163

 Anonymous

5Christopher Wool (b. 1955), Untitled , 1990

 WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR THE ARTIST AT AUCTION 

2,500,000 - 3,500,000£4,913,250$7,713,803 €5,861,507

 Anonymous

17 Piero Manzoni (1933-1963), Achrome , 1958-1959 1,800,000 - 2,500,000£2,729,250$4,284,923

 €3,255,995 Anonymous

15Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, Attese ,1967

900,000 - 1,200,000£2,057,250$3,229,883 €

2,454,299

 Anonymous

18Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, Forma ,1958

1,500,000 - 2,000,000£1,889,250$2,966,123 €2,253,875

 Anonymous

13 Yves Klein (1928-1962), ANT 40, circa 1961 1,200,000 - 1,800,000£1,777,250$2,790,283

 €2,120,259 Anonymous

33Francis Bacon (1909-1992), Studies of Isabel Rawsthorne ,1983

1,800,000 - 2,500,000£1,721,250$2,702,363 €2,053,451

 Anonymous

49 Piero Manzoni (1933-1963), Achrome , circa 1959 1,800,000 - 2,500,000£1,721,250$2,702,363 €2,053,451

 Anonymous

Comment: see separate release

Press Contact: Cristiano De Lorenzo +44 207 389 2283 [email protected] 

8/3/2019 Post-War & Contemporary - End of Week Release DRAFT_merged[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/post-war-contemporary-end-of-week-release-draftmerged1 6/7

 

 A Way of Thinking, Works From An Important Private CollectionLondon – Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Sale no: 4099 – Top Ten[  All sold prices include buyer’s premium  ]

Sold: £4,009,325 $6,302,659   €4,775,106

Lots Sold: 46 Lots Offered: 59 Sold by Lot: 78% Sold by £: 86%Exchange Rate £: = $1.572/ €1.191

Lot Description Estimate (£)Purchase

PriceBuyer

17 Ellsworth Kelly (B. 1923), Untitled (EK683), 1983 400,000 - 600,000£713,250$1,121,229

 €849,481European Trade 

7 Gerhard Richter (B. 1932), Grau (Grey), 1972-73 400,000 - 600,000£702,050$1,103,623

 €836,142European Private

16 Christopher Wool (B. 1955), Untitled, 2003 300,000 - 500,000£421,250$662,205 €501,709

European Private

8  Jeff Wall (B. 1946), The Jewish Cemetery, Conceived in1980 and executed in 1985

300,000 - 500,000£301,250$473,565 €358,789

European Trade

4 Thomas Schütte (B. 1954), Innocenti , 1994 180,000 - 250,000£193,250$303,789

 €230,161 Anonymous

10 Jeff Wall (B. 1946), Green Rectangle , 2006 200,000 - 300,000£193,250$303,789 €230,161

European Private

44 Giuseppe Penone (B. 1947), Unghia e Pietra (Nail and Stone  ), 1988 180,000 - 250,000

£193,250

$303,789 €230,161

European Private

11 Thomas Schütte (B. 1954), Basement II , 1993 150,000 - 200,000£169,250$266,061 €201,577

US Trade

5Michelangelo Pistoletto (B. 1933), Cane allo Specchio(Dog in the Mirror), 1971

100,000 - 150,000£121,250$190,605 €144,409

 Anonymous

2 John McCracken (1934-2011), Klondike , 1992 80,000 - 120,000£103,250$162,309 €122,971

 Anonymous

Comment: Darren Leak, Head of the Sale : “Featuring works by a number of artists rarely seen at auction, the sophisticated visionof „A Way of Thinking, Works From An Important Private Collection‟ attracted the interest of many international collectors . Themomentum of the robust bidding from the Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale carried through with record prices set for various artists, including Victor Burgin, Raoul De Keyser, Matt Mullican and Ian Wallace. This unique and varied collection provedthe continuing strength of the market for conceptual works”. Press Contact: Cristiano De Lorenzo +44 207 389 2283 [email protected]

8/3/2019 Post-War & Contemporary - End of Week Release DRAFT_merged[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/post-war-contemporary-end-of-week-release-draftmerged1 7/7

 

Post War & Contemporary Art Day SaleKing Street  – Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Sale no: 8053 – Top Ten[  All sold prices include buyer’s premium  ]

Sold:  £15,349,100 $24,128,785  €18,280,778 Lots Sold: 144 Lots Offered: 187 Sold by Lot: 77% Sold by £: 88%

Exchange Rate: £ = £1.572 /  €1.191 

Lot Description Estimate (£)Purchase

PriceBuyer

225Gerhard Richter, Umgeschlagene Blätter  ( Turned Sheets  ),1965

300,000 - 500,000£1,497,250$2,353,677 €1,783,225

European Private

258 Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale , 1954 400,000 - 600,000

£541,250$850,845

 €644,629

European Trade

254 Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild , 1992 300,000 - 400,000£541,250$850,845 €644,629

US Private

249 Gerhard Richter, Untitled (19.3.86), 1986 150,000 - 200,000£481,250$756,525 €573,169

European Private

235 George Condo, The Impossible Dream , 2003 200,000 - 300,000£457,250$718,797

 €544,585

 Anonymous

273Robert Indiana, Love (Red/Gold), conceived in 1966and executed in 2002

250,000 - 350,000£457,250$718,797 €544,585

 Anonymous

255 Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale , 1963-64 280,000 - 350,000£421,250$662,205 €501,709 

 Anonymous

280 Lynn Chadwick, Little Girl III , 1987 250,000-350,000

£361,250$567,492 €430,249 

US Private

333 Martin Kippenberger, Untitled , 1992 80,000 - 120,000

£361,250$567,885 €430,249 

 Anonymous

260 Tom Wesselmann, Final Study for Sedfre Nude Print ,1969

130,000 - 220,000£325,250$511,293 €387,372

 Anonymous

Comment: Darren Leak and Beatriz Ordovas  , Heads of Sale : “Following the extraordinary results of yesterday evening, we were pleased tosee continuing solidity and trends at the Day sale, illustrating a healthy market at every price level. The top 10 prices of the day include works of art spanning 50 years, and, as with last night, we saw demand for both established Post-War masters as well as exciting and cutting edge contemporary artists. Three out of the top ten lots of the sale were works by Gerhard Richter, a clear demonstration of the strength of the artis t’s market at many different levels ”. Press Contact: Cristiano De Lorenzo [email protected] tel +44 207 389 2283