Summer heat on the block
The June auctions in London saw no cooling of enthusiasm for high prices. Nipping at the heels of the European Grand Tour of Venice, Basel, Documenta in Kassel and sculpture project in Munster, London’s big three - Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury - held their contemporary art summer sales on June 20-22, 2007.
Many say Europe is reclaiming its position as a major economic contender against the US with the strength of the Euro and the pound and same attractive tax incentives. Whatever the case, the sale result were evidence of a super charged European art market centered mainly in London. All three sales featured European blue chip favorites such as Lucian Freud, Lucio Fontana and Francis Bacon. But the mix was plenty of works by Asian artists. Chinese works added a nice tinkle to the auctioneer’s tills, chiming a merry total of USD 38 million during those three days.
Christie’s kicked off the week on June 20th. Plenty of Warhol Mao surfaced the evening, but also on the menu was a portrait of a youthful Mao by Gerhard Richter painted in 1971, which sold for $2.5 million. The only Chinese riff on Mao was Zeng Fanzhi’s loopy brushstroke portrait from 2002, which nearly doubled its low estimate at $179,318.
Yan Pei-Ming, who staged his first solo show at New York’s David Zwirner a few weeks earlier, achieved a new record at just over 1 million with his large black and white triptych "Autoportrait" (2000). Making a new appearance in Christie’s London sale was neo-realist painter Wang Yidong with "Girl with cat" which doubled its high estimate at $286,909.
On June 21 and 22, Sotheby’s played the best hitters of the week. The evening sale featured 72 lots with 92% sold. 26 of the lots went for over $1 million. There were two auction records for Chinese artists. Liu Ye’s 1994 untitled painting of cherubic soldiers against a psychedelic horizon of pink, blue and purple hues at $1.14 million and Yue Minjun’s massive canvas of a chuckling, knickers flaunting "Pope" (1997) for $4.2 million, continuing the artist’s record breaking spree in New York and Hong Kong earlier this year.
To close out the week, Phillips held its sale of 113 contemporary lots on June 22. The house brought out 43 Chinese lots and only 5 of those by Qui Shihua, Zhang Xiaogang and Wang Du were not part of the private collection of Howard Farber of New York. Many of Farber’s properties were veterans of the auction block, such as Wang Guangyi, Zhang Huan and Wang Qingsong. But there were also newcomers, Wei Rong, and Cao Yong. Both sold within their estimates. The highlight was a large rare 1994 canvas from Zeng Fanzhi’s "Hospital Series" which provoked active bidding on the floor and telephones, ultimately selling for $1.6 million. Many speculated that the painting was to join Charles Saatchi’s growing stockpile of Chinese contemporary art.
The three houses spent the rest of the summer searching for the next big thing for the autumn. Many lots are expected to surface this season, suggesting the auction houses are meeting collector’s demands for strong works with good provenance. Coinciding with Frieze Art Fair in London in October over 10 lots are in the wings at Christie’s evening for contemporary, including a large Yue Minjun painted in 1993 and "Mask series" no 5 by Zeng Fanshi and Phillips will present the second serving of Howard Farber’s Collection.