This post was originally published on artnews.com
In the hour before Sotheby’s kicked off its midseason Modern and Contemporary evening sale in London Tuesday, a group of specialists huddled together outside The Windmill, a pub around the corner from the auction house. Their safety-in-numbers formation reminded me of highland cattle, a friendly, handsome breed that clump together for protection and warmth. Who can blame them? Sotheby’s has been through the ringer over the last year: multiple rounds of corporate restructuring and layoffs, a very public reversal on its revamped fee structure, and several sales with middling results.
As I had my customary pre-sale pint, I stared into my half-empty glass and remembered that the same time last year, I was standing at the same bar, limbering up for Sotheby’s March auction, and wondering if the art market would ever finish “correcting.” Fortunately, Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s chairman and head of modern and contemporary art, snapped me out of these doldrums. There was reason to be hopeful, he told me. The art market has shown signs of recovery of late.
The results, a few hours later, should add some further proof of green shoots. In total, Tuesday’s evenings 38 lots–half of which had never hit the auction block before–generated £62.5 million (with fees), a shade shy of the auction’s £66.6 million high estimate. There were three withdrawals ahead of the sale, most notably Gerhard Richter’s Heu (1995), estimated at £5 million to £7 million. Four works failed to sell, ending up with 90 percent sold by lot.
(All prices mentioned below include buyer’s premium and other fees unless otherwise indicated.)
Sotheby’s was heaving before the 7 p.m. kick-off, with packed seats and an excited crowd thronged at the back of the salesroom. The atmosphere recalled past, more spendthrift years.
“In putting this sale together over the last few months, we’ve certainty noticed that the mood feels positive, and collectors are ready to dive into the new year,” Ottilie Windsor, Sotheby’s co-head of contemporary art in London, told me before launch.
The auctioneer for the night, Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Europe chairman, got the room’s attention by double tapping his gavel and highlighting the auction’s top lots. Yoshitomo Nara’s spellbinding Cosmic Eyes (in the Milky Lake) (2005) was one. “Her glistening eyes have stopped visitors to our galleries in their tracks all week,” he said. Another headliner was Lisa Brice’s electric After Embah (2018). “It turns the male gaze on its head,” Barker said enthusiastically. And then there was Banksy’s hand-painted Crude Oil (Vettriano) (2005), consigned by blink-182 vocalist and basisst Mark Hoppus and made poignant by the recent death of its inspiration, Scottish painter Jack Vettriano. Sotheby’s said it would accept cryptocurrency for this lot only.
The opening lot, Max Ernst’s Moonmad (1944), which last sold at auction 45 years ago, was chased by six bidders and soared beyond its £800,000 high estimate, selling for £2.1 million to applause. (Moonmad was actually Lot 2; Lot 1 was withdrawn.) Lot 4, Roy Lichtenstein’s Peanut Butter Cup (1962), just edged past its $1 million low estimate, at which point Italian dealer Marco Voena of Robilant + Voena gallery, marched into the salesroom mumbling angrily to himself. He ordered someone to move from the seat next to his business partner, Edmundo di Robilant, near the back row. Rather rude, I thought. I then overheard the pair fervently discussing the virtues of Lot 6, Banksy’s Crude Oil (Vettriano), and wrongly assumed they might bid on it. Despite the hype around the work, it sold online for £4.3 million (high estimate: £5 million) to a private British collector.
After this, Lot 8, Brice’s subverted male gaze painting, sailed past its high estimate of £1.5 million to sell for £5.4 million after a 10-minute, six-way bidding battle. That result was more than double her previous auction record, set at Sotheby’s in New York in 2021. Nara’s compelling Cosmic Eyes then followed suit, going for £9 million (high estimate: £8 million) at the end of another 10-minute dogfight between four parties. Cue light applause. It was the top result for the evening.
“This is going pretty well,” a smiling Harry Dalmeny, Sotheby’s honorary UK chairman, told me on his way to the back of the room.
I was failing to work out who a bidder was by scrutinizing the back of their head when Chloe Stead, Sotheby’s head of private sales, Old Master paintings, offered me a quick tour of Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III’s old master collection in the next-door gallery. I accepted, and in doing so missed Lots 11 to 16. The 60 paintings, which will be sold in New York in May, are expected to fetch between $80 million and $120 million. If all goes to plan, it will be the most valuable single-owner old master collection ever sold at auction.
Stead pointed out “the best cauliflower in art history” in Luis Melendez’s stunning still life (it really is a mesmerizing cauliflower). Adrian Coorte’s bowl of wild strawberries was equally impressive. “Who doesn’t need an exquisitely rendered bowl of fruit?” she asked. “All of these works are so timeless and sit so well besides contemporary art. A couple of them feel like early Lucian Freud drawings.”
When I returned from my Old Masters sojourn, Barker had brought the gavel down on a lovely Auguste Rodin bronze, Éternel printemps, premier état, taille originale, variante type A (1883). Sold at £1.3 million, it went for a shade over its high estimate of £1.2 million. The night was a decent showing for sculpture. Constantin Brancusi’s L’Oiseau d’or (1981) sold within estimate for £3.3 million, while another Rodin bronze, Cariatide à la pierre, petit modèle (1989), doubled its £350,000 high estimate, and State VIII (2012) by Anthony Gormley went for £508,000 (mid-estimate).
The room was still humming with energy when Lot 18, Andy Warhol’s Camouflage (1986-7), sold for its high estimate of £2.5 million. When Pablo Picasso’s Buste de femme (1953) sold to a private Asian collector for £4.2 million (high estimate: £6 million), the crowd started to thin out. (There were still another 20 lots to go.)
All in all, Tuesday’s sale was good going for Sotheby’s and is further proof that the art market is perking up after its drawn-out hangover. The post-sale mood among the specialists and heads of department was upbeat going on jubilant. They even posed for a team photo by the rostrum. I heard a cheer or two. Palpable relief, and optimism for the future. It’s been a hard slog. They should celebrate.
During the post-sale, Sotheby’s CEO Charlie Stewart told me the result was “good for London.” “This evening’s tone felt different, it was positive,” he said.
Collectors were also happy. As I took my leave, a tall American congratulated an Asian man who had apparently dropped $267,000 on Nicolas Party’s unnerving Portraits (2015), which was hanging on the back wall. “You’re going to sell that one for a lot of money, my friend,” the former said, slapping the latter on the back.