Sometimes the art market is best measured not by the performance of evening sales, but by the more modest results achieved at day sales. in the case of Christie’s Thursday’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day sale, which brought in a total of £12.2 million ($16.4 million), showed a very finicky market, with both lows and highs. More than 80% of the works at the auction were sold, and 90% of the works sold at or above their pre-sale estimates.
Many artworks sold for more than twice their high estimates.
2020 Painting Breakaway (wig) Works by artist Somaya Critchlow, who is in her early thirties, brought in £57,150 ($76,800) (est. £15,000-£20,000). Small paintings in 2018, Garden No. 10 Estimated at just £30,000 to £50,000, the work by the late Etel Adnan sold for £107,950 ($145,100).
8-inch-tall bronze sculpture mask (mask) Created by Danish sculptor Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, who died in 1984, sold for £25,400 ($34,100) (est. £5,000-£7,000). It is the first of six editions and is from the Ole Faarup series, a selection of which was sold at Christie’s evening sale on Wednesday. Another sculpture from the Faarup collection, a small bronze by Kiki Smith edge– depicting two birds and a unique sculpture rather than a version – sold for £20,300 ($27,300) (est. £6,000-£8,000).
2020 Painting Breakaway (wig) Works by artist Somaya Critchlow, who is in her early thirties, brought in £57,150 ($76,809) (est. £15,000-£20,000). Small paintings in 2018, Garden No. 10 Estimated at just £30,000 to £50,000, the work by the late Etel Adnan sold for £107,950 ($145,084).
Some works from the collections of Tiqui Atencio and Ago Demirdjian also achieved good results. An untitled painting by Julie Mehretu from 2002 sold for £57,150 ($76,800) (est. £22,000-£28,000). Sculpture 2005 by Sarah Lucas, god is daddyThe piece, made from her signature nylon bodysuit, tiny light bulbs and wire, sold for £101,600 ($136,550) (est. £30,000-£50,000). A 1995 painting by Gary Hume, funny girlearned £82,550 ($110,950) (est. £15,000-£20,000). The most eye-catching work in Atencio and Demirdjian’s collection was a 2011 mirror by Michelangelo Pistoletto, which sold for £234,950 ($315,800), seven times its estimate.
One notable failure was the 2018 painting by Toyin Ojih Odutola, Ejogu Gardens (Amara Palace) Respectful RelationsIn 2022, the work was sold to the consignor at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for HK$4.8 million (approximately US$618,000). The work was estimated at £300,000 to £500,000 ($403,000 to $672,000) at Christie’s but did not sell.
Despite the fact that the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has just opened a Gerhard Richter retrospective, there was as little interest in Gerhard Richter’s 1974 series of gray paintings at this day sale as there was at Christie’s evening sale on Wednesday. When the Crex Collection offered a large work at its evening sale, estimated at £600,000 to £800,000 ($806,000 to $1 million), it failed to sell. The same fate befell the day’s sale of a smaller work from an unidentified Swiss collection, estimated at £120,000 to £180,000 ($161,000 to $241,000). These works are more challenging than Richter’s colorful abstractions or seductive figurative paintings, which may be why buyers are hesitant.
