A set of 17 iPad drawings by David Hockney titled ““The Arrival of Spring” was auctioned at a Sotheby’s special sale in London on Friday, fetching a total of £6.2 million ($8.3 million). (All quotes include fees.) The total was more than double the high estimate, and the artist’s record for prints was broken three times, eventually reaching a whopping £762,000 ($1 million). The arrival of spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire 2011 – 19th February (2011). The previous record was £504,000 ($693,069).
The collection represents the largest collection of Hockney’s iPad drawings on the market to date. Fifteen of the 17 works achieved record prices for the subject in both editions (another edition of the series was printed in a larger format).
Sotheby’s said 40% of the paintings were sold to U.S. collectors and 65% were purchased online.
“Hockney’s iPad paintings are both influential and exciting,” said Yessica Marks, Sotheby’s Head of European Prints. art news. “Tonight’s white-glove result confirms that Hockney’s work is on the radar of collectors around the world, both as a benchmark of artistic originality and as evidence of his enduring market appeal.”
She added that the sale “brought a spark to Frieze Art Week”.
Marks said: “The fierce bidding and strong global participation underlined the huge appreciation for Hockney and the fearless experimentation that made him the genius he was.”
Hockney, 88, began working on the series in 2011, returning to a different location in Waldgate every day that spring. Sotheby’s says he originally planned to paint outdoor But don’t like standing for long periods of time in the cold British winter. Hockney, who grew up in Bradford and spent many school holidays in East Yorkshire, turned to an iPad to complete the project. He later described the discovery of digital media as a “wonderful spring.”
According to the auction house, Hockney created 94 works that season, eventually narrowing it down to 51, of which the 17 just sold are the finest examples. The entire series was part of his 2012 retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
The results bring the total value of modern and contemporary art sold by Sotheby’s London in the past six months to £240 million ($322 million). The auction house’s contemporary art evening sale in the British capital on Thursday brought in £47.1 million ($63.3 million), thanks in large part to works by Francis Bacon Dwarf portrait (1975) exceeded its high estimate of £9 million ($12 million) and eventually reached £13.1 million ($17.6 million).
