On November 6, Christie’s auction house in London achieved a total of 4.1 million pounds (approximately US$5.2 million) in its modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art auction. The sale rate of this auction reached 93% (by value) and 85% (by lot). The sale also confirmed growing interest from younger buyers: 38% of attendees were new buyers to Christie’s, 21% of whom were millennials.
Of the 39 lots on offer, 21 are from the Dalul Art Foundation (DAF). These more than 20 works are just a small part of what collectors Ramzi Dalloul and Saeda El Husseini Dalloul have amassed over some 55 years; the couple amassed some 3,000 works of art, which is now regarded as one of the most important and comprehensive collections of Arab modern and contemporary art in the world.
The sale’s strong performance appears to reflect a broader shift in the market, with Middle Eastern and North African artists who have only recently gained increasing recognition in the international art canon and whose individual markets are rapidly adjusting after decades of undervaluation.
The most outstanding lot is Saloua Raouda Choucair’s poetry (1966-68), sold for £393,700 ($500,000), more than three times its high estimate and the highest price ever paid at auction for this Lebanese modernist. Another star, Palestinian painter Sliman Mansour, saw his Untitled (2014) After four minutes of intense bidding, it sold for £323,850 ($411,000), a full 80% above its high estimate.
More than half of the lots (56% to be exact) sold above their pre-sale estimates, including Kamal Boullata’s famous lot Nocturne “I” (2001) sold for £165,100 ($210,000), 230% above its high estimate, while Helen Carr’s untitled work from 1985 sold for £95,250 ($121,000), 138% above estimate.
Eight world auction records were set on the night, four of which were from the Dalul Collection. These artists include Kamal Boullata, Mona Said, Sliman Mansour, Ammar Farhat, Saïd El-Adawi, Saloua Raouda Choucair, Fahad Al-Hajailan and Laila Shawa. After Shukel poetryThe second most expensive work in the group was Mansour’s untitled work from 2014, which sold for £323,850 ($426,000).
“This sale highlights the extraordinary depth and vitality of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art,” Christie’s Middle East and Africa chairman Ridha Moumni and specialist Marie-Claire Thijsen said in a joint statement. “With more than 20% of the buyers being millennials, the legacy of these artists clearly resonates with a new generation.”
