Results: Sotheby's London Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Following the strong showing of the Post War and Contemporary art evening sale at Christie's on Tuesday, Sotheby's held its own Contemporary art evening sale on Wednesday. From all indications, including the posted results from Sotheby's as well as comments from trade press, the sale was strong and continues the run of successful sales in the Contemporary sector.

The sale offered 88 lots (which included 34lots of the Duerckheim Collection of German art). Of the 88 lots offered 79 sold for an impressive 89.8% sell through rate. The sale totaled $174.13 million (including buyers premium), against a pre sale estimate of $118.8 million to $168.6 million. The sale sold an impressive 93.9% by value. The Duerckheim collection was $96.66 million. The top seller, again like in the Christie's sale was Crouching Nude from 1961 by Francis Bacon. The painting sold for $13.33 million including buyers premium against an estimate of $11.24 million to $14.45 million (see image).

Sotheby's claims the results were the highest total for any London sale of Contemporary art ever staged. The sale set 5 new auction artist records and had 45 lots (over half of what sold) sell for over $1 million.

Sotheby's reported on the sale.

Discussing the results, Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the results of tonight’s sale, which represent the highest total for any
Contemporary Art Sale ever staged in London. The strong results of the remarkable Duerckheim Collection represent a triumph for German Art and reflect the extraordinary works offered. With bidders and buyers from over 14 countries in tonight’s sale - including institutional bidding - German art went global. Juergen Hall, entrepreneur and collector from Germany, purchased lot 5, Gerhard Richter's photorealistic work "Schwestern" from 1967, for £2, 505,250 and Mr. Hall has generously announced that he will lend this painting to the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany, which is yet further testament to the museum-quality of this extraordinary collection.”

“Following this remarkable result, iconic artworks with Rock ‘n’ Roll provenance and portraiture by two titans of their respective contemporary art movements which exuded quality, provenance and rarity, also performed well. The alluring combination of supreme wall-power, art history, zeitgeist music and Rock ‘n’ Roll culture are manifest in these paintings, and proved irresistible to collectors.”

---