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Lauff-ing All the Way to the Bank

July 2nd, 2008

The Lauffs Collection May Have Been Sotheby’s Secret Weapon But the Contemporary Sale Created a Sense of Awe in the Market


Sotheby’s 94.7 ($188) million pound sale of Contemporary art surprised the market with its nearly 95% sell-through rate. Only four lots were bought in, though one was a pricey Bacon. And despite the success of the Bacon study of George Dyer and the record price for a Prince Nurse painting–even as the London critiques roundly pan his Serpentine Gallery show–the real success of the sale was the broad base of the selling. The top ten lots only accounted for about 47% of the total sale (at Christie’s the night before it was 70%.) Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Bacon, Francis, Basquiat, Jean-Michel, Contemporary, London, Prince, Richard, Sotheby's, Warhol, Andy | No Comments »

Prince of Thames

June 24th, 2008

A New Record for Prince in the City that Doesn’t Get His Work?

Sotheby’s is selling Richard Prince’s Overseas Nurse with an estimate well above th current record. Will it sell for $8 million or more? We’ll know next week. In the meantime, Prince’s first UK solo exhibition is opening and the British critics can’t decide whether they don’t like his work for its masculinity or its overtly American sensibility. (Quotes and links after the Jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in London, Prince, Richard, Sotheby's | No Comments »