Aside from guessing that Brett Gorvy’s poker player comment about the buyer of the £70m Bacon portrait refers to Steven Cohen, Colin Gleadell gives some of the background to Christie’s other evening sale results:
Another senior British artist to perform well was pop artist, Gerald Laing, who has emerged from obscurity since his death in 2011, and whose 1963 portrait of Brigitte Bardot sold to a private European buyer for a record £902,500. The painting was being sold by British actor Roddy Maude-Roxby, who bought it from Laing in 1964 for just £40.
Christie’s provided a spotlight on the Young British Artists (YBAs) of the Nineties, with a selection of works from the collection of American commodities trader Frank Gallipoli. Some had been owned by Charles Saatchi and shown in the Sensation exhibition of 1997. Of these, Jenny Saville’s unflattering self-portrait Plan (1993) sold to an Asian buyer for a record £2.1 million; Gary Hume’s Vicious sold to a private European buyer for a record £410,500, but Chris Ofili’s Popcorn Tits sold below estimate for what may prove to have been a bargain £386,500 to London dealer, Hugh Gibson.
Art Sales: Contemporary art cracks a new record (Telegraph)
