Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis
On Wednesday, a large-scale drawing by William Kentridge sold for £682,750 ($935,000) at an auction in London, setting a new record for a drawing by the South African artist.
Large Typerwriters (2003), a diptych made using charcoal and pastel, depicts two vintage typewriters. 5 bidders competed for the work during a contemporary art sale at Bonhams in London, where it was estimated at £350,000–£550,000 ($480,000–$755,000). It went to a buyer in Asia.
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At its Modern British art sale on March 1st Christie’s global president, Jussi Pylkkanen, remarked from the podium in King Street, London, how much he missed being up there, wielding his gavel, albeit just to phone and internet bids. In the previous nine months, he had only conducted four sales, two of which were shared with auctioneers in other locations, including the “ONE” sale in July which he had to share with Hong Kong, Paris and New York.
Today was only his fifth outing in ten months, presiding alternately with his colleague Arlene Blankers over an 82-lot-mix of Impressionist (mostly day sale material at other times), Modern, Surreal, Post-War and Contemporary art– all subsumed under Christie’s revived 20th Century art banner.
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Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 painting Warrior, from the collection of Aby Rosen, sold for HKD 323.6 million ($41.7 million) with buyer’s premium at a Christie’s sale on Tuesday. Warrior now ranks among the most expensive Basquiat works ever sold at auction.
Ahead of the auction house’s back-to-back 20th century art and Surrealist evening scheduled to take place in London later today, the painting, which depicts a crowned figure wielding a sword, sold during a live-streamed single-lot sale titled “We Are All Warriors.” It was led by Christie’s global president Jussi Pylkannen, who was based in London.
Sotheby’s
When collectors form deep friendships with artists, they typically have access to purchasing important examples from those artist’s output. Such is the case with late Los Angeles philanthropists Morris and Rita Pynoos, whose collection will be sold at Sotheby’s New York this spring.
Rich in modern and contemporary art that the couple began amassing in the 1980s, Sotheby’s will offer pieces by David Hockney and Willem de Kooning in a contemporary art evening sale in May, while work by other major American artists, including John McCracken, Louise Nevelson, and Robert Rauschenberg, will be featured in a contemporary art online day sale.
On Saturday, a rare 17th-century drawing by Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini sold for €1.9 million ($2.3 million) at an auction in France, setting a new record for a drawing by the artist.
Académie d’homme, a red chalk drawing made between 1630 and 1640, depicts a nude male sitter. Actéon, the French auction house selling the work in Compiègne, estimated it at €30,000–€50,000 ($36,000–$60,000). Bids quickly mounted during the live sale led by auctioneer Dominique Le Coënt, with the work finally hammering at a price of €1.55 million ($1.9 million), a result met with applause among spectators in the room.
