Art Market Monitor

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Bonhams Has More Auerbachs for June in London

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Frank Auerbach, Figure on a Bed II 1967. (£800k – 1.2m)

Bonhams did very well in March with two early works by Frank Auerbach. They’ve come back in June with another one, Figure on a Bed II, that will lead Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale in London on Wednesday 27 June. One of a series of pictures from the late 1960s that portray Juliet Yardley Mills (often referred to as J.Y.M. in some of the works) sitting or reclining on a bed. This painting is offered for the first time at auction;, it carries a £800k-1.2m estimate.

Other highlights of the sale include:

  • Lichtscheibe by Günther Uecker (b.1930), a motorized piece by the German ZERO artist using densely hammered nails and a rotating canvas. It dates from 1967 and is being offered at auction for the first time. Estimate £350 – 550k.
  • Mire G 13 (Bolivar) by Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985). Part of the Mire series, created between 1983 and 1984, it is estimated at £180-250k.

Auerbach Comes to New York at Timothy Taylor

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Frank Auerbach, The Pillar Box (2011)

Timothy Taylor is holding a show, Frank Auerbach: Landscapes and Portraits, opening on May 11th at its 515 W19th location in New York. This show will be the first exhibition devoted to Auerbach in New York for a dozen years. It is the first exhibition of the artist worldwide since the Tate’s retrospective in 2015. On May 10 at 7 pm, novelist and art critic Jim Lewis will present a talk about Auerbach’s work at the gallery (please RSVP to the gallery if you want to attend the lecture.)

Timothy Taylor’s press release for the show follows:Continue Reading

David Bowie Sale = £24.3m

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sothebys-bowie-saleThe David Bowie Evening sale at Sotheby’s was a white glove sale with every one of the 47 lots sold. The remaining 303 should also find buyers. Here’s Sotheby’s details for some of the highlights:

By the end of a 10-minute battle, eight bidders had driven Frank Auerbach’s mesmerising Head of Gerda Boehm to £3,789,000 ($4,710,106), a record for the artist at auction (est. £300,000-500,000). In an interview with the New York Times in 1998 Bowie described the whole gamut of reactions that this work provoked when he looked at it, exclaiming “My God, yeah!  I want to sound like that looks”.  A portrait of the artist’s cousin, Head of Gerda Boehm was last exhibited at the Royal Academy in London when Bowie lent the work to Auerbach’s much-heralded retrospective in 2001.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Air Power became the most valuable work sold at the auction tonight when it was pursued by six bidders who pushed the final sale price to £7,093,000  ($8,817,308 ) after a 5-minute bidding battle, double the pre-sale high estimate (est. £2.5-3.5m).

A second work by Basquiat, Untitled, also dated 1984, sold for £2,389,000 ($2,969,766), against an estimate of £500,000-700,000.

Damien Hirst’s Beautiful, hallo, space-boy painting, created in collaboration with David Bowie when he visited Hirst’s studio in 1995, tripled its low estimate to sell for £785,000 ($975,834) (est. £250,000-350,000).

A second spin painting by Hirst, Beautiful, Shattering, Slashing, Violent, Pinky, Hacking, Sphincter Painting, also dated 1995, exceeded its pre-sale estimate to sell for £755,000 ($938,540) (est. £250,000-350,000).

Bonham's Attacks Auerbach Market

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Berlin-born British artist Frank Auerbach has long been undervalued in the eyes of auction houses even as they’ve struggled to generate the same kind of heat that has surrounded Francis Bacon.

Bonham’s made a big score earlier this year with a work from the artist’s Mornington Crescent series. Now they’ve secured a work that hasn’t been seen in a generation. Here’s Bonham’s press statement:

An important and large painting Looking Towards Mornington Crescent Station (1972 -74) by the highly acclaimed artist Frank Auerbach will be sold by Bonhams in the 20th Century British Art auction at New Bond Street on November 17th 2010. The painting, which has never appeared at auction before and hasn’t been since in public since the late 1970s, is estimated to sell for £800,000 – £1,200,000.

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Auerbach Takes Off

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After years of pushing on the Frank Auerbach market both in London and New York, the British artist seems to be finally gaining some traction. In 2007 strong record prices were achieved culminating in his top price for Head of Helen Gillespie that made £1.945m a shade above the previous record.

Since then, Auerbach has not been able to break the $4m mark. That doesn’t mean his market has been without action. This week Sotheby’s set a record price for Auerbach–and broke the £2m barrier–with Mornington Crescent–Summer Morning which sold for £2.28m ($3.4m.)

Bonham’s, which often flies under the radar during the marquee sales, got in on the action with Head of E.O.W. III which sold nicely above the £600k high estimate for £860,000. Here’s Bonham’s on the sale:Continue Reading

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