Gerhard Richter’s Iceberg led a stellar auction of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s in London last night. It sold for £17.7 million in an auction which realised £118 million. In a record breaking night for post war German art there was a new record for George Baselitz when Mit Roter Fahne (With Red Flag), 1965 sold for £7.5 million. The 15 works by German artists totalled £48.1 million.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s seminal ‘Untitled (One Eyed Man or Xerox Face)’, 1983, sold for £12 million. When the painting previously appeared at auction in 1987, it sold for $23,100. Christopher Wool’s untitled 2007 work from his sought-after Grey Paintings series of enamel works, sold at double the estimate for £7.1 million. Between two lights by Sean Scully sold for £800,750 over a top estimate of £650,000.
It was an auction where 57 works sold of 61 lots offered and 75% of lots had never been offered at auction before. There was a 35% increase in the number of sale participants compared to the equivalent auction last year, with participants from 43 countries.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for February 3, 14, and 21 2017)
Gerard Richter’s Iceberg sold for £17.7 million
Between two lights by Sean Scully sold for £800,750