antiquesandartireland.com

Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (809-4) being sold for a record £21,321,250 at Sotheby’s in London last night.

THERE was a new record for a living artist when Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (809-4) made £21,321,250 at Sotheby’s in London.   It was from the collection of Eric Clapton.

Alex Branczik of Sotheby’s said: The combination of outstanding provenance and gold-standard quality in this sublime work by this blue-chip artist made for an historic auction moment. Gerhard Richter’s international appeal as one of the hottest Contemporary artists was once again confirmed this evening. The price of $34.1 million smashed the previous record for Richter by nearly $13 million and brings the highest-ever auction price for a work by a living artist.”

Eric Clapton bought the painting for $3.4 million at Sotheby’s in New York in 2001.

Sotheby’s evening auction of Contemporary Art and 20th Century Italian Art on October 12 made a combined total of £60 million sterling and set a new record for an October series of evening sales during Frieze Week. The Contemporary Art day sale today brought a total of £10,175,075 with sell-through rates of 68.4% by lot and 70.5% by value.

Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe, said: “This October we witnessed auction history being made at Sotheby’s with the new benchmarks we achieved. The depth of participation during this landmark series was truly international – across our evening sales alone, bidding came from 27 countries spanning South America, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. These results – established during this extremely important week on the international arts calendar – reconfirm London’s position as a major centre for the contemporary art market on the global stage.”

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 13, 2012).

The scene at Christie’s in London as the top lot of the evening was being sold.

There was a new world record for Martin Kippengerger’s Untitled (from the series Hand-Painted Pictures) at Christie’s in London last night. It made £3,117,250.  The October 11 evening auctions of Post War and Contemporary Art and The Italian Sale brought in a combined total of  £41,183,300.  There were nine records, most notably for the two cover lots, Pistoletto’s ‘Metrocubo d’infinito’ and the ‘Self-portrait’ by Kippenberger.

Francis Outred of Christie’s said: “We saw 43 different buyers for 45 works of art in the Post-War and Contemporary Art auction, reflecting the continuing attraction and depth of interest in Post-War & Contemporary Art”.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 20, 2012)

Sir Peter Blake’s original 1967 collage for the insert for The Beatle’s Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. (Click on image to enlarge).

The original 1967 Sgt. Pepper collage by Sir Peter Blake for The Beatles album will feature at Sotheby’s Post War British Art sale in London on November 13. The image is familar to millions of fans. The Beatle’s legendary Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the best-selling albums of all time and a landmark in musical history.
James Rawlin, Sotheby’s Senior Specialist, Modern British Paintings, commented: “Sir Peter Blake’s collage is a tangible slice of rock history. Sgt Pepper had a huge impact on the cultural landscape. It was the first concept album, when music, story, image and studio expertise all came together. In this work we witness the creation of the eponymous Sgt Pepper himself, with his familiar accoutrements of moustache and sergeant’s stripes, originally intended for fans to cut out and keep.”
Peter Blake worked closely with Paul McCartney and John Lennon to create the image. The cover photograph featured The Beatles surrounded by an elaborately constructed set of cut out figures of famous faces. The inset, created as a collage, depicted the celebrated Sergeant. The work is from the collection of the late architect Colin St. John “Sandy” Wilson (1922-2007). It is estimated at £50,000-80,000.