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Roy Lichtenstein: I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in it!, from 1961, was the most expensive artwork sold by Christie's in 2011. It made $43,202,500 in New York.

Led by contemporary art global sales were up nine per cent at Christie’s in 2011.  The overall sales total was £3.6 billion/$5.7 billion. This includes private sales of  £502 million/$808.6 million, up 44% on 2010. Auction sales of  £735.7 million/$1.2 billion in post war and contemporary art amounted to an increase of 22 per cent over 2010. Asian art was the second strongest category, up 13 per cent to £552.9 million/$890.1 million.

The top ten art prices of 2010 at Christie’s were led by Roy Lichtenstein‘s (1923-1997), I Can See the Whole Room!…and There’s Nobody in it!, from 1961, which sold for $43,202,500 in New York on November 8. Andy Warhol‘s Self Portrait 1963-64 made $38,442,500, George Stubbs Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath made  $35,906,000, Mark Rothko‘s Untitled No. 17 made $33,682,50, Pablo Picasso‘s Femme assise, robe bleue made  $29,133,148, Francis Bacon‘s Study for a Portrait, 1953 made $28,666,155, Andy Warhol‘s Self-Portrait, 1986 made $27,522,500, Francis Bacon Three Studies for Self-Portrait, 1974 made $25,282,500, Claude Monet‘s Les Peupliers, 1891 made  $22,482,500 and Maurice de Vlaminck’s Paysage de banlieue, 1905 made $22,482,500.

In 2011, Christies sold 719 works at auction for over $1 million compared to 607 in 2010. “This is a very encouraging set of results”, said Steven P. Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, Christie’s. “While we are seeing more investors collecting, there are many more collectors who are increasing their investment in their collections as the explosion of interest in art, fuelled by globalization, facilitated by the technology that increases access to information and images, meets the art that is coming to the market.”

Results also illustrate solid demand at every price level, not just for the most expensive works, with the highest selling rate for works sold between £250,000 and £1 million at 87%. Sales of impressionist and modern pieces declined by 28% to £548.6 million pounds, behind Asian art. Christie’s website had  77% more unique visitors than the previous year. In total 29% of Christies bidders transacted online (not including the online-only auction of the Elizabeth Taylor Collection which achieved more than 57,000 on-line bids).

“As we approach the sales over the next fortnight in London, we are optimistic about the market in 2012” Mr. Murphy said. “We also remain committed to our role as cultural stewards through our auctions, private sales and exhibitions”.

Lucian Freud (1922-2011) Boat, Connemara. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £657,250

AN Irish Freud, a Sicilian de Stael and a Rothko are among the masterworks to be offered at Christies Post War and Contemporary Art evening sale in London on February 14. Boat, Connemara is a meticulous and emotional drawing executed in 1948 by Lucian Freud.  It is one of two works the artist produced while in Ireland for three weeks in August 1948. The young artist employed a masterly technique of calligraphic patterns, hatching and cross-hatching, reminiscent of old masters’ etchings, with just a hint of colour which contributes to highlight the main subject of his attention. Fresh to the market and unseen for 50 years Christie’s say that this exceptional rediscovery will attract the interest of  discerning collectors.  It is estimated at £200,000-300,000.

An untitled work Mark Rothko is the first major canvas by the artist at auction in London for a decade. Rendered in a palette of brilliant red vermillion, burnt ochre and white, Untitled comprises two rectangular forms floating within the canvas. Painted in 1955 it is estimated at £9-12 million. An abstract landscape which forms part of the “Agrigente” paintings by Russian born Nicolas de Staël was realised in Provence in August 1953 on his return from a visit to Agrigento, Sicily. It is one of the largest paintings in the series. The thick impasto is applied with a palette knife in a technique honed down by the artist, fully emphasising the large juxtaposed strips of vivid colour. De Staël unusually signed, titled and dated the piece on its reverse, revealing its particular importance. This work is estimated to realise £3.5 million to £5 million.

(Images credit Christie’s Images Ltd., 2012, click on any to enlarge).

Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955) Agrigente. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £5,305,250

Mark Rothko (1903-1970) Untitled. UPDATE: THIS WAS WITHDRAWN PRIOR TO AUCTION.

Lowry's Industrial Scene at auction in Cork estimated at 60,000-100,000. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS FAILED TO SELL.

A classical Lowry entitled Industrial Scene features at a 900 lot auction in Cork on January 30.  The painting, which has a nine centimeter tear on the lower left hand side, is from a collection in Co. Limerick. It is in a white frame and signed and dated 1959. It measures 52 x 65 cms and is estimated at 60,000-100,000.

It will be sold, presumably subject to authentication, at the first ever auction by the newly established Cork Auction Rooms.  The company is a new venture by Tom O’Connell of Kerry Auction Rooms, Moyderwell, Tralee and Michael Watson of Lissardagh Antiques in Cork. They intend to hold monthly auctions in Cork, selling everything from antiques and collectibles to household contents.

The works by artist Laurence Stephen Lowry, born of Irish parents near Manchester in 1887, are enduringly popular.  His values have continued to soar, even in the current economic quagmire. The Football Match by Lowry made a new world record for £5.6 million at Christie’s in London last May. Bonhams set a record for a work on paper by Lowry in November when Swinbury Station sold for   £121,250.

UPDATE:  This work aroused considerable interest but failed to sell in the absence of back up authentication paperwork.

Major artists including Richter, Basquiat, Bacon, Freud and Bridget Riley will feature at Sotheby’s Contemporary art evening auction in London on February 15.  The sale is expected to realise more than £35.5 million at hammer.

Sotheby’s, which achieved a global sales total of  $1.17 billion for contemporary art in 2011, leads the market in this field said Cheyenne Westphal, the company’s chairman for contemporary art, Europe. “Attesting to last year’s successes  the evening auction we have been able to assemble this winter will be led by numerous desireable and fresh to market artworks by internationally collected blue-chip artists”.  Here are some to whet the appetite:

Gerhard Richter (b1932). Eis (Ice), signed and dated 1981. The work, based on a photograph taken on a solo retreat in Greenland in 1972, captures Richter's struggle with his marriage and the exodus from his troubled life in Dusseldorf to a Polar haven. (£2-3 million). Click to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £5,147,674.

Gerhard Richter (b.1932) Abstraktes Bild (Rot) signed and dated 1991. For this work the artist employed a squeegee as his primary tool. (£2.5-3.5 million). Click to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £4,073,250.

Bridget Riley (b.1931) Tabriz, signed and dated 1984. (£250,000 - 350,0000. Click to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £457,250.

Jean Michael Basquiat (1960-1988) Orange Sports Figure from 1982 (£3-4 million). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £4,073,250

Bidders can buy Irish art on-line at the third sale of 124 artworks underway at Morgan O’Driscoll’s.  The internet auction runs until January 30 at 7 p.m.  Heres how it works: from one to 500 euro bids increase by 20 euro, from 500 to 1,000 bids go up by 50 euro and over 1,000 each bid adds 100 euro.

As an example a 200 euro bid on a lot with an existing bid of 100 euro will come appear on screen as a current bid of 120.  If another bidder comes along bids will be added automatically on behalf of the 200 euro  bidder.   Should 200 euro be exceeded the 200 euro bidder will be notified by e-mail. A bid at 7 p.m. on January 30 will open the lot up for another five minutes, the under-bidder will be notified and a subsequent bid will open the lot for another three minutes.

A work by Mildred Ann Butler on Morgan O’Driscoll’s first on-line sale which ended on November 7 illustrates what can happen next.  The lot had been bid to 460 at 7 p.m. It was followed by a number of subsequent bids before being sold at 7.25 p.m. for 1,600.  Here are some examples from the current sale, which can be viewed on-line or at Morgan O’Driscoll’s premises in Skibbereen, west Cork:

Martin Stone (b.1963) 'Ploughing' (300 - 400). UPDATE: THIS MADE 200

Barrie Castle (1935-2006) 'Woman in a Blair Hat' limited edition print 306/500 (80 - 140). UPDATE: THIS MADE 40

Debbie Lush (20th/21st Century) 'Passionate Purple Poppy' (250 - 350). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Ivan Sutton (b.1944) 'Anti-Fouling Galway Hooker, Roundstone' (est. 1,400-1,800). Click on image to enlarge. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Verojan Yepreman (20th/21st Century) Russian 'A Banquet in Transit' (400 - 600) UPDATE: THIS MADE 320

Brian Bourke HRHA (b.1936) 'Scots Pine on Limestone' limited edition print 121/220 (150 - 250) UPDATE: THIS MADE 140

Denis Orme Shaw (20th/21st Century) 'Evening Reflections' watercolour (250 - €350) UPDATE: THIS MADE 340

Market Day by Arthur George Bell (1849-1916) showing the Nurnberg house of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) at Dolan's art auction in Cork. (Click on image to enlarge). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000

A Victorian watercolour of the Nuremberg House of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) features at the Dolan’s Irish art sale in Cork on January 22.  Market Day by Arthur George Bell features the house which was Dürer’s residence between 1509 and 1528.

The house has since been restored as a museum which includes the large painting and printing workshop from Dürer’s time.

Arthur George Bell, a British artist, exhibited widely in the late 19th century at galleries including the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the Scottish Academy and the Royal Hibernian Academy.  Market Day, in its original ornate gilt frame, is estimated at 1,000-1,500.

See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 17, 2012.