David Hockney – Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott.
David Hockney’s double portrait of Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scott sold for £37,661.250 at Christie’s in London tonight. The portrait features Hockney’s close friend Henry Geldzahler, legendary curator, critic and king of the New York art world, and his then boyfriend Christopher Scott. David Hockney became the world’s most expensive living artist last November when his Portrait of an Artist (Pool with two figures) sold for $90.3 million at Christie’s in New York. The 1969 double portrait of Geldzahler and Scott is one of seven double portraits, including the pool with two figures. The acrylic on canvas captures Geldzahler at a time when he was organising the most revolutionary exhibition of his career, New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940-1970 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
There was world auction records for Jordan Casteel whose Patrick and Omari from 2015 made £299,250; for Jonathan Yeo, whose 2013 painting Claire’s Room (Grayson Perry) made £125,000; and for Barry Flanagan, whose Nijinski Hare was acquired for £1,451,250.
The Post War and Contemporary Art evening sale totalled £79,282,000 and was 93% sold by lot and 94% by value.
