sotheby’s london contemporary art evening auction totals £88m / $144.6m l14020 contemporary...
DESCRIPTION
The top lot of tonight’s sale was Gerhard Richter’s monumental Wand (Wall) (1994) which sold for £17.4 million / $28.7 million (est. in excess of £15m). This is the third highest price for any painting by the artist, and the second highest price for one of his abstract works. The painting, never before seen at auction, was held by Richter to be a work of such importance that he chose to keep it in his personal collection for over fifteen years, singling it out as a keynote work for many important museum exhibitions. · Two-thirds of the works offered at tonight’s sale had never been seen at auction including Cy Twombly’s Untitled (Rome), Alberto Burri’s Rosso Plastica, Lucian Freud’s Head on a Green Sofa and Frank Auerbach’s Morning – Mornington Place · Global participation was evident throughout the sale process, with works consigned from 14 countries and participants from 40 countries – among the highest levels of participation seen in the category at Sotheby’s London · This was the 12th consecutive Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Sotheby’s worldwide with a sell-through rate over 80%o Sell through rate by lot - 82.5%o 91.5% of sold lots achieved prices at or above their pre-sale estimatesTRANSCRIPT
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Sale Results London, Bond St
Sale L14020 Contemporary Art Evening Auction 12 FEB 14 Grand Total 87,971,500 GBP (144,642,740 USD) (107,069,805 EUR) Exch Rate: 1.64 Sold by Lot: 82.5% Lots Offered: 57 Sold by Value: 92.6% Lots Sold/Unsold: 47 / 10
Lot Price (GBP) Estimate (GBP) Buyer 12 £17,442,500 ($28,678,958) (€21,229,206) In excess of £15 million European Private
Gerhard Richter, Wand (Wall), 1994, oil on canvas
9 £12,178,500 ($20,023,890 ) (€14,822,410) £5,000,000 - 7,000,000 Anonymous Cy Twombly, Untitled (Rome), 1964, oil, wax crayon and pencil on canvas
***RECORD FOR A PAINTING BY THE ARTIST AT AUCTION***
26 £7,586,500 ($12,473,723) (€9,233,503) £5,500,000 - 7,500,000 European Private Andy Warhol, Mao, 1973, oil on canvas
29 £4,338,500 ($7,133,362) (€5,280,373) £3,800,000 - 4,800,000 European Private Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tenor, 1985, acrylic, oilstick and paper collage on canvas
4 £4,002,500 ($6,580,910) (€4,871,429) £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 Anonymous Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1997, oil on Alu Dibond
6 £3,666,500 ($6,028,459) (€4,462,484) £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 European Trade Alberto Burri, Rosso Plastica, 1963, plastic, acrylic, vinavil and combustion on canvas
15 £2,994,500 ($4,923,557) (€3,644,595) £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 Anonymous Lucian Freud, Head on a Green Sofa, 1960-61, oil on canvas
19 £2,546,500 ($4,186,955) (€3,099,336) £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 Anonymous Sigmar Polke, Rokoko, 1994, acrylic on canvas
36 £2,490,500 ($4,094,880) (€3,031,179) £2,500,000 - 3,500,000 European Trade Jean-Michel Basquiat, Water-Worshipper, 1984, acrylic, oilstick, silkscreen and metal on panel
37 £2,322,500 ($3,818,654) ( €2,826,707) £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 European Trade Andy Warhol, Eva Mudocci (After Munch), 1984, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas
Specialists in Charge: Alex Branczik Press Office Contact: Mitzi Mina Please note all prices include buyer's premium. Sale session totals are net aggregate figures plus premiums. **Estimates do not include buyer's premium**
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