Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, the ARTnews newsletter about the art market and beyond. Sign up here to receive it every Wednesday.
Before Sotheby’s contemporary art evening sale in London on Tuesday, the omens weren’t good. There was a stuttering UK economy, an impending election, and a cooling art market. Plus, the headline lot, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 painting Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict, was listed with a $20 million–$25 million estimate, a noticeable drop from the $30 million estimate Christie’s gave the piece in 2022 before it was withdrawn. Very few were holding out for a blockbuster auction. The result, a shade over $105 million (including buyer’s premium) and $20 million short of the high estimate, was received with determined sanguinity by the top brass.
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Were they relieved? Probably a little.
The outcome—similar to that of Sotheby’s last London contemporary evening sale, in March—won’t send the house spiraling into despair amid ongoing talk of the art market “correction.” Simon Shaw, Sotheby’s vice chairman of global fine arts, told ARTnews that the result was “solid” but said the auction was “difficult to put together” because “people are short on reasons to sell at the moment.” People were short on impetus to spend big as well, relatively speaking.
The hot, humid weather—about 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the British capital—didn’t exactly fry the bidding. Several lots edged past their low estimate, largely thanks to the patience of auctioneers Oliver Barker and Helen Newman. By the time Lot 27, a landscape by Vilhelm Hammershøi that eventually hammered for $834,669, came up for sale, a heckler (reportedly veteran columnist Danny Katz, of the Age at the Sydney Morning Herald) shouted, “Put the hammer down!” Newman implored, “But she came all the way from Asia!”
Ninety percent of the lots sold, a figure that’s on par with what Sotheby’s saw in New York during its marquee sales. The aforementioned Basquiat triptych prevailed, selling for $20.2 million and making it the evening’s top lot. Three works by Tamara de Lempicka, Loie Hollowell, and Emily Kam Kngwarray were withdrawn, while five passed after failing to meet their reserve, including an untitled 1958 Robert Rauschenberg piece, estimated at $440,000 to $570,000.
Works owned by the late Chicago collector Ralph I. Goldenberg injected more than $16 million into the total. Cy Twombly’s Formian Dreams + Actuality (1983) doubled its estimate, at $3.11 million. Meanwhile, his By the Ionian Sea (1988) went for $2.73 million, nearly double its high estimate of $1.5 million.
“Some very solid, efficient results, and some great surprises,” Tom Eddison, Sotheby’s senior specialist of contemporary art, told ARTnews. “There was a depth of bidding on the Goldenberg collection that truly captivated us internally and UK dealers and collectors alike.”
In view of the softer market and the big three houses’ tilt toward Asia, did Eddison think London’s status was at risk? “No, I don’t agree with that notion. We are very passionate about London being a great platform. We had 35 different countries bidding tonight. Certainly, for Sotheby’s, London still remains the global hub for people coming to buy. We are resolute.”
Contemporary specialist Antonia Gardner echoed his sentiment. “Given that we just had a $100 million plus sale here tonight, it doesn’t feel like we are losing our way,” she said.
London dealers at both ends of the game, meanwhile, were generally upbeat. Elliot McDonald, Pace Gallery London’s senior vice president, told ARTnews in an email before the auction, “We’re experiencing a market that’s becoming more selective in its acquisitions, yet the appetite for exceptional quality and exciting contemporary artists remains as strong as ever.” He pointed out that Pace sold major works by Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Agnes Martin, and Kngwarray at Art Basel earlier this month. “Going in [to Basel], there were some uncertainties, but the very strong sales at our booth demonstrated the enduring vigor and enthusiasm in today’s art market.”
McDonald was optimistic for the future too, adding, “The ongoing stability we’ve observed in the auctions offers reassuring evidence that the broader ecosystem is thriving.”
Will Hainsworth, the cofounder and director of recently opened Palmer Gallery, located near London’s Edgware Road and dealing in emerging artists, told ARTnews that at his end of the market, “things seem strong.”
“There’s a lot of doom-mongering going on, perhaps some of it justified by poor auction results. When you’re working with emerging artists the price points are accessible for a range of collectors and the enthusiasm to collect is definitely there,” he said in an email pre-sale. “London’s emerging gallery scene is a very exciting place at the moment—there are people doing interesting, risky things and, as ever, there are people on hand to support that.”
Back at the auction, a trio of lots by Alberto Giacometti incited a flurry of bidding, with the penultimate lot, Figure, dite cubiste I (ca. 1926), going for $2.28 million on a $884,000–$1.26 million estimate. Lot 37, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Bouquet de Iilas (1878), sparked a 10-minute bidding war. When it hammered for double its high estimate at $8.7 million, the crowd cheered and whistled, perhaps a little sardonically. Aside from Giacometti’s bronze sculpture, the excitement faded soon after. When Lot 38 rolled around, the Baer Faxt’s Josh Baer walked past and said the night “wasn’t exactly a home run” for Sotheby’s. Melanie Gerlis, the Financial Times’ art market columnist, also said she felt the sale was “flat.”
In the press room at the end of the evening, Newman, the chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and co-head of Impressionist and modern art worldwide, said she was far from disappointed. “I’m actually pleased with the result,” she told ARTnews enthusiastically. “We saw a depth of bidding on such a complete range of works, including the red Lucio Fontana [Concetto spaziale, Attese, from 1966, which sold for $4.3 million] to Zdeněk Sýkora’s first appearance at an evening sale [Linie Nr.94, from 1992, which sold for $950,000].”
Sotheby’s modern and contemporary art day sales follow on Wednesday, the latter featuring another tranche of works from the Goldenberg collection. Alex Katz’s Danielle (2020) and Peter Doig’s Border Country (1999) are both estimated at $630,000–$880,000, and Andy Warhol’s 1980 portrait of Joseph Beuys is valued at $500,000–$750,000.
Contemporary sales at Phillips and Christie’s are set for Thursday, with top lots at the former including Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s 2022 painting Minotaur To Matador (estimate $1.1–$1.9 million) and George Condo’s Green and Purple Head Composition (estimate $884,000–$1.1 million). The Christie’s sale is also led by a Yiadom-Boakye work, 5am Cadiz, with an estimate of $758,000-$1 million.
