Women dominated Christie’s 21st century evening sales on May 14. Leaded by auctioneer Yü-Ge Wang and largely powered by telephone bids with female experts, it brought in $96.5 million in bonuses, sold 92% of the sell, worth 97% and worth 97%. Sales fell directly to the revised estimate of $77 to $114 million, slightly lowered after four of the forty-three lots were quietly withdrawn. Earlier forecasts hovered between $8.2 and $121 million. As expected, the guaranteed weight is large: more than half of the work is supported, Christie himself underwritten by seven, and a third party guaranteed eighteen. All in all, the result brought Christie’s Marathon to $626.5 million in total.
Fireworks on women’s voices peaked in one of the top lands of the night of sales, Marlene Dumas Miss January (1997), realizing. Although it sold almost immediately on the phone (probably the guarantor), the result marked a world record for a female artist at the auction. This piece is fresh to the market by tasting Rubel’s collection.
See: At Sotheby’s
This momentum continued throughout the auction, with vibrant bidding and strong results for contemporary female artists, while activities around male artists were softer, another record of the night: Louis Fratino You and your stuff (2022), he recently made his mark at the Centro Pecci exhibition in Italy, which lashed out with an increase of $600,000 ($756,000, fee).
The top of the night, Jean-Michel Basquiat Baby Prosperity (1982), Peter M., a large painting depicts the artist and his parents’ sacred family trio, opening at $14 million, and soon bids for $20 million with phone bidders from Christie’s global president Alex Rotter. With the room particularly soft, the work was sold to possible third-party guarantors, and the mallet fell without big fanfare.
Overall, there was a lot of motivation last night, mainly spiritual bidding from Europe and the United States. Elizabeth Peyton, who started selling from Tiqui Atencio and Ago Demirdjian series, hit $600,000 in a quick exchange between women on their phones. Ultimately, it overestimated the $1.2 million estimate for $1.3 million ($1,623,000, and the fee was $1,623,000).
After only a while, the poetic condensation of Roni Horn Contrary to white, 2nd v.2 (2007) also quickly found its buyer, after opening at $900,000 ($1,165,500, the fee was $1,165,500). It was followed by Carmen Herrera’s work hit a hammer price of $850,000 ($1,071,000 for $1,071,000). Another outstanding one is Cecily Brown’s Bedtime Story (1999), after a tense battle with phone bidders, a woman in the room sold $3 million for $6.2 million for a fee of $6.2 million.
Interestingly, Christie unusually revised two criticisms before the auction. Louise Bourgeois’s signature survival fabric head is sold at its new underestimate amount of its initial $600,000 higher than its initial $600,000 low estimate. Although the results of similar works the night before were dull, Richard Prince’s 2016 estimates Untitled (denim) The photos also increased from $600,000 to $700,000 and sold for $1.5 million.
However, one of the most exciting bidding wars of the night was around the prototype elegance and primitive power of Simone Leigh bronze Sentinel IV (2020) is the artist’s iconic sculpture, and the other two sculptures in the same series at MOMA and DC’s National Gallery quickly surpassed the $3.5 million undervalued in a series of telephone events, slowing the pace by $50,000. The work ended up hitting $4.7 million ($5,737,000 for a fee of $5,737,000), setting a new auction record for Leigh.
Works that are more conceptually stricter institutionally proven around other deep bidding. Francis Als Untitled (a series of five pieces) is pursued by multiple phone bidders at $350,000 ($441,000, and the fee is $441,000). Not all performance: Félix González-Torres’ iconic light bulb installation is a pass through a final bid of $320,000, while Mike Kelley’s device is estimated at $500,000-$700,000, which also failed to be sold. Damien Hirst, who followed closely behind, encountered the same fate, and the terrible bull head in formaldehyde was sold to the sole bidder who worked with Ana Maria. Another more important work by Hurst, The veil of life is eternal (2017), when auctioneer Wang (Wang) pushed the pace, quipped, “You can hang it on both sides if you want.”
Ugo rondinone Tree It may also be sold on the phone for $567,000 through pre-arrangement. Arthur Jafa’s black, white and green giant figure lerage (2017), with a long-term institutional resume, including ICA Miami (2019), Luma Arles (2022) and MCA Chicago (2023), sold yesterday for $100,800.
See: Isabella Lauria of Christie talks about Basquiat, the changes in the market and what makes the masterpiece
Several female artists continued to outperform the market. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings opened at $400,000, hitting at $640,000, and its underestimate estimate is $600,000, selling for more than its high fees. Lisa Brice Drinking books at noon, after Embah I and II (2017), obtained from her Salon 94 exhibition and on display in her two museum retrospectives, was chased by multiple phones to $2.4 million ($2,954,000 for a fee of $2,954,000). Jenny Saville, who was auctioned last night for the world’s best-selling female artist, had a record of $12.4 million since 2018, had a mid-term score of $1.8 million and a fee of $1.8 million. Danielle McKinney received $207,000 in the bid and received the fee. Julie Mehretu ($3.4 million), Gego ($201,600) and Sarah Sze ($819,000) also achieved other outstanding results.
European bidders, especially those from Germany and Switzerland, were very active throughout the night, most famously Unlimited NetworkThis sparked a vibrant bidding war and was with Alex Rotter’s phone bidder for $3 million ($3,680,000 for $3,680,000). Auctionist Yü-Ge Wang even thanked the buyer for his German language.
During the last part of the evening, Rudolf Stingel’s plot was a pass, but Emma McIntyre’s Soak her passionate breath upwards (2021) The room burst out with gesture energy. Explosive abstract paintings ended the sale, attracting multiple bidders online and on the phone. The auction debuted at the auction for an open bid of $30,000 (in line with her main market price) – which ended up selling for $201,600 and setting a new record for young artists. The New Zealand-born Los Angeles painter currently holds her debut exhibition at David Zwirner after the gallery announced her representative last year with Château Shatto.
If there is a harvest from the evening, not only does the taste change occur, but a wider structural correction occurs. The art world has finally promoted the gender gap of its long-term statements. Female artists (and women buy, bid, and lead these sales) are now at the center of the system, especially in the field of contemporary art.
The May Gate Auction Marathon will continue tonight as Sotheby’s “Modern and Contemporary Night Auction” and “Im Spazio: Space of Thoughts”.
