FEATURES ARCHIVE

The evening auction was your first as Head of the Post-War and Contemporary Art for Christie’s in Europe. How do you think it went?
We’re extremely pleased with the results – we offered 40 works of art and 35 found buyers; this is the highest sold percentage that we have seen in this category in London for 2 years. It was particularly encouraging to see so much activity in this market – there was a great depth of bidding particularly for works of the highest quality, including the Doig and Boetti, and we saw an encouraging mix of both private and trade collectors, a number of whom were new to Christie’s.

What does the evening auction say about the market for Post-War and Contemporary Art?
Looking back at the first six months of the year, the general trend is that the volumes are lower than they have been in the past two years, but that sold rates are consistent if not higher, and we are still seeing strong prices. This signifies a healthy and active market. Some artists have seen the price of their works soften compared to the last two years, but any movement is very small in the context of the general rise in value and interest of this category over the last decade.

As the year has passed, collectors have found more clarity with regards to their own financial situation and they have become more willing to re-engage in the market. The international sales have also seen a number of completely new buyers engaging in the market, adding to a deepening, global pool of collectors.

To you, what was the highlight of the evening auction?
Personally, I was delighted to see Peter Doig’s Night Playground sell for over £3 million, the second highest price that has ever been achieved for one of his works at auction. Doig is the painter’s painter for the 21st century and this was an epic work of very high quality which he himself described as one of his favourites. He has a relatively small output and so the appearance of one of his paintings at auction tends to trigger a rush of interest from collectors. During the pre-sale exhibition it drew great admiration and at the auction it attracted about 8 bidders, passing its pre-sale high estimate of £2 million eventually selling for over £3 million.

The top lot in the New York auction of Post-War and Contemporary art in May was David Hockney’s Beverley Hills Housewife which set a record when it sold for nearly $8 million – it is interesting to see two British artists topping the sales results of our most recent flagship auctions.

Another highlight was Rosso Gilera 60 1232 and Rosso Guzzi 60 1305, a rare diptych by Alighiero Boetti. In my mind, he is a very under-valued artist and it was pleasing to see this work more than double its high estimate and sell for £713,250, a record price at auction. It was also very exciting to offer a work by Joana Vasconcelos at auction for the first time. Golden Independent Heart is a 4.5 metre tall, rotating heart made of plastic cutlery which, perhaps unsurprisingly, had been a particularly popular highlight of the sale preview. We offered it with an estimate of £80,000 to £120,000, and were delighted to see it sell for £163,250.

What are you expecting for the second half of the year?
It is difficult to predict as so much depends on the art that we are offering at our auctions but certainly consignors are approaching us with a renewed confidence having seen six months of consistently healthy results, and we are seeing a deep, continuous demand in the market. In the next six months, we look forward to auctions in London during Frieze Week in October, in New York, Milan and Amsterdam in November and in Paris in December, and these will give us further transparency with regards the market.

You arrived at Christie’s in January this year as Head of the European Post-War and Contemporary department. Have you made any significant changes, and what is your vision for the future?
The European team is one of great strength, knowledge and experience, and this was a major deciding factor in my joining Christie's. The senior specialists in the department - Jean Paul Engelen, Mariolina Bassetti, Florence de Botton and Andreas Rumbler - have almost 100 years of experience between them, and together with the younger members who show great talent, enthusiasm and promise, we have a truly exceptional team. We have specialists based in major cities around Europe and my main focus has been to ensure that we work as one, consolidated department offering the best possible service and advice to our clients. In addition, the great strength of our American team means that we now offer a completely unrivalled global expertise.

Also, having trained as an artist and worked as a curator, I am extremely interested in the way that the auction house can learn from museums and galleries in terms of the presentation of our exhibitions and catalogues. In these challenging times, it is important to continue to inspire our clients with innovative ideas and inspiration, as well as the highest level of connoisseurship. To this end, the catalogues we produce need to be of the highest quality but also inventive and inspiring to our buyers. I am excited to have brought the pre-sale exhibitions for our major London auctions back to the refurbished salerooms at King Street. They now have a fantastic contemporary feel and since this is the flagship European saleroom, it makes sense to have our main auction exhibitions here.