New York salutes Freud’s Brigadier

World auction records set for seven artists as Christie’s evening sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York achieves $331,809,000

Important provenances were highly prized at Christie’s evening sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York, which included standout works from the collections of Arthur and Anita Kahn, Miles and Shirley Fiterman, Mezzacappa, Ileana Sonnabend and Nina Castelli Sundell, and Paul Maenz.

The sale, which realised $331,809,000 / £219,741,060 / €308,516,448 (click for full results), attracted registered bidders from 39 countries, including a very strong response from Asia competing against notable demand from Europe and America, and produced sell-through rates of 80 per cent by lot and 86 per cent by value.

Lucian Freud (1922-2011), The Brigadier, 2003-2004. Oil on canvas. Sold for: $34,885,000

Four lots sold for over $20 million, led by Andy Warhol’s Four Marilyns, painted in 1962 (sold for $36,005,000 / £23,844,371, €33,477,497, including buyer’s premium) and Lucian Freud’s The Brigadier, a stunning portrait of Andrew Parker-Bowles, which realised $34,885,000 / $23,102,649 / €32,436,119. In total, 12 works sold for for over $5 million, and 19 for over $1 million.

New world auction records were set for works by Lucio Fontana, Louise Bourgeois, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Claes Oldenburg, Joe Bradley, Richard Pousette-Dart and Mario Schifano.

Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio, 1964. Oil on shaped canvas. Sold for: $29,173,000

Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, La fine di Dio, painted in 1964, realised $29,173,000/ £19,319,868 / €27,125,094, almost doubling the previous auction record for a work by the artist, which was set earlier this year. Spider, a vast bronze by Louise Bourgeois, soared past the previous record of just short of $11 million, set in the same Rockefeller Center saleroom in 2011, to go for $28,165,000 / £18,652,318 / €26,187,854.

Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), Spider, Conceived in 1996, cast in 1997. Bronze. Sold for: $28,165,000

Lot 6, Richard Pousette-Dart’s 1958 diptych Blood Wedding, realised $2,629,000 / £1,741,060 / €2,444,448 against a low estimate of $600,000, easily eclipsing the previous world auction record for one of his works, which stood at $722,500. In setting another world record for the artist, Claes Oldenburg’s Clothespin Ten Foot, 1974, realised $3,637,000/ £2,408,609/ €3,381,687, more than double its high estimate. Ten lots later, Cleopatra’s Dream by Mario Schifano realised £893,000 / £591,391 / €830,313, close to six times its low estimate.

Mario Schifano (1934-1998), Cleopatra's Dream, 1960-1961. Enamel and paper laid down on canvas. Sold for: $893,000

In the final section of the sale, Untitled (L.A.) by Felix Gonzales-Torres, sold for $7,669,000 / £5,078,808 / €7,130,646, against a low estimate of $5 million, exceeding the previous world auction record for the artist, set in 2010, by more than $3 million. It was a similar story for Joe Bradley’s Tres Hombres, 2011, which realised $3,077,000 / £2,037,748 / 2,860,999 against a low estimate of $1,500,000 to shatter the previous auction high for one of his works, which stood at $1,584,484 set at Christie’s London in October 2014.

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