Contemporary Auctions Poised To Take Off

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The New York Sun

When Jeff Koons’s “Balloon Flower (Magenta)” sculpture went on display in London’s St. James’s Square last week, the members of the many gentlemen’s clubs nearby were among the first to realize that the Contemporary sales of the major auction houses were approaching in a major way.

“In the center of the square is an equestrian statue of William III and now, on one end, is a Jeff Koons sculpture. This sort of thing was sure to stir things up in St. James’s Square,” a Christie’s spokesman, Matthew Paton, said. The sculpture, with an estimated sale price of $24 million, will remain in the fashionable London square until the Christie’s Contemporary auction in London on Monday.

The promotion helps tout the fact that for the first time in its 242-year history, Christie’s is holding a Contemporary summer auction separate and distinct from its Impressionist sale. It’s a sign that widespread collectors’ interest in the Postmodern art and auction scene has continued to grow considerably during the past decade.

A notable work in Christie’s sale is Lucian Freud’s “Naked Portrait With Reflection,” an oil-on-canvas work from 1980 that differs both in style and size from the 1995 painting “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” which sold for $33.6 million at its Rockefeller Center auction in May. Christie’s places an estimate of between $20 million and $29 million on the 1980 portrait up for sale at its London headquarters.

But the gentlemen’s clubs of St. James’s Square aren’t the only London venues that have been experiencing Postmodern fever this week. On Sunday, the 1970s Glam Rock icon Patti Smith performed at the Phillips de Pury & Co. galleries with an enormous Damien Hirst painting in the shape of a gothic window as her backdrop.

Ms. Smith performed acoustic renditions of her greatest hits as part of the auction house’s exhibition that included the Swiss artist Franz Gertsch’s acrylic-on-canvas portrait “Patti Smith IV.” Phillips de Pury expects the work, a prime example of 1970s hyperrealism, to fetch between $3 million and $4 million at its evening sale on Sunday.

“We had to hang everything in the gallery a little bit higher because of the large crowd we had for the concert,” the founder and chairman of Phillips de Pury & Co., Simon de Pury, said. The Hirst painting that hung behind the platform on which Ms. Smith performed, “The Importance of Elsewhere – The Kingdom of Heaven,” could sell for between $3 million and $5 million, according to Mr. de Pury.

Paul McCarthy’s “Bunk House” is also a part of the Phillips de Pury sale. It’s a full-scale sculpture with its own multimedia presentation, complete with pneumatic cylinders, air compressors, and recorded sounds: ” … moving animated figures that mimic the wholesome, low-tech aesthetics of Disney theme parks in a narrative of twisted and profane sexual encounters,” according to the auction house, which estimates it could sell for between $3 million and $4 million. “It’s a very entertaining work,” Mr. de Pury said.

Across town, Sotheby’s is enjoying some rock ‘n’ roll fever of its own. The rock group U2 is the consignor of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Untitled (Pecho/Oreja),” which Sotheby’s estimates could sell for between $7.94 million and $11.91 million. The band’s bassist, Adam Clayton, spotted this acrylic, oil stick, and paper collage-on-canvas at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York in 1989. The band promptly bought the painting and hung it in its Dublin, Ireland, recording studio.

Basquiat, whose prices at auction have blossomed during the last two decades, was only 22 years old when he completed the work bought by U2. “All the members of the band, including Bono, have enjoyed it over the years and think it’s a good opportunity to sell it,” the senior specialist in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art department, Oliver Barker, said.

Sotheby’s is also auctioning one of most talked-about Modernist works in London this summer. Francis Bacon completed his “Study for the Head of George Dyer” in early 1967; his gallery sold it shortly thereafter to the present owner. “It’s been hanging in the owner’s London house ever since,” Mr. Barker said. “It’s a wonderful combination of the market’s most relevant painter right now and the most important subject of that painter’s life.”

Not only does the portrait bear a strong likeness to Dyer, Bacon’s longtime lover, but it stands as one of a select group of portraits completed while Dyer was still alive. “Given that we sold Bacon’s ‘Self Portrait, 1969’ in New York last November for $33 million, the estimate of [$16 million] on Dyer is conservative,” Mr. Barker said.

Indeed, Christie’s places an estimate in excess of $20 million on its significant Bacon painting, “Three Studies for Self-Portrait,” up for auction next week.

Important Minimalist and Pop art works from the private Helga and Walther Lauffs Collection are a significant part of Sotheby’s evening sale on Tuesday. Lauffs was a German industrialist who sought the help of a talented curator, Paul Wember, in building his collection in the 1960s. One of the lots is Yves Klein’s “RE 3,” a composition of sponges, pebbles, and dry pink pigment in synthetic resin on panel. Sotheby’s estimates the work could sell for between $2.98 million and $3.97 million.


The New York Sun

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