Image: Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1994 via Sotheby’s
Estimate: £9,000,000 – 12,000,000
Sold for: £21,321,250

Sotheby’s just concluded its evening Postwar & Contemporary sale in London on October 12th with a sale total of £44,146,350 ($70,793,087),  the highest total of the three auction houses this week.

Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild, 1994 from the collection of Eric Clapton set a record price at £21,321,250 ($34,297,363). Alongside this work, the second cover lot of the sale was Yves Klein’s RE 9-I from the artist’s most sought-after series: the Relief éponge, which sold for  £3,737,250 with premium.

Image: Yves Klein, RE 9-I, 1961 via Sotheby’s
Estimate: £2,000,000 – 3,000,000
Sold for: £3,737,250

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Yves Klein,  Le Rose du bleu (1960) which sold for £23.5 million (£3.5 million over its high estimate)

Last night in London, Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction experienced a stellar sale. Totaling £132.8 million against an expected excess of  £120 million, it was the highest grossing contemporary art sale in Europe. Achieving sales with an 87% sell-through rate and 98% sold by value – Christie’s sold all but 9 on it’s 71 lots – save for the 2 withdrawn. Four of the lots sold above £10 million, and five lots boosted over $10 million. Christie’s Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe, Francis Outred, was quoted in a post-sale press release: “Following the record result achieved at Christie’s New York in May, we are delighted with tonight results which established a new record for an auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art in Europe… Overall we brought together consignments from four continents, reached buyers on four continents and benefitted from a depth and strength of bidding from across the room and on the phone.”

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Beatriz Milhazes, Gamboa Seasons Autumn Love (2010). All photos via Galerie Max Hetzler.

Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes begins Berlin Galerie Max Hetzler’s season with four large paintings, collages, and a mobile.  The paintings are titled after the four seasons and continue the artist’s engagement with bold, colorful explorations of familiar objects and ideas taken as geometrical abstractions.

Installation view

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Beatriz Milhazes, O Moderno, 2002 (est. $1-1.3 million, realized $1.1 million), via Phillipsdepury.com

Phillips de Pury’s Contemporary art evening sale on Monday night at their new space in the Claridge’s Hotel, London realized $17 million for 27 of 31 lots sold. The sum (which includes fees) fell within presale estimates of $16.4-27.3 million despite the withdrawal of a high priced Cindy Sherman, reportedly because another version of the work sold at Art Basel earlier this month. The equivalent sale last year at Phillips realized just $6 million and nearly half the lots offered went unsold.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat, Self-Portrait, 1985 (est. $3.2-4.8 million), via Phillipsdepury.com

The summer sales continue in London this week as the major auction houses host their Contemporary art auctions. Phillips will offer 32-lots on Monday evening, followed by Christie’s 67-lot sale on Tuesday and capped with an 88-lot sale at Sotheby’s on Wednesday. The Phillips sale will take place at the company’s new exhibition space at Claridge’s London. Like the auction house’s move uptown to 450 Park Ave in New York last year, the new London location is closer than their Howick Place headquarters to competitors Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The night’s 32 lots are expected to fetch $16-23 million and are headlined by a Basquiat self portrait that is estimated to bring as much as $4.8 million.

Damien Hirst, Confession, 2008 (est. $958,000-1.3 million), via Phillipsdepury.com

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Spring Love (2010) by Beatriz Milhazes, via Fondation Beyeler

Currently on view at the Fondation Beyeler is an exhibition featuring work by renowned Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960 Rio de Janeiro). Incorporating basic motifs from the diverse and tropical culture of Brazil, Milhazes’ work also recalls symbolism from the history of Brazilian culture. After major exhibitions including those at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Fondation Cartier, Paris, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and the Pinacoteca, São Paulo, this is  the artist’s first exhibition in Switzerland. The solo exhibit will feature four new large-scale paintings revolving around the theme of the four seasons which were commissioned for the show. Also included are a selection of the artist’s colorful collages as well as a mobile and a vibrant floor work.

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Beatriz Milhanes at Fondation Cartier via WSJ

For her exhibition at the Fondation Cartier, Brazilian born artist Beatriz Milhanes presents a focused selection of large format acrylic paintings, chosen from her work of the past decade, as well as a monumental collage created especially for the show.  She was also commissioned to produce a monumental installation of the building’s glass facades.  Beatriz Milhanes emerged on the Brazilian art scene in the mid-1980s.  Her vibrant and colorful paintings intertwine colonial baroque, high modernism, and popular Brazilian art.  Her bold and bright installations play with natural light to compliment the architecture of Jean Nouvel and the surrounding garden.

Beatriz Milhanes, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain April 4th-June 21st [ArtSlant]
Beatriz Milhanes, Fondation Cartier [Artnews]
Events, Paris, Beatriz Milhanes [Abitare]
Pop Goes Paris [WSJ]

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