Francis Bacon, Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), Image via Christie’s

Tonight, the week of Post War & Contemporary Art Evening Sales commence with Phillips kicking off the week long auctions. After last week’s mixed results in sales, with Christie’s and Sotheby’s hosting their respective Impressionist & Modern Art Sales, the contemporary art offerings will provide a more definitive litmus test of the international art market’s power and predilections. A great deal of press and attention has been drawn to the forthcoming sales, both nationally and internationally, attributed to exceptional offerings in all three houses, and a multitude of enormous price tags to accompany the museum-quality works.

Andy Warhol, Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) (1963), Image via Sotheby’s (more…)

Painter Jean-Michel Basquiat’s tribute to his favorite writer, William Burroughs, titled Five Fish Series will be on the auction block at Sotheby’s February 12th Contemporary Arts sale. The work is estimated to sell from £4.25 million to £6.25 million.  “Basquiat is the blue chip artist of the moment,” said Sotheby’s contemporary specialist Alex Branczik. “He is recognised today in perhaps the same way he recognized Burroughs in the 1980s as someone who was streets ahead of his time – Basquiat is the artist who everybody wants at the moment so we have high hopes of it doing well at auction.” (more…)