Their 2018 piece “Times” sold for £226,800.
Auction house Phillips realized a total of £12 Million (about $15.7 million) during its 20th Century and Contemporary Art Day Sale on March 4. This was the highest ever result for a day sale in London in company history.
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The event also broke a total of seven world auction records, including those for Caroline Walker and Emmanuel Taku. This followed a strong showing during the event’s Evening Sale, which yielded £29,939,350 (around $40 million).
“After a strong start to the season with last night’s Evening Sale, the momentum continued into the Day Sale, with the total result of £12 million marking the highest ever result for a Day Sale in London in company history,” says Simon Tovey, head of 20th Century and Contemporary Art Day Sale. “The sale opened with fierce competition for auction newcomer Antonia Showering, pushing the 2017 painting to sell for £226,800, over 20 times its low estimate.”
Tovey says they were pleased to see works by blue-chip names such as Yayoi Kusama and Richard Prince feature in the list of top purchases.
Kusama’s “Pumpkin” (2001) was valued at £200,000 to £300,000, but eventually sold for £516,600 ($687,698) to be the auction’s top sale. Georg Baselitz’s “Der Kardinal hinter dem Vorhang” (2015) went for £478,800 to place second, while “Ich hörte das Gras…” (2009) by Günther Uecker sold for £403,200.
“A Scattering” (2021) by Walker sold for £327,600, almost 250,000 more than her previous best. Taku’s “Sisters in Lilac” (2021), meanwhile, sold for £214,000. Other records broken include: Cristina BanBan, whose “El Sueño Va Sobre El Tiempo” (2019) broke her previous best by 100 percent; Amani Lewis “For Angela and her kin…in the garden”; Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar’s “Sparks of Life” (2021-2022); and Foster Sakyiamah’s “Yellow Girls Synced” (2021).
A collaboration by Takashi Murakami and the late Virgil Abloh, “Times” (2018), sold for £226,800 and also broke a record.
“We are thrilled with the results achieved for the works donated by contemporary artists, which together realized an outstanding result of £212,562 in support of the Warburg Renaissance,” Tovey shares. “We were humbled by the response from over 700 bidders across 48 countries who participated online, on the phone and in the room.”
