Works by George Condo, Banksy and More Fetch $34 Million USD in Phillips Auction
Including a monumental work by Georg Baselitz.
Coinciding with London’s Frieze week, Phillips recently presented its contemporary art evening sale event at its U.K. headquarters. A total of 36 lots fetched a total of £26.3 million ($34.1 million USD) with buyer’s premium included.
One of the top lots included in the sale were by blue-chip artists including Georg Baselitz’s landmark Das letzte Selbstbidnis I (1982) portraying the artist’s signature upside-down figure which hammered at £4.1 million GBP, achieving roudhly $5 million USD — the third highest price for the artist in record. The iconic work came from the collection of the Paris-based contemporary art patron Marcel Brient.
Other top lots include Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Pestus) 1982, a work on paper which sold for £2.2 million GBP ($2.9 million USD). George Condo’s The Age of Reason 2010 painting hammered £2,261,000 GBP (approx. $2,931,613 USD). Moreover, Banksy’s Girl with Balloon & Morons Sepia 2007 work achieved £1,232,500 GBP (approx. $1,598,060 USD).Two lots by Damien Hirst and KAWS were withdrawn before the sale commenced on Tuesday.
The result surpassed last year’s sale of contemporary art which brought in £25.9 million GBP ($33.5 million). Altogether, eighteen percent of lots sold above the high estimate, fifteen percent sold in the middle of the estimate range and eighteen percent made a price below the low estimate. The sale also garnered auction records for several emerging artists including Titus Kaphar, Emily Mae Smith and Portia Zvavahera.
Head to Phillips’ website for more information. Elsewhere in art, over 70 ancient artifacts were vandalized across Berlin Museums earlier this month.
