30/10/2001
by James Gaskell

German contemporary artists dominated the October contemporary auctions on the 23rd which are traditionally the more lightweight of the London annual sales. With the auction houses diverging categorisation, Sotheby’s put up 140 lots combining contemporary with some more heavyweight post-war artists to raise $ 2,928,394 (€ 3,235,160), 69% being sold by lot and 75% by value. Christie’s experiment to intersperse the contemporary art with more conventional photography achieved nothing but unsold lots, in the end raising a sale total of $ 966,604 (€ 1,067,880) from 199 lots with only 47% sold by lot, but 60% by value.

Christie’s did, however, have the best of the contemporary works. German artist Thomas Ruff's Sterne 02h 56m - 65°, the 1989 photographic enlargement of a night sky observatory image from an edition of two, posted a record-high auction price for the artist of $ 117,313 (€ 129,476) against an estimate of $ 50,000-65,000 (€ 56,000-72,000), an impressive performance that beat the previous record of $ 99,650 (€ 110,000) set for a work from the same series sold in February this year also by Christie’s London. A further work from this key "Sterne" series is coming up at Christie’s, New York on November the 15th in their sale of the Hans Grothe Collection.

Another German artist in high demand at Christie’s was artist of the moment Thomas Demand. Following his $ 81,550 (€ 90,000) record at Sotheby’s New York earlier this year, two major works, the 1996 Flur (Corridor) and the 2000 Abgang (Exit), both photographs of his life size cardboard constructions, in editions of five, sold for $ 52,915 (€ 58,400) and $ 42,685 (€ 47,110), respectively against the same estimate of $ 45,000-60,000 (€ 50,000-65,000).

Not to be outdone, the Parisian artist duo Pierre et Gilles also set a new auction record for their hand-painted photographs, Sarasvati - Ruth Gallardo 1988 from their "Dieux et Désees" series, which sold for $ 49,516 (€ 54,650) against an estimate of $ 18,000-27,000 (€ 20,000-30,000). Other works by Sam Taylor-Wood, Rineke Dijkstra and Luc Tuymans sold notably well, but one of the few surprises in the sale was Swiss artists Fischli & Weiss' 1981 clay sculpture Kerouac's Taping Machine, which tripled its estimate to sell for $ 37,500 (€ 41,450). The only real disappointment was Christie’s star lot Gary Hume's striking 1991 work Girl Boy, Boy Girl, two large enamel painted boards, which failed to make its reserve price of $ 87,175 (€ 96,210), a victim of the somewhat overly bullish estimate of $ 100,000-145,000 (€ 110,000-160,000), given current conditions.

Photographic works also attracted fierce competition in Sotheby's sale. Andreas Gursky's 1990 Borse, Tokyo (Tokyo Stock Exchange), from an edition of four, sold to an Italian collector for an above estimate of $ 113,765 (€ 125,550), although this is a modest price compared to a similar work of the New York Mercantile Exchange which sold for $ 295,000 (€ 325,200) at Christie’s, New York in May this year. Aside from the photography an early red pigmented sculpture from 1979-80 by Anish Kapoor 1000 Names sold for double its estimate at $ 37,500 (€ 41,370). Elaine Sturtevant's 1973 direct Warhol copy, Warhol Marilyn Diptych, also sold well for $ 52,500 (€ 57,970) against an estimate of $ 21,000-29,000 (€ 24,000-32,000) to set a new auction record for the artist, famous for her copies of Jasper Johns' flags and Duchamp's urinal. At the same time however a genuine Andy Warhol from the Jackie Kennedy series of 1964 failed to sell with an estimate of $ 117,750 –172,000 (€ 130,000-190,000), underlining the specificity of the Warhol market given that another work from the Jackie series, with the same estimate, fetched $ 708,000 (€ 781,680) at the same auction house four months before.

Sotheby's included several heavyweight post-war artists including a major Jean Dubuffet from the artist's "L'Huorloupe" series, the 1974 "Colloque" which was snapped up by a European dealer short of its ambitious estimate of $ 260,500-350,250 (€ 290,000-390,000) for $ 252,703 (€ 279,000). But it was private collectors, mainly European, who dominated the day taking eight of the top ten lots, including a Spanish collector who acquired the excellent 1965 La Parole II by Vieira da Silva for $ 212,065 (€ 234,100) against an estimate of $ 170,000-260,000 (€ 190,000-290,000), ringing up another good price for this highly desirable artist.

The conclusion of the weeks sales was voiced by Sotheby's specialist Francis Outred, who commented that despite the cautious market the results are indicative of collectors being willing to bid competitively for pieces by established artists.