02-06-2025
Nine foot beauty queen portrait sets auction record for a living female artist
The global art market is not immune to the trade winds of change blowing us all over the place right now.
Even though they brought in $1 billion, the slimmed-down May sales in New York failed to reach their targets.
On the minus side, a bust by Alberto Giacometti of his brother Diego, estimated at around $70 million (€61.57 million), failed to find a buyer at Sotheby's.
On the plus side, the collection of Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio and his wife Louise made $272 million (€239.46 million) at Christie's, the only collection to realise this total in the last 18 months.
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Marlene Dumas, South African-born born Netherlands-based 71-year-old old set a new auction record for a living female artist with Miss January, 1997.
'Miss January' by Marlene Dumas.
She has explored portraiture for 40 years, and this monumental nine feet tall work of a beauty queen nude from the waist down, apart from a pink sock, sold for $13.6 million (€11.96 million) at Christie's.
There were records too for previously overlooked 20th century women artists like Grace Hartigan, Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Vara and Kiki Kogelnik.
Christie's global president, Alex Rotter, said that what we are seeing is an emphasis on individual taste among collectors.
'Leaves of a Plant' by Georgia O'Keeffe made $12.9 million (€11.35 million) at Sotheby's.
"The market is no longer about following the crowd. It is about individual taste and passions. What art makes you feel. That is a very interesting and exciting development for the market".
The global downturn is influenced by factors like a decline in the number of Asian buyers and the absence of Russian wealth.
These do not affect the market for Irish art. Underlying global uncertainty does play into the Irish market, but not at a level where the highs are stratospheric and the lows catastrophic.
Our very conservative market is characterised by slow, steady growth. It operates in a relatively low-value segment, which shows up in all current statistics as being most immune to all that is going on.
One segment that has proved to be not at all immune is the market for young contemporaries. Entirely absent from the sales this month were prices in the millions for young artists that few people had ever heard of.
One possible explanation is that buyers of mid-career artists can afford to wait, as this work will continue to be available in the future, especially at a time of uncertainty.
'Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue' .
The top lot of the week was Mondrian's Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue from the Riggio collection. It made $47.6 million (€41.87 million).
Magritte's L'Empire des Lumieres from the same collection made $35 million (€30.79 million).
There was a record at Christie's for Monet when his Peupliers au bord de l'Epte, crepuscule, sold for $43 million (€37.82 million) and set a new record for his celebrated Poplars series.
'Homme Assis' by Picasso.
At Sotheby's, Picasso's Homme Assis from 1969 made $15.1 million (€13.28 million) and Georgia O'Keeffe's Leaves of a Plant made $12.9 million (€11.35 million).
Roy Lichtenstein's Reflections: Art made $5.4 million (€4.75 million), one of nine Lichtensteins which collectively made $29 million (€25.51 million).
There was a new world record for Mainie Jellett at Whyte's on Monday evening when Achill Horses, featured here last week, made a hammer price of €210,000.
The previous record was €110,000 set at Whyte's in 2019 for Than Land Eire from 1940. This painting is included in the current Mainie Jellett Evie Hone exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland.
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