CHRISTIE’S CONTEMPORARY EDITION: LONDON AND PRINTS AND MULTIPLES SALES ACHIEVE £5 MILLION
London – Christie’s Contemporary Edition: London and Prints and Multiples sales realised a combined total of £5,099,850.
Contemporary Edition: London achieved a total of £1,607,256 and was led by Banksy’s 2004 print Girl with Balloon realising £239,400. David Hockney’s vibrant The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – 5 March 2011 was a further highlight, selling for £138,600. Additional editions by the artists also performed well with Banksy’s Banksquiat (Black) selling for £60,480 while David Hockney’s Kilham with Church realised £47,880, more than three times the low estimate. Damien Hirst’s Loyalty (H9-7), from: The Virtues achieved £35,280, over four times the low estimate of £8,000.
Prints and Multiples realised a total of £3,492,594 and was led by Andy Warhol’s Grapes which achieved £277,200. The four prints from The Collection of Paula Rego were led by Picasso’s Minotaure aveugle guidé par une fillette dans la nuit, from: La Suite Vollard (£126,000). The grouping of Chagall prints formerly from the artist’s estate sold above estimate, highlighted by Adam, Ève et le Serpent (1977, price realised: £17,640) and Nature morte aux fleurs (1978, price realised: £8,190).
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska’s The Wrestlers sold for £100,800, over twelve times the low estimate of £8,000, a world auction record for a British linocut.
