London – Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale achieved a total of £14,541,660 / $18,598,783 / €16,984,659, with strong sell-through rates of 91% by value and 85% by lot. The running total for the 20/21 March season to date is £228,105,716 / $290,567,097 / €266,034,105.

Testament to the strength of London as an international sale platform, Keith Haring’s Untitled sold for £945,000 while Alex Katz’s Sophie realised £604,800.

British artists performed well in the London saleroom, mirroring the successes of the 20^th / 21^st Century: London Evening Sale. Louise Giovanelli’s Ether opened the auction, setting a new world auction record for the artist (£85,680) and Annie Morris’ Stack 9, Copper Blue also achieved a new record price for the artist’s work (£327,600), with Andrew Cranston’s Salad Days equalling the world auction record for the artist (£63,000). David Hockney’s rare early sculpture Ceramic Cat sold for £119,700 against an estimate of £15,000-20,000, while Daisy Dodd-Noble’s Forest and Water at Sunset sold to an online bidder for £35,280 (estimate: £10,000-15,000).

In Women’s History Month, the appeal of female artists was evidenced with strong results across the sale. Everlyn Nicodemus’ Kvinnan (Woman) set a new world auction record for the artist (£44,100) and Emma McIntyre’s If there is light that has weight sold for £100,800 against an estimate of £15,000-20,000, marking the first time the artist’s work has appeared in a live auction. Above estimate prices were also achieved for Etel Adnan’s Untitled (£157,500, estimate: £60,000-80,000), Ewa Juszkiewicz’s Untitled (after Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun) (£378,000, estimate: £180,000-250,000), Yayoi Kusama’s Butterflies (£516,600, estimate: £250,000-350,000) and Elizabeth Peyton’s Marcello (£176,400, estimate: £50,000-70,000).

Further pieces from the visionary, private collection of work by Alighiero Boetti were offered, highlighted by ABEEGHIIILOORTT (£100,800) and Ammazzare il tempo (Killing Time) (£75,600). The total for the 10 Boetti works is £2,591,820. Successes for Italian modern masters continued with Salvo’s San Nicola Arcella, which sold for £378,000 (estimate: £80,000-120,000).

Christie’s is collaborating with Migrate Art to auction a group of 25 works across the Day Sale and First Open to benefit From The Ashes, a non-profit organisation who support the prevention of deforestation in the Amazon. The total raised to date is £277,830.