“We didn’t need to take any dangers—all the things of excessive worth is third-party assured. I wished one thing secure, contemporary and uplifting—it’s been a troublesome, unusual 12 months for all of us.”
So mentioned Cristian Albu, Christie’s deputy chairman, head of Twentieth and twenty first Century Artwork, Asia Pacific, earlier than the primary night sale of Twentieth and twenty first century artwork on the public sale home’s grand new Hong Kong headquarters, which came about Thursday night (26 September).
Now is just not a simple time to promote artwork, anyplace, however the slowdown of shopping for from mainland Chinese language collectors has been a lot publicised and significantly impacts these Hong Kong auctions. As Yuki Terase, a founding companion of the advisory agency Artwork Intelligence International, instructed The Artwork Newspaper earlier than the sale: “I speak with Amy [Cappellazzo, her co-founder in New York] every single day and we change how the market is. I really feel the sentiment is just not that totally different globally, so it’s not Asia particular by way of individuals being cautious.”
However, she provides, exercise from Mainland Chinese language collectors has slowed significantly since Covid: “That’s because of geopolitical components but additionally as a result of individuals acquired actually excited and purchased rather a lot very quick firstly after which slowed down. It’s inevitable for a brand new market to decelerate—no market continues to develop at a double-digit share yearly and China has hit that time. However does that imply there aren’t any collectors shopping for in China? I don’t assume so. They’re simply extra selective, extra cautious.”
Terase noticed of tonight’s Christie’s sale: “They’ve performed it secure however in a great way—they’ve picked extra traditional blue-chip names, far fewer rising artists’ works which you used to see rather a lot in Hong Kong gross sales. I believe that’s proper for the present surroundings—individuals are wanting blue-chip works as they see it as a secure place to place their cash.”
Christie’s tactic paid off, with the public sale reaching HK$1bn ($134m) with charges. The hammer complete got here to HK$883.1m ($113.4m), simply shy of the low finish of the pre-sale estimate of HK$884.4m to HK$1.3bn ($113.6m to $167m), calculated with out charges. Of the 46 heaps supplied, 93% bought and 11 had been already successfully pre-sold by means of third-party ensures, and one—unusually within the present market—carried a home assure.
Consigning the sale was powerful, Albu says: “It hasn’t been straightforward—all of us cancelled our summer time, it’s been two or three months of laborious work. Each single portray was like getting blood out of a stone!” The attract of the brand new Henderson constructing house helped persuade quite a lot of distributors, however the security web of a third-party assure was essential: “From the very starting, discussions with the Van Gogh, Monet and Kim Whan-Ki [vendors] had been primarily based on the settlement we might have a third-party assure in place.”
Vincent van Gogh, Les canots amarrés, 1887 Courtesy of Christie’s
It was a superb factor they had been, as a lot of the bidding felt sticky. The sale centred figuratively and financially round a couple of commercially dependable Nineteenth- and Twentieth-century names. Nodding to the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Impressionism this 12 months, one high-value spotlight of the sale was a Caude Monet waterlilies portray, one in every of eight from his first Nymphéas sequence (round 1897-99), which had been owned by Michel Monet and had by no means appeared at public sale earlier than. After lengthy, plodding bidding—slowed additional by one shopper’s request to bid in US {dollars}—Nymphéas ultimately bought to Albu’s cellphone bidder, presumably the guarantor, for HK$180m (HK$233.3m/$29.9m with charges), under the HK$200m to HK$280m estimate however nonetheless an public sale document for the artist in Asia.
Equally, Vincent van Gogh’s Les canots amarrés, one in every of a sequence of work of the Seine made in the summertime of 1887 within the Parisian suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine, was estimated to promote for between HK$230m and HK$380m ($30m-$50m), however went for HK$215m (HK$250.6m/$32.2m with charges), the highest value of the sale.
That may be a document for Van Gogh in Asia and it bought to a bidder, seemingly from the US, on the cellphone with Max Carter, the vice chairman for Twentieth and twenty first century artwork at Christie’s Americas. Earlier this month, The Artwork Newspaper’s Van Gogh knowledgeable Martin Bailey described Les canots amarrés as “one of the essential works of Western artwork to go below the hammer in Asia”. Bailey additionally reported that, though the official line is that Les canots amarrés was being bought by “a household belief represented by the royal household of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and Mr Patrick L. Abraham”, the vendor is successfully Princess Camilla, of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies household.
Zao Wou-Ki, 05.06.80 – Triptyque, 1980 Courtesy of Christie’s
Described by Albu as a “bridge” between the European and Asian artworks within the sale, Zao Wou-Ki’s 05.06.80 – Triptyque (1980) was one in every of two triptychs made by the Chinese language émigré for his exhibition on the Grand Palais in Paris in 1981. Offered with out a assure, the portray bought to a purchaser on the cellphone with Eric Chang, chairman for Asian Twentieth century and modern artwork at Christie’s Hong Kong, for HK$80m (HK$95.3m/$12.2m with charges), towards an estimate of HK$78m to HK$128m.
Talking earlier than the sale, Albu alluded to the “huge” South Korean market and why a portray by Korean grasp Kim Whan-Ki was “a pillar” of the sale. An enormous blue dot portray, made in 1971 and measuring two and a half metres throughout, 9-XII-71 #216 (1971) bought to Christie’s Seoul basic supervisor Hak Jun Lee’s cellphone bidder for HK$46m (HK$56m/$7.2m with charges).
This 12 months, Christie’s quietly determined to discontinue its Submit-Millenium auctions of twenty first century artwork, which had been launched in 2022. “We walked away from the ultra-contemporary market, all the things painted a 12 months or two in the past—I don’t need us to be a part of the hypothesis,” Albu instructed The Artwork Newspaper earlier than tonight’s Hong Kong sale. “Bringing items to public sale and reaching loopy excessive costs, which later implode, is just not a superb factor. It’s less than us to determine—it’s higher to let curators and museums and establishments determine what’s nice, slightly than us taking part in gods.”
Ronald Ventura, State of Bloom, 2021 Courtesy of Christie’s
Nonetheless, the pockets of power in tonight’s sale had been, paradoxically, for modern works. As an illustration, the third lot, an summary portray titled 18:50 from 2021 by the in-demand Los Angeles-based artist Lucy Bull bought for a world document HK$15m (HK$18.5m/$2.3m with charges), tripling its HK$5m to HK$8m estimate. That trounces the earlier public sale document for Bull, set at Sotheby’s in New York in Could, when 16:10 (2020) bought for $1.45m ($1.8m with charges). Amanda Schmitt, a New York-based artwork adviser, instructed The Artwork Newspaper in Could that “a excessive share of collectors who’re shopping for her work” are “promoting it instantly”. With quite a few cellphone bidders competing for the work this night at Christie’s, it went to a bidder on the cellphone with Ada Tsui, Christie’s Hong Kong-based vp, head of Twentieth and twenty first century night gross sales.
Later within the sale, a portray by the favored Filipino artist Ronald Ventura drew maybe probably the most energetic and aggressive bidding of the entire sale. State of Bloom (2021), an oil on canvas pondering how wealth and know-how influence society, was purchased instantly from the artist and pitched to promote for between HK$1.8m to HK$2.8m. However with bids ping-ponging between Christie’s Singapore-based crew on the telephones, it bought for a document HK$30m (HK$36.6m/$4.7m with charges). That nearly doubles Ventura’s earlier document, additionally set at Christie’s Hong Kong, however three years in the past in 2021, of HK$19.4m (US$2.5m) with charges.
New public sale data had been additionally set for Lalan, Rhee Seundja, Alix Aymé, Mehdi Ghadyanloo, Tang Chang and Damrong Wong-Uparaj.
Not all of the modern works flew so simply nonetheless. Early within the sale, the Hernan Bas portray Thriller Bouf (or, the dominion after the flood) from 2009, went unsold with a HK$4.8m to HK$8.8m estimate. Afterward, a portray by Christina Quarles, We Woke in Mourning Jus Tha Similar (2017)—the one work within the sale with a home assure—drew virtually no curiosity and bought for HK$1m (HK$1.2m/US$154, 242 with charges), half the low estimate, and is now presumably heading into Christie’s stock. That was a blow for the vendor, who purchased it at Sotheby’s in London in June 2022 for £529,200 with charges.
