Displaying items by tag: francis outred

Christie’s sold 46.9 million pounds ($75.3 million) of postwar and contemporary art at the start of Frieze week in London, as a Gerhard Richter estimated at as much as 10 million pounds failed to find a buyer at the auction.

Richter’s “Netz,” a red, yellow and green abstract painting, was sold after the auction to a private U.S. collector for 5.5 million pounds, Francis Outred, head of postwar and contemporary art, Europe, said at a news conference after last night’s sale.

The 44 works, from the Essl Collection of contemporary art in Austria, produced a total that fell within the auction house’s presale estimated range of 40 million to 56.8 million pounds.

A triptych of Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon could sell for over $95 million at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale on November 12, 2013. Three Studies of Lucian Freud from 1969 carries an estimate of $85 million at hammer price but fees would be added to that amount.

The painting of Bacon’s painter friend is being offered by an unidentified European seller and has never appeared on the auction market before. The work was included in the seminal Bacon retrospective organized by Paris’ Grand Palais in 1971-72.

Three Studies of Lucian Freud will be on view at Christie’s King Street during Frieze Art Week from October 13-18, 2013 before heading to the auction in New York in November. Francis Outred, head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe, said, “We are honored to announce the sale of an undeniable icon of twentieth century art. A conversation between two masters of 20^th century figurative painting, Francis Bacon’s triptych, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, executed in 1969 is a true masterpiece that marks Bacon and Freud’s relationship, paying tribute to the creative and emotional kinship between the two artists.”

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s (1960-1988) neo-expressionist painting Untitled (1982) sold for $29 million at Christie’s in London on June 25, 2013, surpassing its pre-sale estimate of $24.7 million. The work, which was acquired by the seller for $1.7 million in 2002, sold to a telephone bidder. Untitled was painted in the same year as Dustheads, the Basquiat painting that sold for $48.8 million in May 2013, setting the record for the artist at auction.

Other highlights from the Post-War and Contemporary art sale included Roy Lichtenstein’s (1923-1977) Cup of Coffee (1961), which sold for $4.2 million and exceeded its $3 million high estimate; Willem de Kooning’s (1904-1997) uncharacteristically serene Untitled XXVIII, which brought $4.4 million, well past its high estimate of $3.5 million; and Yves Klein’s (1928-1962) SE 181 (1961), a sculpture in the artist’s signature blue hue, which garnered $4.1 million, surpassing its high estimate of $2.7 million. However, not all lots fared so well. Andy Warhol’s (1928-1987) Colored Campbell’s Soup Can (1965) failed to meet its low estimate of $3.4 million due to its unpopular color palette. Steven S. Cohen, the disgraced founder and CEO of SAC Capital Advisors LP, previously owned the work.

Overall, the sale realized a total of $108.4 million and sold 90% by value and 80% by lot. Francis Outred, International Director and Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, said, “Overall the auction showed an intelligent, solid market and a depth of global bidding, which is a testament to the worldwide interest in Post-War and Contemporary art.”