Auction Watch 2024: Sotheby's New Format

In this auction report we present a full summary of Sotheby's Modern & Contemporary evening & day Sales. Don't miss our Phillips and Christie's evening & day sales reports.

Sotheby's Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction, featuring The Now - 6/03

Presale estimate: £89,990,000 - £127,920,000

Sales Total Hammer: £82,205,000

-10% below the low presale estimate

1. Sell-through rate: 78%
2. Above: 21% (15)
3. Within: 39% (27)
4. Below: 17% (12)
5. Unsold: 21% (15)

Auction Sale Overview: The Stats

Sotheby’s introduced a new auction format, consolidating The Now sale with the main evening sale. The Now sale primarily showcases 21st-century works, with exceptions for 'hot' and 'trending' artists. Lots 1 through 15 achieved £4.8 million (hammer), with an 87% sell-through rate. The remaining 45 lots, part of the Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction, contributed £77.3 million, yielding an 88% sell-through rate. The auction totalled £82.2 million (hammer), 10% below the presale low estimate, with 54 out of 69 lots sold, resulting in a 75% sell-through rate. The merger produced a median sell-through rate of 78%, considering withdrawals and unsold works. While typically, two-part sales yield more favourable sell-through rates, the auction house did not address this. This change could indicate an attempt towards greater transparency, alongside the new fee structure. Explore our February Market Newsletter for a comprehensive overview of Sotheby's new fees.

In comparison to the March 2023 sales, this year's auction saw a 26% decrease in The Now sale, recording £6.5 million in hammer prices. Similarly, the main event experienced a substantial drop from the £136.9 million achieved in March 2023. Overall, the merged sale performed 55% below the combined hammer of the two-part sale in 2023. Several factors contribute to this decline. The Now sale in 2023 boasted a 100% sell-through rate with 21 lots offered, while the main event benefited from fewer unsold lots and was uplifted by five eight-figure sales featuring renowned artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Gerhard Richter, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, and Lucian Freud. In contrast, this year's sale had only one eight-figure sale: Pablo Picasso’s Homme à la pipe (1968).

Here are the highlights:

20th Century Highest Valued Lots: Picasso, Bacon, and Magritte

The auction featured an eclectic mix of artworks spanning from the 19th to the 21st century. Coincidently, the highest-valued lot was also the star lot, Picasso’s Homme à la pipe (1968), with a presale high estimate of £12 million. This piece made its auction debut and ignited a bidding war lasting over two minutes, ultimately selling to a Swiss phone bidder for £11.7 million (hammer) and realising £13.7 million with fees.

Another highlight was Francis Bacon’s Study of George Dyer (1970), with an estimated value of at least £5 million. This work matched expectations and fetched £5.7 million (hammer), realising £6.8 million with fees, also making its auction debut. Additionally, the infamous surrealist, René Magritte also made an appearance with Composition on a Seashore (1936) hammering at £2.8 million and achieving £3.4 million with fees. This piece, appearing for the fourth time at auction, had previously sold at Christie’s in 2019 for just over £2 million with fees, marking a 7% increase in resale value.

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American Pop: Andy Warhol and Alex Katz

One of the most anticipated lots in the auction, the featured piece in the catalogue was a small-scale 35 x 35 cm canvas of Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1964) – vibrant hot pink hibiscus, creating a striking contrast against the monochromatic backdrop. With an estimated value of £700,000, Warhol reaffirmed his status as a titan of the art world as the piece fetched £980,000 at the hammer and sold for £1.1 million. This same artwork was previously offered by Sotheby’s in 2007, achieving £445,600 with fees. The highest price ever recorded for a canvas of the same size but a different colour scheme was set at Christie’s New York in 2012, reaching $1,202,500 (USD), establishing a new auction record for this particular piece.

Explore our Andy Warhol Investment Guide for 2024 to learn more about his print market performance.

Alex Katz, although entering the market later than Warhol, yet still carrying significant influence from the American Pop movement, delivered a robust performance with Black Hat No. 3 (2010). Emerging from a private collection and featured in the ISelf Collection: The End of Love catalogue at Whitechapel Gallery, this previously unseen piece at auction portrays Katz’s wife Ada wearing a black hat. Hammering at £380,000, near the top end of the high presale estimate of £400,000, the artwork ultimately realised £482,600 including fees.

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The Revival of Christopher Wool

Christopher Wool's market has been a subject of debate, undergoing a correction following one of the art world's most significant scandals involving Inigo Philbrook. However, his prints recently performed admirably in Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated sale. In Sotheby’s evening sale, Wool’s Untitled (1992), adorned with the crudely charming stencilled wordplay, “IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT YOU CAN GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE,” fetched 5% above its presale high estimate, realising £2.2 million with fees. This outcome suggests a potential revival for his market and one to watch in 2024.

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Reappearance of David Hockney And Bridget Riley

In this auction, two David Hockney pieces were featured, a notable absence from Sotheby’s March 2023 evening sale. Hockney's The Twenty First Very New Painting (1992), characterised by bold forms and vibrant colours created in Malibu, California, made its third auction appearance, hammering at £1.5 million and realising £1.8 million with fees. This marked an impressive 8.6-fold increase in sales value over a 17-year holding period, as it previously fetched $433,000 at Christie’s in 2007. Also presented was Hockney's Andalucia. Foundatains, Cordova (2004), which hammered at the low estimate of £1.5 million and achieved £1.8 million with fees, making its auction debut.

Renowned Op Artist Bridget Riley, absent from major auction sales from the big three since Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated sale in April of last year, made a long-awaited return. Riley's Break, an oil on canvas from 1987, illustrates the artist's diagonal exploration with interlocking colours. This work met expectations, hammering at £900,000 and realising £1.1 million with fees—toward the upper end of the presale estimate and marking the works first auction appearance.

Explore our David Hockney and Bridget Riley Investment Guide for 2024 to learn more about their print market performance.

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Damien Hirst

No auction is complete without a piece from the notorious YBA Damien Hirst. While Hirst has made significant strides in the art world with his HENI edition drops in 2023, his performance at auctions remains notable. In his print market, Hirst’s Spots series demonstrated consistent demand among collectors, as seen in this sale with Pyrene (2017), a 3-inch spot painting featuring nineteen rows and seventeen columns of unique dots precisely placed 3 inches apart. This work hammered at £420,000 and realised £533,400 with fees.

Explore our Damien Hirst Investment Guide for 2024 to learn more about his print market performance.

Browse Damien Hirst prints on the Trading Floor and find out more about the print market growth on the MAB100 Print Index.

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Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Day Auction - 7/03

Presale estimate: £19,509,000 - 28,023,000

Sales Total Hammer: £18,554,500

-7% below the low presale estimate

Sell-through rate: 80%

1. Above: 29% (59)
2. Within: 32% (65)
3. Below: 19% (39)
4. Unsold: 19% (40)

On March 7th, Sotheby’s kicked off with their Modern & Contemporary Day Auction, showcasing 204 artworks. Only one piece was withdrawn presale, and 40 remained unsold, resulting in an 80% sell-through rate, with 163 lots finding buyers. This marked an increase from the 137 works sold in Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Day Auction in 2023. The day sale concluded with a total hammer price of £18.5 million, just 1% lower than in 2023. Increased success was seen in the number of works that sold above estimate, 59 works surpassing their estimated value, compared to 39 in 2023, marking a 51% increase.

Here are the highlights:

The auction showcased a diverse range of artworks spanning modern, contemporary & post war periods. Among the highlights were pieces by women artists, including a unique work on paper by Louise Bourgeois executed in 2009. Using gouache and coloured pencil, Bourgeois’ paper works abstractly explore themes central to her oeuvre: nurturing, desire, and innate belonging. While her sculptures command high prices, her works on paper and prints offer an accessible entry point for collectors interested in acquiring pieces by this esteemed female artist. This particular artwork sold for £75,000 at the hammer and realised £95,250 with fees.

Several Tracey Emin artworks were available, although one was withdrawn before the sale. This Is Another Place (2007), a neon edition offers an attractive investment opportunity and portfolio diversification at accessible entry points. This work achieved a hammer price of £40,000 and realised £50,800 with fees. This work was part of an edition of three, including two artist proofs.

Browse Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin prints on the Trading Floor and find out more about the print market growth on the MAB100 Print Index.

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Male Artists: Pablo Picasso, Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol

Among the offerings by male artists, our attention was drawn to several works by Pablo Picasso. Five pieces were presented, with one withdrawn and the others meeting their estimates. The standout among them was Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (1961), a unique pastel on canvas, which sold for £400,000 at the hammer and achieved £508,000 with fees, securing a sale to a phone bidder.

Damien Hirst also featured prominently was Peony Pink (2016), making its auction debut and selling above the low estimate. It hammered at £140,000 and realised £177,800 with fees after a spirited bidding battle between a phone and online bidder, ultimately won by the phone bidder.

No auction would be complete without Andy Warhol, and several of his works were offered, showcasing the breadth of Warhol's artistic output through a diverse range of more affordable canvases. Warhol’s Diamond Dust Gem (1980) fetched £80,000, achieving £101,600 with fees, while Monkey (Toy Painting) (1983) hammered at £90,000 and achieved £114,300 with fees. Warhol's Toy Painting's present a savvy choice for investors seeking to diversify their portfolios, given their exhibition significance in Zurich, and the recent records set by other works from this series in November 2023.

However, the most anticipated Warhol work was Piss (1978), made with urine on canvas. These works, known as Oxidation paintings, also offer portfolio diversification for those seeking rare-to-market pieces. Previously sold in 2008 for £55,250, this piece hammered at £80,000 in this sale, realising £101,600 with fees, 16 years later.

That concludes Sotheby's first round of marquee sales in March 2024. Now the auction sales will shift to a series of print sales, which we will be reporting on here, at Edition Magazine.

Explore full summaries of Christie's and Phillips Evening and Day Sales.