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 With Christie's commission, "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with
Two Figures)," surpassed the auction house's pre-sale estimate
of about $80 million, following a bidding war between two
determined would-be buyers once the work hit $70 million.
The previous record for a work by a living artist was held by
Jeff Koons' sculpture "Balloon Dog," which sold for $58.4
million in 2013. Hockney's previous auction record was $28.4
million.
The 1972 work by the 81-year-old British artist, one of
Hockney’s most famous paintings which depicts a man in a pink
jacket looking down on another figure swimming underwater in a
pool, was reported to have been consigned by British billionaire
currency trader Joe Lewis.
Christie's did not identify the seller or the successful bidder,
who was bidding via telephone during a nearly 10-minute contest
for the work.
Morgan Long, senior director of art investment house Fine Art
Group, hailed "a great result for Christie's," saying it
achieved its predicted $80 million price "through a combination
of clever marketing and what looked like sheer determination on
the part of (a) phone client to take the painting home."
In a virtually unprecedented move for such a valuable painting,
"Portrait of an Artist," which was on exhibition at Tate
Britain, the Pompidou Centre and New
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York's Metropolitan Museum of Art over the past two years, was sold
with no reserve, the minimum price at which the consignor agrees to
sell a piece.
The price went far to boost the success of Christie's post-war and
contemporary art auction, which took in a total of $357.6 million,
roughly the middle of its expected range, with 41 of the 48 lots on
offer finding buyers.
"What we have learned from this week is that demand for great art
remains global, with strong participation from American bidders and
good activity from Europe and Asia," Chief Executive Guillaume
Cerutti said after the sale.
Other sale highlights included Francis Bacon's "Study of Henrietta
Moraes Laughing," which sold for $21.7 million against a pre-sale
estimate of $14 million to $18 million, and Alexander Calder's "21
Feuilles Blanches," which more than doubled its high estimate,
selling for just under $18 million.
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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