British Cool - Bonham’s London
Fitting the auction name, the stand out star lot from the evening was Andy Warhol’s Mick Jagger F&S.II 145 which, in true rock star fashion,smashed not a guitar on stage but the upper estimate of £80,000 GBP closing at £203,600 GBP. In addition, the eternal appeal of David Hockney’s Lithograph of Water Made of Lines sold of £114,700 GBP surpassing it’s upper estimate of £100,000 GBP.
Sotheby’s - Prints & Multiples
Sotheby’s Prints & Multiples saw a plethora of artists dealt by Andipa Editions including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Damien Hirst perform well overall reflecting the trend in the last year of American Pop art leading the way.
Muhammed Ali (Quad)
Estimate: £150,000 - £200,000 GBP.
Sales price: £279,400 GBP
The highlight of the strong Warhol offering was the knockout result for sporting and cultural icon Muhammed Ali in the quad of the same name which presents the boxer in various poses which produced a heavyweight result of £279,400 GBP all in, far surpassing the estimate of £150,000 - £200,000 GBP.
Birth of Venus
Estimate: £60,000 - £80,000 GBP
Sales price: £139,700 GBP
A Warholian twist on the Cypriot Goddess, his second series in the Details of Renaissance Paintings (1984) tackles the most mythological and best known of quattrocento paintings: Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. In this coveted work, Warhol has extracts the mythological icon from her Ancient landscape into a post-modern portrait, whilst magnificently preserving her most essential qualities of beauty, love and femininity. Almost doubling its estimate of £60,000 - £80,000 GBP the timeless appeal of the Goddess of beauty, desire, sex and fertility sold for £139,700 GBP.
Bald Eagle
Estimate: £100,000 - £150,000 GBP
Sales price: £190,500 GBP
One of the most popular of Warhol’s latter series, the artist was driven by their concern for the environment and desire to draw attention to the plight of endangered species. By creating a series of prints featuring endangered animals, Warhol hoped to raise awareness about the importance of conservation and the need to protect endangered species from extinction. An undying symbol of America which features across banknotes, political regalia and within the popular consciousness, Bald Eagle’s estimate £100,000 - £150,000 GBP was thoroughly surpassed with the work selling for £190,500 GBP.
Damien Hirst
Estimate: £8,000 - £10,000 GBP
Sales price: £21,590 GBP.
The Damien Hirst market has seen a sharp divide which can be traced to the release of The Virtues series in 2021. The split can be divided between large editioned works published by HENI such as The Empresses and the classic spots or butterflies found in 12 Woodcuts and the Sanctum series as Hirst’s market continues to be sharply divided. The stand out lot from the enfant terrible of British Art. Indeed, it was one of his Methylthymidine White which over doubled its upper estimate of £10,000 GBP selling for £21,590 GBP.
Yayoi Kusama
Estimate: £20,000 - £30,000 GBP
Sales price: £44,450 GBP.
Born in the Nagano region of Japan to seed farmers, the colourful and stylish works of Yayoi Kusama combine Pop art, minimalism and the conceptual with traditional Japanese techniques. Her unique style has seen her become the most famous and successful living female artist and the result for Red Pumpkin shows the appeal of her works with the estimate of
What does this mean for the market? As always, one auction alone can not be enough to gauge the appetite of global collectors. However, encouraging signs via well priced works in good condition demonstrate that much like the flowers opening for spring, the art market is opening up once more.
For further information on any of the works featured or artists, contact sales@andipa.com or call +4420 7589 2371.