Jasper Johns: “Flag”
encaustic on silk flag on canvas
11 5/8 x 17 1/2 in. 29.5 x 44.4 cm.
Sold for $36,005,000 at Sotheby’s (auction record for the artist)
Andy Warhol
“Triple Elvis [Ferus Type]” (1963) and “Four Marlons” (1966)
Sold for $81,925,000 and $69,605,000 at Christie’s
Warhol leads contemporary art sales, November 2014 Andy Warhol was the star at Christie’s $852,9 million auction on November 12, 2014, with his ‘Triple Elvis [Ferus Type]’ and ‘Four Marlons’ selling for $81,9 million and $69,6 million. The day before, Sotheby’s sold Mark Rothko’s ‘No. 21’ for $45 million.]]>
November 13, 2014, source: Christie’s / Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s auction, November 11th 2014
Sotheby’s achieved a total of $460,268,000, including works by Rothko, Diebenkorn and Lucio Fontana from The Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon sold on November 10th for a total of $116.6 million. The sale was led by Mark Rothko’s “No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange)” from The Schlumberger Collection which was sought by five bidders before selling for $44,965,000. The pivotal canvas from 1951 has been in The Schlumberger Collection – the magnificent compendium of Modern and Contemporary masterworks acquired by distinguished collectors and benefactors Pierre and São Schlumberger, for over 40 years and was last seen in public in 1970.
Jasper Johns’ 1983 “Flag” is among the most recognizable works of American Art and sold for $36,005,000 to set a new record for the artist at auction after an extended contest between six bidders (est. $15/20 million). Andy Warhol‘s “Liz #3 (Early Colored Liz)”, the portrait of Elizabeth Taylor on a distinctive mint background achieved $31,525,000. Gerhard Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild” from 1991 drew multiple bidders to fetch $21,445,000 (est. $15/20 million), and the 1961 “Untitled” by Robert Ryman fetched $15,005,000, doubling the previous record for the artist.
Christie’s auction, November 12th 2014
Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art evening sale totalled $852,887,000 (£535,986,570/ €682,309,600), with strong sell-through rates of 97% by value and 94% by lot. The superstar of the sale was Andy Warhol, with several major works presented in the sale, including the highly anticipated “Triple Elvis [Ferus Type]”, 1963 and “Four Marlons”, 1966. Sold by the German Westdeutsche Spielbanken GMBH & CO. KG. “Triple Elvis [Ferus Type]” and “Four Marlons”, achieved respectively a spectacular $81,925,000 (£51,612,750/ €65,540,000) and $69,605,000 (£43,851,150/ €55,684,000) after fierce bidding between eight telephone bidders and several persistent clients in the saleroom.
Masterfully executed, Cy Twombly’s “Untitled” was presented on the market for the first time, having resided in the same private collection for the past 40 years. This work, from the famous series of “Blackboard” paintings made between 1966 and 1971, achieved $69,605,000 (£43,851,150/ €55,684,000), setting a new world auction record for the artist. “Untitled” by Martin Kippenberger exceeded the artist’s record when it sold for $22,565,000 (£14,215,950/ €18,052,000). Also achieving a world auction record for the artist at $30,405,000 (£19,155,150/ €24,324,000), Ed Ruscha’s “Smash” was an early example from the 1960s of one of the artist’s revolutionary word paintings, a body of work which established him as one of the most innovative and influential painters of his generation.
Related content
Bacon, Warhol, Koons highlight art auctions in New York (news, May 2014)
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