Records, disappointments at Sotheby’s Chinese art auction
A painting by Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang sold for a record, while another top lot, by Guo Bochuan, fell short of a pre-sale price estimate at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction.
By Bloomberg |
A painting by Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang sold for a record, while another top lot, by Guo Bochuan, fell short of a pre-sale price estimate at Sotheby���s Hong Kong auction as Asia���s stock-market drop prompted buyers to choose established artists over lesser-known ones, reports Le-Min Lim in Hong Kong.
Zhang���s ���Bloodline: The Big Family No. 3��� oil painting, part of a 108-lot collection of Chinese contemporary art offered by New York dealer William Acquavella, sold for an artist record of HK$47.4 million ($6.1 million). Guo���s ���Forbidden City��� sold for a less-than-expected HK$27.2 million, short of the auctioneer���s pre-sale estimate of HK$30 million. ���In the better years, most works would sell regardless,��� said Tian Kai, an art dealer who flew in from Beijing to bid at the auction.
���The mood is more cautious now, and people gravitate toward names they are familiar with.��� While last year���s Chinese contemporary-art auctions in Hong Kong drew throngs of bidders that clogged doorways and crammed aisles, this year���s sale filled only about three-quarters of the nearly 300-seat auction room. Except for the choice lots, pauses were longer between bids as auctioneers such as Henry Howard- Sneyd, alternating between English and Putonghua, tried to coax additional bids from a mostly passive audience.
Sotheby���s Hong Kong sale coincides with an equity rout that caused a 28% fall in China���s benchmark CSI 300 Index and a 23% drop in Indian stocks in the first quarter. More than in Europe and the US, Asia���s art market tends to track existing financial-market trends, said Cai Mingchao, who paid a record HK$117 million for a Ming Dynasty bronze Buddha in October 2006. Sotheby���s said before the auction it aims to raise more than HK$1.3 billion at its four-day sale of Ming Dynasty gold, gems and Asian art. Acquavella���s pieces, called the Estella Collection, fetched about $18 million with 98 of the 108 artworks sold.
Proceeds from the first two days of sale totalled HK$647 million. Estimates and prices include commissions. The most-expensive lot at the Chinese contemporary-art sale was Liu Xiaodong���s ���Battlefield Realism: the Eighteen Arhats���. The 2004 work is a commentary on China���s enmity with Taiwan, sold for an artist record of HK$61.9 million. Sotheby���s had a pre-sale top estimate of HK$55 million on the piece.
���I see Chinese contemporary art prices holding up this year,��� said Evelyn Lin, Sotheby���s head of Chinese contemporary art, at a news conference in Hong Kong.
In a separate interview, Lin described the current art market as ���quite slow.���
Guo���s ���Forbidden City,��� an oil-on-canvas painting of the Beijing landmark executed in 1946, before the Communist Party took power, missed estimates because the artist isn���t as well known.
���Guo paintings aren���t representative of Chinese artworks,��� said Tian. Guo (1901-1974), also known as Kuo Po-ch���uan, spent 12 years in Beijing, the most important phase of his artistic career, according to Sotheby���s. His works are influenced by Ryuzaburo Umehara, a student of Renoir. ���The Forbidden City��� shows the winged roof tiles of the palace in flaming red.
Zhang���s monochrome figures, Yue Minjun���s laughing men and Cai Guoqiang���s gunpowder-on-paper works have become symbols of Chinese contemporary art, a category of works represented by artists in their 30s who experienced the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution that devastated China���s political landscape. Cai holds the record for Chinese contemporary art with a set of 14 gunpowder paintings that fetched $9.5 million in November in Hong Kong.
Zhang���s ���Bloodline: The Big Family No. 3��� oil painting, part of a 108-lot collection of Chinese contemporary art offered by New York dealer William Acquavella, sold for an artist record of HK$47.4 million ($6.1 million). Guo���s ���Forbidden City��� sold for a less-than-expected HK$27.2 million, short of the auctioneer���s pre-sale estimate of HK$30 million. ���In the better years, most works would sell regardless,��� said Tian Kai, an art dealer who flew in from Beijing to bid at the auction.
���The mood is more cautious now, and people gravitate toward names they are familiar with.��� While last year���s Chinese contemporary-art auctions in Hong Kong drew throngs of bidders that clogged doorways and crammed aisles, this year���s sale filled only about three-quarters of the nearly 300-seat auction room. Except for the choice lots, pauses were longer between bids as auctioneers such as Henry Howard- Sneyd, alternating between English and Putonghua, tried to coax additional bids from a mostly passive audience.
Sotheby���s Hong Kong sale coincides with an equity rout that caused a 28% fall in China���s benchmark CSI 300 Index and a 23% drop in Indian stocks in the first quarter. More than in Europe and the US, Asia���s art market tends to track existing financial-market trends, said Cai Mingchao, who paid a record HK$117 million for a Ming Dynasty bronze Buddha in October 2006. Sotheby���s said before the auction it aims to raise more than HK$1.3 billion at its four-day sale of Ming Dynasty gold, gems and Asian art. Acquavella���s pieces, called the Estella Collection, fetched about $18 million with 98 of the 108 artworks sold.
Proceeds from the first two days of sale totalled HK$647 million. Estimates and prices include commissions. The most-expensive lot at the Chinese contemporary-art sale was Liu Xiaodong���s ���Battlefield Realism: the Eighteen Arhats���. The 2004 work is a commentary on China���s enmity with Taiwan, sold for an artist record of HK$61.9 million. Sotheby���s had a pre-sale top estimate of HK$55 million on the piece.
���I see Chinese contemporary art prices holding up this year,��� said Evelyn Lin, Sotheby���s head of Chinese contemporary art, at a news conference in Hong Kong.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a separate interview, Lin described the current art market as ���quite slow.���
Guo���s ���Forbidden City,��� an oil-on-canvas painting of the Beijing landmark executed in 1946, before the Communist Party took power, missed estimates because the artist isn���t as well known.
���Guo paintings aren���t representative of Chinese artworks,��� said Tian. Guo (1901-1974), also known as Kuo Po-ch���uan, spent 12 years in Beijing, the most important phase of his artistic career, according to Sotheby���s. His works are influenced by Ryuzaburo Umehara, a student of Renoir. ���The Forbidden City��� shows the winged roof tiles of the palace in flaming red.
Zhang���s monochrome figures, Yue Minjun���s laughing men and Cai Guoqiang���s gunpowder-on-paper works have become symbols of Chinese contemporary art, a category of works represented by artists in their 30s who experienced the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution that devastated China���s political landscape. Cai holds the record for Chinese contemporary art with a set of 14 gunpowder paintings that fetched $9.5 million in November in Hong Kong.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
