LONDON, 9 SEPTEMBER 2016: Frieze week ended on a sustained high today, as Sotheby’s Day Sale of Contemporary Art concluded with an over-estimate total of £12,252,625 / $19,240,297 / €17,223,587, bringing this week’s series of Frieze auctions to a close. Following a day of spirited bidding, the auction was:
·         86.7% sold by lot - the highest sell-through rate for any Contemporary Art Day sale at Sotheby’s London for seven years (since June 2009).
·         65% of lots sold made prices above their high pre-sale estimates
·         45% of lots sold more than doubled their pre-sale low estimates

This result follows last night’s Evening Sales of Contemporary and Italian Art, which saw works by Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat soar over their pre-sale auction estimates to reach prices in excess of £10 million. [Please see the press release attached for further information]. The appetite for works by Richter was evident again today, as all four works by the artist offered surpassed their pre-sale high estimates (lots 101, 240, 242, 243).

Asian private collectors acquired six of the top ten most valuable works sold  today, including the star lot: Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin AHT” from 1991. From the artist’s celebrated Infinity series, the painting sold for £653,000 / $1.02m / €917,926, four times the pre-sale estimate of £150,000-200,000.

An auction record was also set for one of Britain’s best-loved artists, Grayson Perry. His glazed earthenware pot “Punters in the Snow”, from 1999, made £112,500 / $176,659 / €158,142 (est. £25,000-35,000).

Framed Waterfall, from Rosemarie Trockel’s influential Wool series, tripled its pre-sale auction estimate to realise £593,000 / $931,188 / €833,584, among the five highest prices ever seen at auction for the artist (est. £200,000-300,000). Confrontational in its simplicity, Framed Waterfall consists of a woollen material stretched over a monumental plain square canvas.

·         From her most significant series, Sturtevant’s “Warhol Gold Marilyn” from 2004 was driven to £401,000 / $629,690 / €563,688, a result that now places the work in the top 5 auction prices for the artist (est. £250,000-350,000).
·         Untitled (to Anette Borgmann) by Dan Flavin, a pioneer of light art. Having remained in the same collection for nearly 30 years, the outstanding wall piece sold today for £239,000 / $375,302 / €335,964 (est. £70,000-100,000).
·         Inspired by the Old Masters, Michaël Borremans 2006 canvas, The Swan, soared to £401,000 / $629,690 / €563,688 (est. £180,00-250,000). This follows exceptional results for Borremans seen at Sotheby’s in recent years: the auction record for the artist was broken consecutively in our Frieze sales in 2014 and 2015.

Combined estimate for all three sales: £50.6-70.4m / $65.3-90.9m / €58.2-81m.

l16024_contemporary_evening_7.10.16-3.pdf

l16025_contemporary_art_day_sale_top_10-1.pdf

l16624_the_italian_sale_7.10.16-3.pdf