Eric Clapton’s Gerhard Richter Sets Auction Record for Living Artist – artmarketblog.com
A painting by Gerhard Richter from the collection of Eric Clapton has been sold for 21,321,250 GBP ($34.19 million) at auction in London setting a new auction record for a work by a living artist. Acquired by Clapton from Sotheby’s New York Contemporary Art Part One sale in November 2001 for 3,415,750 USD against an estimate of 1,000,000 – 1,500,000 USD, Abstraktes Bild (809-4) sold to an anonymous buyer after three telephone bidders competed for the work for over 5 minutes.
According to Sotheby’s, “Executed in 1994, Abstraktes Bild stands as the final and most authoritative work in the four-part series numbered 809 in the artist’s Catalogue Raisonné. Indeed, the mastery of Abstraktes Bild‘s painterly form visually outstrips the preceding work in the series, 809-3, a painting that prestigiously resides in the joint collection of the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland.”
Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale brought £44,146,350 / $70,793,087 / €54,737,064 – the highest total for an October Sale of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s (est. £28.1-38.9 million). The sale also achieved sell-through rates of 88.7% sold by lot (47 of the 53 lots offered sold) and 95% sold by value, and three artist records were established for Gerhard Richter, lsa Genzen and Gonkar Gyatso.
The previous auction record for Richter was set by Christie’s in may when the sold the artist’s Abstraktes Bild (798-3) for$21.8 million in New York while the previous auction record for a living artist was achieved by Jasper Johns’ Flag which sold for £17.8m ($28.6 m) paid at Christie’s New York in 2010.
Commenting on the record price achieved for Gerhard Richter’s abstract masterwork, Alex Branczik, Senior Director and Head of the Evening Sale, said: “The combination of outstanding provenance and gold-standard quality in this sublime work by this blue-chip artist made for an historic auction moment.”
image:
FROM THE COLLECTION OF ERIC CLAPTON
Gerhard Richter
B.1932
ABSTRAKTES BILD
Estimate: 9,000,000 – 12,000,000 GBP
LOT SOLD. 21,321,250 GBP (Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium)
signed, dated 1994 and numbered 809-4 on the reverse
oil on canvas
225 by 200cm.
88 1/2 by 78 3/4 in.
**Nicholas Forrest is a Sydney/London based art market analyst, art consultant and writer. He is the founder of the Art Market Blog (artmarketblog.com) which offers independent commentaries as well as research and analysis on the current art market, and has recently been published in Fabrik magazine, Verve magazine, Visual Art Beat magazine, Australian Art Collector magazine, Art & Investment magazine and many others. Nic has made several radio appearances (both nationally and internationally) as an art market expert and has received press from the likes of the New York Times, Conde Nast Portfolio and Times of London.
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