From Christie’s London Photographs Sale (May 16, 2012): 

Lot 100: Rinko Kawauchi, Untitled, from the series Utanane, 2001, chromogenic print, ed of 6, flush-mounted on aludibond, signed in ink on a gallery label with printed credit, title, date and number ‘5/6’ (flush mount, verso), image/flush mount: 40 x 40 in (101.5 x 101.5 cm).

Est. £4,000-6,000, sold £3,750.

(c) Rinko Kawauchi

Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd 2012.

Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale: NY, May 8, 2012.

LOT 28
CINDY SHERMAN (B. 1954) 
Untitled #122 
color coupler print 
34½ x 21 in. (87.6 x 53.3 cm.) 
Executed in 1983. This work is number six from an edition of eighteen.

Estimate: $100,000 - $150,000
Price Realized: $206,500

Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale: NY, May 8, 2012.

LOT 20
Mark Rothko (1903-1970) 
Orange, Red, Yellow 
signed and dated ‘MARK ROTHKO 1961’ (on the reverse); signed again and with initials ‘M. Rothko M.B.’ (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas 
93 x 81¼ in. (236.2 x 206.4 cm.) 
Painted in 1961.

Estimate: $35,000,000 - $45,000,000
Price Realized: $86,882,500

Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale: NY, May 8, 2012.

LOT 17
David Smith (1906-1965) 
Circles and Angles 
signed, numbered and dated ‘David Smith II.II.1959’ (on the base) 
stainless steel 
26 x 41 x 8¾ in. (66 x 104.1 x 22.2 cm.) 
Executed in 1959.

Estimate: $3,000,000 - $4,000,000
Price Realized: $4,562,500

From Phillips de Pury’s London PHOTOGRAPHS sale on May 17, 2012:

Lot 117, ELLIOTT ERWITT, New York City, 1974, gelatin silver print, printed later, 61.2 × 91.3 cm (24 1/8 × 35 7/8 in). Signed in ink in the margin; signed, titled and dated in pencil on the verso.

ESTIMATE: £4,000-6,000

PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from the artist. Private Collection, New York.

LITERATURE: Jean Lacouture et al., In our Time: The World as Seen by Magnum Photographers, New York & London: Norton, 1989, p. 216; Elliot Erwitt: Snaps, Phaidon, 2003, p. 205; Elliot Erwitt: Personal Best, Kempen: teNeues, 2009, pp. 406-07.

From Christie’s London Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Auction, June 29, 2011:

Lot 329: Hiroshi Sugimoto, Winnetika Drive-In, Paramount, 1993, gelatin silver print, signed ‘Hiroshi Sugimoto’ (on the artist’s mount), blind stamped with title, date and number ‘WINNETIKA DRIVE-IN 4/25 712’ (on the margin), 20 x 24in. (50 x 60cm.) Executed in 1993, this work is number four from an edition of twenty-five.

Est. £12,000 - £18,000. SOLD £13,750.

(c) Hiroshi Sugimoto

From Sotheby’s London Contemporary Art Day Auction:

Lot 281: Joe Bradley, UNTITLED, 2006, acrylic on canvas, in four parts, signed twice and dated 06 on the reverse, overall: 205.7 by 68.6cm; 81 by 27in. Est. 12,000 - 18,000 GBP. 

SOLD 49,250 GBP (including BP)

(c) Joe Bradley 

From Sotheby’s London Contemporary Art Day Auction:

Lot 318: Banksy, PARANOID PICTURES, 2003, titled; tagged on the right side edge; dated 2003 and numbered 7/25 on the stretcher, acrylic and spray paint stencil on canvas, 30.5 by 30.5cm; 13 3/4 by 13 3/4 in. Est. 15,000 - 20,000 GBP. 

SOLD 55,250 GBP (including BP)

(c) Banksy

From Sotheby’s London Contemporary Art Day Auction (June 30, 2011):

Lot 206: Keith Haring, ACROBATS, signed, dated 1986, stamped with the foundry mark acf and numbered 3/10, painted enamel on aluminum, 61 by 39.7 by 36.8cm; 24 by 15 5/8 by 14 1/2 in. Est. 50,000 - 70,000 GBP. 

(c) The Estate of Keith Haring

From Phillips de Pury London’s Contemporary Day Sale, June 28, 2011.

Lot 240: CHIHO AOSHIMA, Piercing a Heart, 2002, colour print, mounted to aluminum, 108 × 100 cm (42 1/2 × 39 3/8 in). This work is from an edition of 8. ESTIMATE £4,000-6,000.

PROVENANCE Galerie Perrotin, Paris; Private Collection, London; Private Collection, Europe.

(c) Chiho Aoshima / Kaikai Kiki., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

My mom is in town at the moment, so I took her to see David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy, the comprehensive exhibition of over 100 of the artist’s sculptures, photographs, paintings, drawings and sketchbooks that is currently on view at LACMA. It’s a fantastic show, so if you’re a fan, we both highly recommend checking it out before it closes on July 24.

This piece, Cubi XXVIII, is thought by many to be the last sculpture finished by Smith before he died in 1965. When it came to auction at Sotheby’s in November, 2005, it sold to Larry Gagosian on behalf of Eli Broad for $23.8 million, setting what was then a record-breaking price for a work of contemporary art. 

Learn more about the exhibition, which will travel in January, 2012 to the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, here.

Image: David Smith, Cubi XXVIII, 1965, The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection, Los Angeles.

(c) The Estate of David Smith and Museum Associates. Via Unframed The LACMA Blog.

I know Andy’s Self-Portrait (x 4 in blue) stole the show tonight at Christie’s, but both Jose Mugrabi and I preferred Self-Portrait (x 1 in red).

Image: Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, 1986, synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas, 106.75 x 106.5in (271.2 x 270.5cm). Est. $30-40 million, he got it for $27,522,500 (incl. BP) so he even got a deal!

PS Here’s some more Christie’s x Warhol trivia for ya: “Christie’s offered and sold eight Warhols on Wednesday night and they fetched a combined $90 million, or about 30% of the sale’s earnings.” - J. Mizrachi for Art Observed.

(c) Andy Warhol. Via Christie’s.

There is a very strong Adam Neate in Dreweatts Urban Contemporary Sale on April 6. I like older pieces like these far more than what he is doing these days - there was something very powerful in the perceived simplicity.

Image: Adam Neate, Self Portrait, 2007, acrylic on cardboard, 118 x 86.5cm. est. £8-12,000.

(c) Adam Neate. Image via Dreweatts.

There are a number of pieces in the upcoming Phillips de Pury BRIC Sale (London, April 14-15, 2011) that really appeal to me, but one of my favorites is this mixed media door and cast brass work by Subodh Gupta.

Lot 19: Subodh Gupta, There Is Always Cinema (IV), 2008, found wooden door and cast brass. Wooden door: 178 x 71 x 10 cm (70 x 28 x 4 in); Brass door: 177 x 70 x 10 cm (69 3/4 x 27 1/2 x 4 in). est. £200,000-300,000. 

 Provenance: Galleria Continua Srl, San Gimignano

Here are some thoughts on the piece from the catalogue:

Subodh Gupta is best-known for sculptures made from accumulations of everyday objects such as antiquated machinery and stainless steel cooking utensils. In this work, There is Always Cinema (lV) from 2008, an old door found by the artist has been cast in brass and then placed beside the original, suggesting that even the most banal detritus can reveal an exotic or precious concealed identity. Raised in the rural area of Bihar, the artist calls on his own life experience to express the harsh contrasts typical of a country in which the simplicity of rural culture and increasing urban globalization exist side by side. By translating these experiences into art, he confronts the viewer with formal simplicity laced with a complex web of references. The wooden door is a found object from a room which was first a cinema and then a gallery. Playing with this relationship, Gupta takes the no longer needed door and places it in the gallery itself. Beside it, he placed its brass cast, further ensuring the preservation of the discarded object through its metallic monument. With such an act, past, present and future come together in physical continuity and temporal transcendence. Through the transformation of the door, Gupta raises questions on how to maintain the past in a society that surges forward. Echoing equally in this clever, beautiful work are art historical references to the ready-made, to minimal art with its seriality, and to appropriation art.

The two day auction takes place at Phillips de Pury’s Howick Place location on April 14, 7pm (Evening Sale) and April 15, 10am (Day Sale). Advance viewing is available between April 9 and April 14.

Click here to see the works online. I’ll post a few more of my highlights shortly.

Image and catalogue notes via Phillips de Pury.

OsGemeos fans/collectors should be thrilled to see this lovely large canvas go to auction at Phillips de Pury this month. First exhibited and sold at Os Gêmeos: Souhei Que Tinha Souhado at Parra & Romero, Madrid in February - March, 2008, it will again be available at Phillips de Pury’s Contemporary Art Day Sale in London on February 18.

Lot 258, OsGemeos, Untitled (O Pai, O Mae, o filho, a empregada, a filha de empregada, o cachorro, o ouelhinha o gato e o passarinho), 2008, spray paint, acrylic, beads and incision on board, 200 × 200 cm (78 3/4 × 78 3/4 in). est. £30,000-40,000.

I also think the pieces by Guyton/Walker, Jules de Balincourt, Raymond Pettibon, Andy Warhol, JR, Jeppe Hein (second one here), Bernd & Hilla Becher and Philip-Lorca Decorcia in the sale are quite strong - click the respective links for more details.

Image via Phillips de Pury.