BLAST #12 | A Buyer’s Market
Welcome to BLAST Issue 12
December 2023
New York
Contemporary British artists spearheaded the $2 billion dollar modern and contemporary art sales in New York this November. Lucy Bull, Jadé Fadojutimi, Jenny Saville, Mohammed Sami, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye were all placed up front in the major evening sales where Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips knew there would be some action. And there was – all exceeded estimates, and Fadojutimi, now represented by Gagosian, hit a new record at $1.94 million, amazing for one so young. Top record for the British contingent in New York, though, was for the older generation modernist, Dame Barbara Hepworth, whose 8-foot bronze Family of Man Ancestor II, 1970/1974 raced past a $4/6 million estimate to sell for a record $11.6 million at Christie’s to the US based art advisor, Gabriela Palmieri. Who Palmieri was bidding for has not yet been revealed.
It was a slightly different story however for Scotland’s erstwhile art star, Jack Vettriano. Buried deep in Christie’s day sale was a typically voyeuristic painting of a naked showgirl being ogled by two sinister gangland males by the Scottish maverick, entitled The Assessors, 1999. The painting last sold in 2004 at Sotheby’s in Scotland to Jerry Moss (the ‘M’ in A&M Records) for £162,800 (nearly $300,000) against a £50,000 estimate. That was just after Vettriano had taken the market by storm when one of his ‘by numbers’ style paintings, The Singing Butler, made £744,500 over a £200,000 estimate - also at Sotheby’s Scotland. But in the last few years, demand has not been so hot for Vettriano with nothing selling in six figures since 2016. But no one had foreseen The Assessors selling for just $27,720. Perhaps the Moss estate might have done better sending it to London and to Sotheby’s, where the Modern British Art sales were being stage managed by Andre Zlattinger who had just left Christie’s after 13 years working with Modern British and then Contemporary Art departments. Zlattinger had previously worked at Sotheby’s and ran the Scottish art sales there during Vettriano’s boom period so might have secured a better price.
Jack Vettriano (b.1951) The Assessors, signed 'VETTRIANO' (lower left) oil on canvas, 32 x 28 in. (81.3 x 71.1 cm.) Painted in 1999 © Christie’s Images Limited 2023
Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) The Family of Man Ancestor II, signed, numbered and stamped with foundry mark 'Barbara Hepworth 3⁄4 Morris Singer FOUNDERS LONDON' (on the back) bronze with dark brown and green patina. Height: 109 3⁄8 in. (276.9 cm.)
Conceived in 1970; this bronze version cast in 1974© Christie’s Images Limited 2023Sotheby’s Modern British & Irish art evening sale
Sotheby’s kicked off their autumnal Modern British and Irish art auctions with a short ‘evening’ sale on November 21st of just 35 lots totalling a disappointing £11.9 million against a pre-sale estimate of £15.5 – £23.5 million. It was a fairly harrowing new start at Sotheby’s for Zlattinger. Although the line-up of works by Henry Moore, Dame Barbara Hepworth, L.S. Lowry et al looked safe enough, the economic climate had dented confidence and bidding was generally thin. Twelve lots (34%) were unsold and 15 were sold either on or below low estimates, leaving just eight to sell within or above estimates.
It was notable how many lots were run up to their low estimates and then passed. “They might have sold a few more if they’d negotiated lower reserves with their clients,” commented one insider. Indeed, Zlattinger told BLAST the next morning that some after sales were made directly after the sale including Lowry’s ‘Up North’ which had been passed during the sale at £520,000 against a £550,000 low estimate.
One of the weakest areas was for Scottish Colourists, an area Zlattinger was refamiliarizing himself with. But of the five pictures in the sale, only one sold – a Peploe still life which sold on a £350,000 bid, the same as it last sold for back in 2008.
Henry Moore (1898 - 1986) Head, white alabaster. Carved in 1929, the present work is unique. Estimate 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 GBP. Lot Sold 4,485,500 GBPAn anonymous ‘distinguished London collection’, had submitted ten good examples by Hepworth, Moore, Ben Nicholson, Lowry, Patrick Heron, Lynn Chadwick and Peter Lanyon for sale but sold only five – all on or below the low estimate, and none for more than the owner paid for them at auction.
Walter Richard Sickert (1860 - 1942)The New Bedford, tempera on canvas. Executed circa 1915. Estimate 100,000 - 150,000 GBP. Lot Sold 127,000 GBPComing from ‘an important British collection’, believed to be Manchester businessman Frank Cohen’s, were four good works, one by Walter Sickert which sold (see details below), an oil by Roger Hilton which was withdrawn, and works by Robin Denny and F. E. McWilliam which were unsold with unusually high estimates. McWilliam’s Woodhenge, 1937, had been bought in 2018 at Christie’s in 2018, when Zlattinger was working there, for a record £224,750 and was back with the highest estimate yet for the artist at £200,000/300,000, but there were no takers.
This has not been a good period for profit taking at auction, unless it was over the longer term. A burnished terracotta pot by Dame Magdalene Odundo, Mixed-Colour Narrow, 1987, for instance, was made when Odundo’s work was shown by Anne Berthoud – taking her out of the pure craft category and into fine art for the first time with works priced between £4,000 and £5,000 each. However, she had no resale market, and it was subsequently sold five years later at Sotheby’s in Billingshurst for just £33. Now, ever since her impressive exhibition at Hepworth Wakefield in 2019 and signing with the Thomas Dane gallery, that has all changed. Estimated at £30/50,000 Mixed-Colour Narrow, 1987 sold at this auction to an online bidder for £82,500 – representing a phenomenal compound interest growth of 38.63% per annum.
“There is still real strength in this market,” commented top Modern British dealer, Jonathan Green. “The outcome would have looked much healthier if Sotheby’s and the consignors had agreed to lower reserves and accept reasonable bids; this is a buyer’s market.”
Dame Magdalene Odundo (b. 1950) Mixed-Colour Narrow, burnished and carbonised terracotta. Executed in 1987. Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 GBP. Lot Sold 82,550 GBPThe following list is of bidders, buyers, sellers and previous prices where relevant by lot number. Prices include the buyer’s premium, estimates do not.
3. Walter Richard Sickert. The New Bedford c 1915. Est: £100/150,000. Sold for £127,000 to Beaumont Nathan Art Advisory. “This was an absolute steal,” said Hugo Nathan after the sale, “ – a Bedford theatre painting with real scale, and a composition strangely reminiscent of Degas.”
7. Dame Barbara Hepworth. Forms in Echelon...painting, 1963 Previously sold at Sotheby’s December 2007 for £102,500. Est: £70/100,000. Sold at a loss for £88,900.
Ben Nicholson (1894 - 1982) 1934 (White Relief), oil on board with relief. Executed in 1934. Estimate 400,000 - 600,000 GBP. Lot Sold 508,000 GBP8. Ben Nicholson. 1934 (White Relief). Previously sold at Christie’s June 1993 for £55,000. Est: £400/600,000. Sold for £508,000 to Offer Waterman. Useful Gain.
9. Henry Moore. Head. White alabaster. 1929. Est: £2/3 million. Five bidders competed for this until it sold for £4.5 million to Beaumont Nathan Art Advisory, underbid by Hugh Gibson amongst others. This is only the fifth alabaster sculpture by Moore recorded on the Artnet auction database which goes back to the late 1980s, and the most expensive. “Early carved Moore’s are so rare and so important,” said Hugo Nathan after the sale, “and whilst there’s also an ironstone carving coming up at Bonhams this rosy, pink alabaster was exquisite and unusually feminine – we had to fight for it but you won’t see another.”
10. Victor Pasmore. Linear Composition. Plastic relief, 1967. Est: £100,000/£150,000. Previously sold at Christie’s in July 2013 for £85,875. Unsold at this auction so no gain or loss.
14. Bridget Riley. Study for Cataract. Gouache. 1967. Sold at Christie’s June 2018 at a triple estimate £127,250. Now estimated at £120/180,000 it sold for £152,400. Negligible gain.
31. Patrick Heron. The Blue Table with Window: 1954 Est: £500,000/700,000. Last sold at Sotheby’s in June 2011 for £1,049,250, it was now underbid by Jonathan Clark before selling to an anonymous phone bidder for £609,600. A heavy loss.
36. Dame Barbara Hepworth. Two Forms (Gemini). Lead crystal, 1970. Est: £100/150,000. Sold for £152,400 to Osborne Samuel.
Sotheby’s day sale
Sotheby’s day sale followed on November 22nd in much the same vein making £2.5 million including premium against a pre-sale estimate, without premium, of £3.7- £5.4 million, with 44 out of 110 lots (40%) going unsold.
Reasonably estimated, good quality works did well, like a Spanish Landscape by Derwent Lees from the Hornby collection that sold for a quadruple estimate £35,560. Anything undervalued was scooped up like a long-necked vase by Lucie Rie that was estimated at just £2,000 but sold for £25,400. It seemed ironic, given that Sotheby’s had been staging modern Irish art sales in Paris, that the unsold rate was the lowest (the best) in the Irish art section with just 13 out of 49 lots, or 26.5%, going unsold. The stand our result was for The Sea Path, 2021 a painting by Anne Magill, who is represented by John Martin, which sold for £48,260 against a £15,000 estimate.
Here are some more details with buyers and bidders on specific lots in the day sale:
Harold Gilman (1876 - 1919) Woman Sewing, oil on canvas. Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 GBP. Lot Sold 57,150 GBP154. Gwen John. Woman and Child in a Railway Carriage. Watercolour. Est £3/5,000. Sold £10,795 to John Martin
155, Harold Gilman. Woman Sewing. Not signed but has original exhibition label from Alexander Reid and Lefevre Gallery on the back of the stretcher and frame. From the collection of Sir Anthony and Lady Hornby. Est: £15/25,000. Sold for £57,150 to art advisor, Grant Ford.
156. Derwent Lees. Spanish Landscape. Not signed or dated. Tate Gallery label on reverse. Est: £5,000/7,000. Sold for £35,560. One of the underbidders was Jenna Burlingham.
159. Henry Moore. Maquette for Reclining Figure: Prop 1975. Est: £80/120,000. Sold for £76,200 to Osborne Samuel. Shrewd buy.
173. Kenneth Armitage. Seated Woman with Square Head (Version B), 1955/1957. Est: £30/50,000. Sold for £31,750 to Alan Wheatley.
180. Alan Davie. Untitled 1952. Est: £15/20,000, Sold for £69,850. Underbid by Alan Wheatley.
185. John Piper. Viollet, Charente, 1968. Est £6/9,000. Sold for £ 13,970 to John Martin.
195. Peter Lanyon. Untitled (Cottages with Iron Gate) 1936. Est: £6/8,000 sold for £9,525 to Alan Wheatley.
217. William Brooker. Still Life, Objects on a Bamboo Table, 1960. Est: £6/8,000. Sold for £9,535 to Jenna Burlingham.
Colin Gleadell is the art market columnist for The Daily Telegraph and a regular contributor to Artnet News, Art Monthly, and Artsy. Prior to The Telegraph, he worked for the Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art as a researcher, the Crane Kalman Gallery as a gallery manager, and Bonhams auctioneers as Head of Modern Pictures. He worked for ten years (1986 – 1997) as the features editor of Galleries Magazine, whilst also contributing to leading art market publications such as Art & Auction and Art News where he was the London correspondent of the Artnewsletter. He Introduced Sister Wendy Beckett to the BBC for whom he worked as a consultant on market programmes such as the Relative Values series (1991). He also worked as an art market consultant for Channel 4 News.
Gleadell was on the original advisory committee for the 20th Century British Art Fair in 1988, where he has served ever since as it changed its name to the 20/21 British Art Fair, and now British Art Fair.