Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent by Frank Auerbach
On Wednesday, March 18th, Christie’s London hosted their modern British & Irish Art evening sale, featuring twenty-five lots ranging from landscapes by Lowry to sculptures by Moore.
The undisputed star of the sale, however, was the Frank Auerbach painting Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent. Though born in Germany, Auerbach was primarily a London painter, with this painting being a prime example of how he used the city as a subject. Mornington Crescent is a street in Camden Town, just around the corner from Albert Street, where Auerbach had his studio. Though the painting uses the earth tones typical of Auerbach’s work, it also creates a patchwork of blues, greens, and purples to represent the neighborhood, dotted with Georgian buildings, 1930s factories, and other structures from various eras. Auerbach finished the painting in 2005 and sold it through Marlborough Fine Art. Christie’s experts assigned the painting an estimate range of £1.5 million to £2 million. The hammer came down just barely within an estimate at £1.6 million (or £2 million / $2.67 million w/p).
Back to Venice by Lynn Chadwick
Next up was the large bronze sculpture Back to Venice by Lynn Chadwick. Created in 1988 and measuring over nine feet tall, Chadwick created the sculpture for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Chadwick initially exhibited at the biennale in 1952, where the jarring, angular designs of not only Chadwick but also of other post-war British sculptors like Reg Butler and Eduardo Paolozzi led art critic Herbert Read to name these artists “the Geometry of Fear”. Though the eight artists featured in the pavilion worked in widely different styles, Read recognized that these artists created work that appeared battered and unpolished, expressing the anxieties and fears of young people in a post-war world. Thirty-six years later, Chadwick was invited back to Venice to create something for the gardens just outside the British Pavilion. Christie’s specialists refer to Back to Venice as “one of Chadwick‘s most recognisable and resolved achievements.” The sculpture has been in the same collection since 1998 and has not been exhibited since 2004. Christie’s specialists predicted it would sell for between £1 million and £1.5 million. The final bid landed nicely in between, at £1.3 million (or £1.64 million / $2.18 million w/p).
Curved Form by Dame Barbara Hepworth
And in third place was an elegant sculpture by Dame Barbara Hepworth. Hepworth created Curved Form in 1960. The previous year, she had been the subject of several exhibitions, most notably in New York and at the São Paulo Biennial. Following this, she decided to turn away from bronze and more towards hand-carved wood sculpture. The example offered at Christie’s is made from a piece of walnut over eighteen inches high, with some sides treated with liming to alter the color. The grain of the wood becomes just as much part of the artwork as the shape. The form of the sculpture, along with the “delicately shaped concave divot”, makes the work very similar to some of the later versions of her Single Form sculpture series, one of which sits outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. Against a low estimate of £750K, Hepworth’s Curved Form achieved a final hammer price of £800K or (or £1.02 million / $1.35 million w/p).
Overall, the evening sale did rather well, with thirteen of the twenty-five available lots selling within their estimates, giving Christie’s specialists a 52% accuracy rate. With nine lots selling below estimate (36%), two selling above estimate (8%), and only one lot going unsold the entire night, the auction achieved a 96% sell-through rate. Against a total low estimate of £8.42 million, the evening sale reached a total hammer price of £9.2 million, or about £11.64 million with fees added ($15.52 million).
Christie’s London Modern British & Irish Art
Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent by Frank Auerbach
On Wednesday, March 18th, Christie’s London hosted their modern British & Irish Art evening sale, featuring twenty-five lots ranging from landscapes by Lowry to sculptures by Moore.
The undisputed star of the sale, however, was the Frank Auerbach painting Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent. Though born in Germany, Auerbach was primarily a London painter, with this painting being a prime example of how he used the city as a subject. Mornington Crescent is a street in Camden Town, just around the corner from Albert Street, where Auerbach had his studio. Though the painting uses the earth tones typical of Auerbach’s work, it also creates a patchwork of blues, greens, and purples to represent the neighborhood, dotted with Georgian buildings, 1930s factories, and other structures from various eras. Auerbach finished the painting in 2005 and sold it through Marlborough Fine Art. Christie’s experts assigned the painting an estimate range of £1.5 million to £2 million. The hammer came down just barely within an estimate at £1.6 million (or £2 million / $2.67 million w/p).
Back to Venice by Lynn Chadwick
Next up was the large bronze sculpture Back to Venice by Lynn Chadwick. Created in 1988 and measuring over nine feet tall, Chadwick created the sculpture for the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Chadwick initially exhibited at the biennale in 1952, where the jarring, angular designs of not only Chadwick but also of other post-war British sculptors like Reg Butler and Eduardo Paolozzi led art critic Herbert Read to name these artists “the Geometry of Fear”. Though the eight artists featured in the pavilion worked in widely different styles, Read recognized that these artists created work that appeared battered and unpolished, expressing the anxieties and fears of young people in a post-war world. Thirty-six years later, Chadwick was invited back to Venice to create something for the gardens just outside the British Pavilion. Christie’s specialists refer to Back to Venice as “one of Chadwick‘s most recognisable and resolved achievements.” The sculpture has been in the same collection since 1998 and has not been exhibited since 2004. Christie’s specialists predicted it would sell for between £1 million and £1.5 million. The final bid landed nicely in between, at £1.3 million (or £1.64 million / $2.18 million w/p).
Curved Form by Dame Barbara Hepworth
And in third place was an elegant sculpture by Dame Barbara Hepworth. Hepworth created Curved Form in 1960. The previous year, she had been the subject of several exhibitions, most notably in New York and at the São Paulo Biennial. Following this, she decided to turn away from bronze and more towards hand-carved wood sculpture. The example offered at Christie’s is made from a piece of walnut over eighteen inches high, with some sides treated with liming to alter the color. The grain of the wood becomes just as much part of the artwork as the shape. The form of the sculpture, along with the “delicately shaped concave divot”, makes the work very similar to some of the later versions of her Single Form sculpture series, one of which sits outside the United Nations headquarters in New York. Against a low estimate of £750K, Hepworth’s Curved Form achieved a final hammer price of £800K or (or £1.02 million / $1.35 million w/p).
Overall, the evening sale did rather well, with thirteen of the twenty-five available lots selling within their estimates, giving Christie’s specialists a 52% accuracy rate. With nine lots selling below estimate (36%), two selling above estimate (8%), and only one lot going unsold the entire night, the auction achieved a 96% sell-through rate. Against a total low estimate of £8.42 million, the evening sale reached a total hammer price of £9.2 million, or about £11.64 million with fees added ($15.52 million).