LONDON â€" An untitled 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat depicting two large figures surrounded by the artist’s graffiti-like scrawls sold at Christie’s here on Tuesday night for $29 million. The oilstick-on-panel, which had been expected to bring about $23 million to $30 million, was bought by an unidentified telephone bidder.
While it was a high price â€" especially compared with the $1.6 million the painting brought in 2002 when it was last up for sale, at what was then Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg â€" it was a far cry from the record $48.8 million achieved at Christie’s in New York less than a month ago for Basquiat’s “Dustheads,†a seven-foot-tall canvas also painted in 1982.
The Basquiat was the top seller at the first in London’s weeklong series of postwar and contemporary art auctions. The Christie’s salesroom was packed with a dedicated group of dealers and collectors who have been following the action from the New York auctions in May to the Venice Biennale and At Basel in Switzerland. And while the best works at the Christie’s auction brought solid prices, it felt as though the steam was slowly starting to run out of the market.
“After New York and Basel, it was a challenge to keep clients focused,†said Brett Gorvy, Christie’s worldwide chairman of postwar and contemporary art. While Tuesday night’s sale seemed diminutive compared with the historic $495 million worth of art Christie’s sold in May, Mr. Gorvy said what surprised him about this auction was that he saw more activity from Asia than he had in New York. “There was a definite shift here, with more Asians and Europeans bidding, although in New York we saw more participation from Russia,†he said.
Of the 64 works in Tuesday night’s auction, 13 failed to sell. The evening totaled $108.4 million, within its $86.4 million to $112 million estimate. (Final prices include the buyer’s premium: 25 percent for the first $75,000; 20 percent o! n the next $75,001 to $1.5 million and 12 percent on the rest. Estimates do not reflect commissions.)
The Scottish painter Peter Doig has been something of a star in London, especially after his 2008 retrospective at Tate Britain. On Tuesday, César Reyes, a psychiatrist who lives in Puerto Rico and is one of the artist’s biggest collectors, was selling “Jetty,†a 1994 canvas of a lone figure on a dock at sunset. Four bidders went for the painting, which was estimated to bring $6.1 million to $9 million and was bought by a telephone bidder for $11.3 million.
Mr. Doig has an exhibition of paintings and drawings opening in August at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh that will travel to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in the winter. Another of his paintings â€" “White Out,†of a lone man standing in a blizzard, which was being sold by the French collector Marcel Brient â€" brought $2.9 million, well above its high $1.5 million estimate.
Another top seller was de Koonig’s “Untitled XXVIII,†from 1983. The abstract canvas of swirling ribbons in reds and blues had sold for $4 million at Christie’s in New York in November 2011. This time around, it was estimated at $2.8 million to $3.8 million and brought $4.4 million.
The evening also included several works by Damien Hirst, which brought mixed results. Among the best was “My Way,†from 1990-91, one of the artist’s early medicine cabinets filled with old drug bottles. Two people were interested in the piece, which was estimated to sell for $1.1 million to $1.4 million and brought $1.3 million. “My Way†had been at auction twice before: in 1998 at a Sotheby’s sale in London, where it brought $262,900, and in 1999 at a Christie’s sale in New York, where it sold for $354,500. But “Soulful,†a 2008 circular work made up of hundreds of butterfly wings on canvas that was expected to fetch $980,000 to $1.3 million, failed to sell. “Zinc Chloride,†from 2002, one of Mr. Hirst’s spot pain! tings, wa! s expected to bring $460,000 to $750,000 but sold for $432,320, or $521,679 including Christie’s fees.
Several Pop canvases had mixed results. There were no takers for Warhol’s “Colored Campbell’s Soup Can,†a 1965 painting that had been in the collection of the legendary dealer Ileana Sonnabend and was being sold anonymously by Steven A. Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire, according to people familiar with his collection. But Lichtenstein’s “Cup of Coffee,†a 1961 painting from one of the artist’s series of a single image with his signature Ben-Day dots in the background, brought $4.3 million, above its high $3 million estimate.
The action continues on Wednesday night at Sotheby’s, which features two paintings by Francis Bacon, including a 1966 triptych.
