A Curated Selection from the London Auctions.
With the best London auctions in recent memory upon us this week, here is my curated selection of some of the most exceptional opportunities to come to the block. Analyzing over 1000 artworks in the sales, I selected my top 10 based upon the right balance of rarity, value, uniqueness and strength of image.
Estimate: 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 GBP
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Yayoi Kusama
Infinity Nets, 1960
oil on canvas | 39½ x 35¼ in.
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1960s “Infinity Loop” paintings are extremely rare, even more scarce are examples that have multiple colors. This Kusama is exactly the type of quality one looks for when endeavoring to assemble a truly great collection.
Estimate: 600,000 - 800,000 GBP
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Tracey Emin
A certain degree of anger, 2016
acrylic on canvas | 83⅞ × 60 in.
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I bought one of Emin’s nude paintings for a client a few years ago, and this one is certainly up there with the best of them. It comes to the block in a wonderful moment for the artist during her retrospective at the Tate.
Estimate: 10,500,000 - 15,500,000 GBP
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Wassily Kandisnky
Le rond rouge, 1939
oil on canvas | 35 x 45¾ in.
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While this is an upmarket picture, it is certainly not the most expensive Kandinsky to be offered. But it does have that remarkable tenor of an artwork that is truly “museum quality.” It is biomorphic and architectonic simultaneously—a late painting that gives a nod to the artist’s past and present but without losing any of the artist’s innate ability to always be on the fore.
Estimate: 3,500,000 - 5,500,000 GBP
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Henry Moore, O.M., C.H.
Goslar Warrior, 1973
bronze with a dark brown patina | 118⅛ in. long
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The long timeline of art history is embedded into this work, packaged into a dynamic composition that stands apart from other works by the artist. And, yet, it is still unmistakably a Henry Moore.
Estimate: 2,500,000 - 3,500,000 GBP
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David Hockney
English Garden, 1965
acrylic on canvas | 48 × 48 in.
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Owning a 60s Hockney means something, but the prices have gotten very high in recent years, so this presents the chance to take a run at very good picture with an attractive estimate.
Estimate: 120,000 - 180,000 GBP
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Josef Albers
Rose and Pink around Ochre and Reds, 1948
oil on Masonite | 23¾ x 27¾ in.
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I love these “Adobe” paintings from Albers’s time in Mexico. They provide a direct visual link between his Bauhaus origins and the tenets of his practice—color theory and architecture. This painting on offer, with its raw wood surround strengthens that connection even further.
Estimate: 180,000 - 250,000 GBP
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Adolph Gottlieb
Sand, 1968
oil on canvas | 48⅛ x 36⅛ in.
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This Gottlieb is the type of work curators love—a little off-piste but not too far. It’s like the great song from an album that was never a single and if you own it—it’s a real marker of someone who plants a stake in the arena of what it’s means to have good taste.
Estimate: 3,500,000 - 5,500,000 GBP
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Bridget Riley
Arrest 4, 1965
emulsion on canvas | 75¼ x 73⅝ in.
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Riley’s 60s works are immensely important images which encapsulate their time. Riley's paintings from this era are the nexus of emerging psychology of the day, the beginning of the space age, an era of new scientific discoveries and preface the coming emphasis of the virtual world. When it comes discovering a picture like this it’s like recalling a great indie band…when you know, you know.
Estimate: 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 GBP
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Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1964
waterpaint on canvas | 28¾ x 36⅜ in.
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The real key to distinguishing the best Fontana’s like this one is the composition of the slashes. Here you have them in multiple, and they are laid out in almost a lyrical way—akin to a musical score. A fantastic example and a feather in the cap for any top collection.
Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 GBP
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Andreas Gursky
Union Rave, 1995
c-print, in artist's frame | 66⅝ by 110½ in.
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While there are other well-known Gursky photos, this image is a pleasure to live with. In hyper detail it recalls the feeling of the exuberance of youth, the pulse of a crowd, and the nostalgia of a pre-camera phone era.
