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“Warrior,” a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat believed to symbolize the struggles of black men in a white-dominated world, sold for $ 41.9 million on Tuesday, with fees, at the auction house. Christie’s auction in Hong Kong.
Although Christie’s said this was the highest price paid at auction for a Western artwork in Asia, it could be a technical issue: At a Sotheby’s sale in New York in 2017, the Japanese billionaire collector Yusaku Maezawa paid $ 110 million for Basquiat’s “Untitled”. The artist’s auction record remains.
Estimated between $ 31 million and $ 41 million, “Warrior” was offered as an unusual one-time bundle. He hosts a week of 20th and 21st century live auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in London and Paris, which also include an old master and a rediscovered van Gogh. Christie’s was betting on Basquiat’s global appeal to help energize the art market as it tried to emerge from the crisis of the year pandemic.
Annual art sales fell 22%, to $ 50 billion, in 2020 from 2019, as public auction revenues fell 30% to $ 17.6 billion, according to a recent report by ‘UBS and Art Basel. The supply of top-notch artwork remains tight, with few struggling sales or large estates on the short-term horizon. The asking prices are astronomical, making it difficult to close deals, dealers and auction officials said.
The ‘Warrior’ result, with three bidders vying for the work, illustrates why Basquiat is a key figure in the premier art market alongside Picasso and Warhol. It also shows why these pillars don’t risk being easily dethroned by the headline-grabbing NFT invasion, led by the $ 69.3 million sale of a work by digital artist Beeple at Christie’s. earlier this month.
Beeple and Basquiat “have a place,” said Alberto Mugrabi, the collector and dealer, whose father paid $ 250,000 for “Warrior” in the mid-1990s. “They are both in a very low category. ‘artists. Beeple will bring a new audience to the art world and that’s an encouraging thing to see.
While the outcome of Beeple’s work was unpredictable – auctions started at $ 100 – the Basquiat was a relatively safe bet for Christie’s, who hoped to attract new people to the market from Asia. (The winning bid came from Christie’s representative in Hong Kong.) The company guaranteed the seller an undisclosed minimum price and secured an irrevocable bid from a third-party backer, securing the sale of the work.
“Basquiat is one of the strongest markets to emerge from the pandemic,” said Christophe van de Weghe, a dealer specializing in Basquiats. “It’s all over the world. You can sell Basquiat, like Picasso, to someone in India, Kazakhstan, or Mexico. You can have a 28 year old man spending millions on Basquiat and you can have an 85 year old guy. It appeals to all kinds of people, from rappers to hedge funds. ”
Born in Brooklyn, of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, Basquiat explored issues of race and inequality with a graffiti-inspired style, rising to the top of the contemporary art world from humble beginnings in street art. . He dated Madonna, collaborated with Warhol, and became a legend after his death at age 27 in 1988.
“Warrior” depicts a figure with flaming eyes and a sword raised against blue and yellow spots. It was painted on a six foot high wood panel with oil paint, acrylic and spray paint in 1982. It has been auctioned four times, including Tuesday’s sale. . It last appeared at Sotheby’s in 2012, totaling $ 8.7 million. At the time, it was bought by real estate mogul Aby Rosen.
Christie’s declined to confirm Rosen was the seller of “Warrior,” but its provenance indicates that the current owner purchased the work in 2012. Rosen offered the work for sale privately last year, according to a dealer having first hand knowledge of the sale. Rosen did not return any emails requesting comment.
One of the best-known deals of 2020 was Basquiat’s 1982 painting Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump. Bought by billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin for over $ 100 million, it was suspended from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Although Basquiat was very prolific, the supply of works is limited: around 900 paintings and 3,400 works on paper. In contrast, Beeple’s “Everyday – The First 5,000 Days” record included the 5,000 works the artist created in 13 and a half years.
Alex Rotter, President of Christie’s for 20th and 21st Century Art, was recently fortunate enough to realize the scope of Basquiat’s appeal by attending the winning Brooklyn Nets game in the team arena on February 25. . Basquiat’s signature crown was on the pitch. .
“I thought, ‘Wow! It’s cool! Rotter said this week. “Basquiat is everywhere.”
The Basquiat sale was followed by two consecutive auctions of 20th and 21st century art as well as surrealist art which totaled $ 274.8 million, exceeding the low estimate; 93% of the works found buyers. Asian collectors were actively involved throughout the auctions, according to Christie’s, bidding on everything from hot emerging Western artists to classic surreal imagery.
A painting by the elusive artist Banksy, “Game Changer,” soared to 16.7 million pounds (roughly $ 23.2 million), more than four times the high estimate. Most of the proceeds, including part of the Christie’s buy-in bonus, will be donated to various health and charity organizations in Britain.
Hand painted (as opposed to using a stencil), the artwork depicts a boy playing with a doll dressed as a superhero nurse, while the Batman and Spiderman toys are thrown into a nearby trash can. The image appeared one day last May at Southampton General Hospital, along with a note: “Thank you for everything you do. Hope this brightens up the place a bit, even if it’s just black and white.
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