The sales rooms will soon be dominated by November’s modern and contemporary auction season in New York, but there are also some old master sales coming up. Sotheby’s latest shipment is a group of 10 works from the baroque art collection of divorcée Mark Fisch and Rachel Davidson, to be offered in January 2023. The group is headed by Peter Paul Rubens’ suitably bloody “Salome presented with the severed head of Saint John”. the Baptist” (c. 1609), estimated between $25 and $35 million. Works by Orazio Gentileschi and Guercino are also included, with a combined estimate of $40-$60mn.
Separately, for London in December, the auction house has a version of “Venus and Adonis” painted by Titian and his workshop around 1555-57 and estimated at between £8m and £12m. The violent work did not sell at auction in 1998, but earlier concerns about its wartime provenance were allayed and subsequent technical examination found “clear evidence of the artist’s hand”, according to Sotheby’s.
‘DOB Kaiju Monster’ (2022) by Takashi Murakami © Takashi Murakami/Kaikai Kiki Co
French gallery owner Emmanuel Perrotin is about to open his first permanent space in the Middle East at the Dubai International Financial Centre. The gallery, which marks Perrotin’s sixth city outside of his Paris headquarters, is just 100 square meters but is well located “between Christie’s and [restaurant] Cipriani,” says Perrotin. “It’s a small space, but I hope it’s sexy.” The gallery opens with a group show, while Perrotin has also teamed up with the swanky ICD nearby Brookfield Place for temporary solo shows by his artists Jason Boyd Kinsella and Takashi Murakami (November 25-January 28, 2023).
Perrotin describes Dubai as “a real hub, just one [maximum] a six-hour flight from half the world’s population.” He notes that activity will head to the Middle East next month with events outside the art world, including the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the World Cup in Qatar. The recent influx of wealthy Russians and Ukrainians to Dubai, he says, is unrelated to his plans to open there, as these were finalized before the Russian invasion. Perrotin’s gallery director in Dubai is art collector and consultant Massine Benouki.
Mantegna (2017) by William Kentridge
The market for the work of William Kentridge, who currently has an acclaimed retrospective at London’s Royal Academy, is relatively modest compared to his artists, according to a September report from ArtTactic. However, the report questions whether the RA exhibit and a separate sweep at Los Angeles’ The Broad museum, due to open on November 12, could become a “turning point” for the South African artist.
Kentridge’s top five auction prices were in New York and London, led by his 25-part sculpture “Procession” (1999-2000), which sold for $1.3 million. in 2013. But ArtTactic finds there is a “healthy balance” between its international and domestic sales, with 76 percent of items and 54 percent of value made in South Africa since 2016, led by auction house Strauss & Co. Next month in Johannesburg, Strauss will offer key works by Kentridge, including his two-meter woodcut “Mantegna” (2017, est. R800,000-R1.2mn, or $44,000-$66,000, Nov. 7).
Kentridge’s multimedia practice probably explains his more modest results at auction: paintings, drawings, and prints are always easier to sell. But his representative for South Africa and London, Goodman Gallery, confirms a nearly sold-out show in London with tickets to all three editions of his latest big film, the five-channel “Oh To Believe in Another World” (2022). , priced at $600,000 each.
‘Untitled’ (2022) by Spencer Lewis © Joshua White Photography
In Dallas, this year’s Two x Two gala raised $9.4 million, including from an auction of some 130 pieces of contemporary art, to support AMFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research and the Dallas Museum of Art. Most of the art was sold via silent auction, with a live sale of six works held at a gala dinner on October 22 at the home of collector couple Cindy and Howard Rachofsky.
London gallerist Josh Lilley was among those who, along with his artists, donated to the auction, including Spencer Lewis’s “Untitled” (2022), a live auction lot that was estimated at $120,000 and sold for about three times as much. . Lilley was also in town to open a show with his artists at the five-star Joule Hotel, joining the hotel’s owner, oil tycoon, film financier and art collector Tim Headington. “The quality of the people here is incredible in terms of their intellectual and financial investment,” says Lilley. His exhibit at The Joule runs through January 2023 and features works by seven artists, including Martine Gutierrez, Nicholas Hatfull and Rebecca Manson, who has proven particularly popular with Dallas collectors. Prices for the 14 works range from $8,000 to $80,000.
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