Modern Italian art reached new heights at Christie’s yesterday, 16 October. Bidders from 42 countries contributed to the £43.2m total (est £23.6m-£35.1m)—the highest ever for an Italian sale. Of the 59 lots offered, only six failed to find buyers, giving a sell-through rate of 90%.
Luciano Fabro’s copper band sculpture shaped like the boot of Italy that hung from the ceiling of the saleroom perhaps best summed up an Italian art market at its peak. Amy Cappellazzo, who left Christie’s to set up Art Agency Partners in New York, fought off a European couple sitting behind her to win the chandelier-style sculpture for a US client, for a record £2.7m (est £600,000-£800,000).
US bidders were active in general, no doubt spurred on by the Alberto Burri retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, as well as his commercial show at the Manhattan gallery Luxembourg & Dayan. The Italian theme will also extend to Christie’s post-war and contemporary sale in New York in November, when it offers a Lucio Fontana yellow egg canvas with a punchy $25m-$35m estimate; a black version sold at Sotheby’s on 16 October for £15.9m (around $25m).
The contemporary evening sale made £7.6m less than the Italian auction, totalling £35.6m (est £30.7m-£42.6m), with 85% sold by lot. Nonetheless, young painters shone brightly, particularly the women. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Nicole Eisenman and Charline von Heyl all achieved auction records, proving wrong Georg Baselitz, who famously said “women don’t paint very well”. Meanwhile, the two Baselitz watercolours that were offered both hammered below estimate.
