On a night of uncertainty that saw the UK stripped of its triple-A credit rating following its decision to leave the European Union (EU) and England’s football team crash out of the Euros, Phillips mustered a decent sale of 20th-century and contemporary art.
No works were withdrawn prior to the 31-lot auction and there were, at times, flurries of bidding in the saleroom, despite the first four rows being conspicuously empty.
However, the £9.8m total (£11.9m with fees) fell short of the £10.21m to £14.96m pre-sale estimate and represented a 34.6% drop from last year when there were 50 lots on the block. The sell-through rate was a lacklustre 68%. Six lots were guaranteed—an acrylic by Sam Francis (est £300,000-£500,000) was the only one backed by Phillips and failed to sell. The other five all found homes.
Ed Dolman, the chairman and chief executive of Phillips, said the auction house saw strong bidding from the US and Asia “where they could be making savings of 10% to 15%” owing to the fall in sterling. Although consignments seemed thin on the ground, Dolman said the real challenge in the run up to the sale lay not with the amount of material offered, but with pricing and managing consigners’ expectations.
Only two works broke the one million mark. One—a stormy seascape by Anselm Kiefer—sold for £2m (£2.4m with fees, est £400,000-£600,000). Reflecting the turbulence in financial markets, the result is a record for the artist in pounds but not dollars.
The Kiefer painting also caught the eye of Jaden Smith, the son of US actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, who made his auction debut on 27 June although did not bid on anything. “I had a great time, I like to collect, but I’m also here because I make art,” 17-year-old Smith said.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, Dolman said he hoped the prevailing fair wind would continue at Sotheby’s on 28 June and Christie’s on 29 June. “We hope that the art market will remain extremely strong despite the changes ahead with the EU.”