Auction Watch: High Withdrawals and Unsolds Affect Sales, Phillips Falls Short And Christie's Excels

In this auction report, we present a summary of both Phillips' & Christie's evening sales. Do not miss our report on Sotheby's auction report and the day sales.

Phillips 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale - 07/3

Presale estimate: £13,630,000 - 18,930,000

Sales Total Hammer: £10,800,000

-20% below the low presale estimate

Sell-through rate: 84%

1. Above: 30% (8)
2. Within: 11% (3)
3. Below: 42% (11)
4. Unsold: 15% (4)

Phillips Sale Overview: The Numbers

Phillips' evening sale fetched a hammer price of £10.8 million, falling short by -20% from the low presale estimate. Out of 26 lots, four went unsold, achieving an 84% sell-through rate. Accounting for three presale withdrawals, the rate drops to 75%, aligning it with Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction featuring The Now. In contrast to Phillips' 2023 performance, this year's sale saw a 34% decline.

Although more lots were sold, Phillips sale was also affected by a greater number of withdrawn lots and four unsold works, resulting in a potential shortfall of £1.9 million at the high estimate for these works combined, which would have brought the final sale to £12.7 million at the hammer. One of the withdrawn lots and a surprise inclusion for the auction house, which typically features contemporary works from the 20th and 21st centuries,was Pierre-Auguste Renoir's La petite pècheuse (1879). Unfortunately, the auction house couldn't find a buyer for this 19th-century piece, which carried a high estimate of £1.2 million. The highest valued unsold lot was Adrian Ghenie’s Self-Portrait of a Monkey, with a highest estimate of £800,000.

Here are the highlights:

Andy Warhol, The King Of Pop And The Princess of Wales

The highlight of Phillips' 20th Century & Contemporary evening sale was Andy Warhol’s Portrait of Princess Diana (1982). Despite Warhol's extensive celebrity portrait repertoire, the significance of this piece had been somewhat overlooked but has now rightfully resurfaced in the market. Two versions of this portrait have appeared on the public market: a purple canvas and the featured blue edition. The blue version, a resale, initially sold at Christie’s in 1998 for £98,000 (hammer) and £104,900 with fees, just a year after Princess Diana’s passing. 26 years later, the work has reemerged, hammering at £1.95 million/£2.4 million with fees, igniting a bidding war lasting at least three minutes and ultimately selling to a phone bidder as the sale's star lot.

Explore our Andy Warhol Investment Guide for 2024 to learn more about his print market performance.

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Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale - 07/3

Presale estimate: £105,205,000 - 153,045,000

Sales Total Hammer: £114,530,000

+8% above the low presale estimate

Sell-through rate: 88%

1. Above: 16% (13)
2. Within: 45% (37)
3. Below: 25% (21)
4. Unsold: 12% (9)

Christie’s Sale Overview: Key Figures

Christie’s 20th/21st Century London Evening Sale presented the largest lot count among the three auction houses, with 87 featured works, including seven withdrawals and nine unsold. Despite notable withdrawals across all auctions, Christie’s sale exceeded expectations, achieving an impressive 88% sell-through rate, surpassing the presale estimate by 8%. Adjusting for withdrawals, the sell-through rate drops to 81%, with the final hammer falling 5% below the low presale estimate. Compared to Christie’s 2023 sale, this year saw an 8.5% increase in hammer price and seven additional lots sold. The slight increase can be attributed to three eight-figure sales, including Francis Bacon’s, Landscape Near Malabata, Tangier (1963); David Hockney’s, California (1965); and Claude Monet’s, Matinée sur la Seine, temps net (1897), contributing significantly to the sale's success.

Here are the highlights:

David Hockney

Expanding on the offerings, alongside California (1965), Christie’s sale featured another notable Hockney canvas, Rudston To Sledmere, August (2007), a significant and large-scale work exhibited at Hockney’s RA exhibition, A Bigger Picture, 2012-2013. This artwork, making its auction debut, garnered £2.2 million at the hammer, falling within estimated values, and ultimately reached £2.7 million with fees.

Explore our David Hockney Investment Guide for 2024 to learn more about his print market performance.

Browse David Hockney prints on the Trading Floor and find out more about the print market growth on the MAB100 Print Index.

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Damien Hirst

Two Damien Hirst canvas pieces exhibited satisfactory performance. The standout was one of Hirst’s Veil works, Veil of Serendipity (2017) fetching £650,000 at the hammer and £819,000 with fees, marking its auction debut. Hirst’s H4-Veil prints through his Heni drop have been trending in the print marketplace and on MyARtBroker’s live trading floor offering more accessible entry points to the market. For further insights on Hirst's HENI drops read our Heni drops market report.

I Need You (1998), evoking Hirst’s acclaimed Love Poems print series, made its second auction appearance, hammering at £200,000 and achieving £252,000 with fees, mirroring its previous performance in October 2004. This seems like a bargain for such a sought-after Hirst series, especially when the complete set of prints recently achieved £78,740 (with fees) in Phillips January sale. Hirst’s sculpture work, The Warrior and The Bear (2015), was withdrawn presale.

Explore our Damien Hirst Investment Guide for 2024 to learn more about his print market performance.

Browse Damien Hirst prints on the Trading Floor and find out more about the print market growth on the MAB100 Print Index.

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Andy Warhol

Warhol was also featured prominently within the sale with three works. The highest-selling piece was One Multicoloured Marilyn (Reversal Series), executed between 1979 and 1986, part of Warhol’s rare reversal series exploring negative printing techniques. It sold within estimates at £850,000, realising just over £1 million with fees.

Demonstrating the burgeoning investment value of Warhol print sales, the complete set of Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup I was also offered, achieving £700,000 (hammer). The record price for Campbell’s Soup Cans is £1.5 million reached for a complete set of Artist Proofs. This sale's final price of £882,000 with fees, appears modestly conservative given the set’s desirability among collectors.

The final piece by Warhol in Christie’s sale, Self-Portrait (Freight Wig) (1986), depicted in negative imagery with Warhol's black silhouette against a green background, remained unsold during the auction. However, a buyer was secured post-sale, acquiring it for £650,000, exclusive of fees.

Explore our Andy Warhol Investment Guide for 2024 to learn more about his print market performance.

Alex Katz

Lastly, among renowned contemporary artists, Alex Katz's Isca (2001), purportedly a friend and cherished subject of Katz, was offered. While Katz's portraits from the 1970s/80s often fetch top prices, pieces from the 2000s are more prevalent in the market, demonstrating competitive prices. Isca attained its estimated value at £520,000 upon hammering and reached £655,200 including fees.

Browse Alex Katz prints on the Trading Floor and find out more about the print market growth on the MAB100 Print Index.

LOOKING TO SELL WARHOL AND KATZ YOUR PRINTS?

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That concludes the London marquee evening sales in March 2024. Now the auction sales will shift to a series of print sales, which we will be reporting on here, at Edition Magazine.

Explore full summaries of Sotheby's Evening & Days Sales and Phillips and Christie's Day Sales.