Rearview: The Season in Review | Spring 2019

rearview The Season in Review

Spring 2019

rearview COVER:

Alexander Calder, Black Gamma, 1966. © 2019 Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Richard Mosse, Nowhere to Run (Infra series), 2010 (detail). Sold in London for ÂŁ37,500.

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04 I ntroduction, Marion Maneker 06 20th Century & Contemporary Art 18 Design

26 Photographs 32 Watches 40 Jewels 46 Editions

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Introduction

For the auction market, the first half of 2019 has been driven by exploration and discovery.

It’s as if 2018’s sale of classic French art from the Rockefeller collection cleansed the palate of buyers of art and rare objects and opened space for new tastes. We seem to be undergoing a slow transformation from trophy-hunting sales to the broader development of sophisticated niche markets, each with their own darlings, drivers and intricate price structures.

And as a new generation of wealth continues its ascendancy, their desire to acquire work from masters old, new and potentially unknown is influencing every level of the market.

Armed with a store of knowledge gleaned from deep research online and chance encounters on social media, collectors are developing tailored interests—across categories and regions—that would not be recognizable to collectors of the past. At Phillips, the trend toward specialized areas is visible in results across 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Design, Photographs, Watches, Jewels and Editions.

In the central arena of the modern and contemporary art auctions, we’ve witnessed an acceleration of the move away from mainstays like Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol toward artists who are rapidly gaining market share.

To be sure, the most famous and sought-after names remain quite valuable. What’s changed is the auction volume and the shape of the demand. The highest prices are achieved work by work. One does not buy any de Kooning; one buys the de Kooning that matters—evidenced in the sale of Untitled XVI, 1976, for more than $10 million during the house’s flagship New York auction.

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This ongoing transformation in the market has made private collections especially important, as they reflect a deeper commitment to understanding, and often nurturing, an artist’s oeuvre. Property from the Miles & Shirley Fiterman Collection proved one of the season’s most important consignments: masterworks by art-world superstars like Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Joan Miró were 100% sold across three cities. It was the same story for a standout group of Dubuffets, all of which came from the collection of Chicago-based entrepreneur William Harris Smith.

At the same time, artists such as KAWS, Dana Schutz, Nicolas Party and Marlene Dumas sparked some of the most aggressive bidding. This shift towards discovery of new and different names is, in many ways, recognition of the market’s success. As it becomes increasingly global and millennials enter its upper echelons, the desire for something fresh is palpable.

For Editions & Works on Paper, Phillips has done well with Pop prints by Warhol and Lichtenstein as well as works by Donald Judd, Yayoi Kusama and other blue-chip names.

Editions also demonstrate the power of buying art online.

The amount of available information—including about print run, scarcity and condition—makes transacting online much easier and more appealing, a trend bubbling up in all Phillips categories.

In Photographs, Phillips set a new auction record for Helmut Newton while also recording exceptional prices for works by Edward Weston, Consuelo Kanaga, Tina Modotti, Dorothea Lange and Carrie Mae Weems. Note the rise of work by female photographers, historic artists and fashion photographers, whose images fit within the parameters of what sells best: rare-to-market. This continues to define the house’s unique approach to photographs at auction.

Introduction

Design is witnessing its own version of rotation. Work by a new group of designers is making moves while interest in the most storied names of the 20th century becomes increasingly global. This growing fervor was demonstrated by strong auction results across London, New York, Hong Kong and online for diverse material, including American and British ceramics, contemporary design and postwar French, Italian and American design. In London, an unprecedented sale of Gio Ponti pieces from his Casa Lucano commission in Milan gave buyers an opportunity to own a piece of design history, and not a single one passed.

Finally, in Watches and Jewels, Phillips is the beneficiary of increasing demand and more direct access to buyers through digital platforms and private selling. The firm’s spring Jewels sales were a third larger than those last autumn, as Phillips is now fulfilling the demand for large diamonds, rare stones and signed pieces that pervades the luxury market, especially in Asia. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo, which maintains a unique position as global leaders for fine, vintage and collectible watches at auction, has just launched Perpetual, a new private sales platform that is outfitted with a London retail space. This development is coupled with an array of new world auction records for rare models

by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and George Daniels, whose handmade pocket watch, a supreme example of horological art, was the top result during Geneva’s prestigious auction week.

Collecting is now a global preoccupation, with many creators having an international market composed of buyers distributed equally around the world. Phillips’ strengths in the first half of the year demonstrate a focus on catering to specific appetites, cultural aspirations and discovery trends.

That, in turn, suggests and supports a healthy market.

Marion Maneker President & Editorial Director, Artnews Media

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Contemporary Art

A diverse roster of masters and trailblazers, icons and upstarts shaped our spring season in 20th Century and Contemporary Art—Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, Tschabalala Self, KAWS and Luc Tuymans, to name a few.

20th Century & KAWS, THE WALK HOME, 2012 (detail). Sold in New York for $5,955,000. © KAWS

View of “The Cube” at 432 Park Avenue, featuring Property from the Miles & Shirley Fiterman Collection © 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS) © 2019 Calder Foundation, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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20th Century & Contemporary Art / 01

This spring at Phillips was highlighted by prominent private collections. Dubbed a “Pop Art trove,” Property from the Miles & Shirley Fiterman Collection achieved a 100% sell-through rate as nearly 100 works came to auction in New York, Hong Kong and London.

Noted for its depth, the collection stands as a testament to the close personal relationships that the Fitermans built with artists like Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, while also representing earlier artists like Joan Miró and Alexander Calder. In New York, Roy Lichtenstein’s Futurist-inspired Horse and Rider sold for nearly $6 million, as did Calder’s monumental mobile Black Gamma; at the tail end of the season, Lichtenstein’s The Conductor fetched nearly £5 million in London.

A group of works by Jean Dubuffet from the collection of Chicago developer William H. Smith also achieved a 100% sell-through rate when they came to auction in May. Ciboulet Pistolet sold for $500,000 in our New York Evening Sale while Buste (avec graffiti au couteau) more than tripled its low estimate in achieving $225,000 during the Day Sale.

Modern offerings drove success throughout the entire season, demonstrated by Zao Wou-Ki’s Ailleurs, sold for HK$52 million, as well as Picasso’s Vase de Fleurs (£2.4 million) and Homme assis (Mardi gras) (£3.1 million) from the Fiterman Collection.

Roy Lichtenstein, The Conductor, 1975. Sold in London for £4,977,000.

Pablo Picasso, Homme assis (Mardi gras), 1972. Sold in London for £3.1 million.

© Estate of Roy Lichtenstein/ DACS 2019.

© Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2019.

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Featured Results

Marlene Dumas, Losing (Her Meaning), 1988. © Marlene Dumas.

Sold in London’s Evening Sale for £1,215,000 against a low estimate of £400,000.

Willem de Kooning, Untitled XVI, 1976. © 2019 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Sold in New York’s Evening Sale for $10,268,000.

01 / 20th Century & Contemporary Art

To Repel Ghosts: Important Works by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the Collection of Matt Dike presented works given to the legendary music producer by the artist in 1980s Los Angeles.

These included four works on paper and two paintings, with Basquiat’s Self Portrait achieving the highest result for the artist during New York auction week at $9,500,000.

Jean Dubuffet, Buste (avec graffiti au couteau), 1962.

This work from the collection of Chicago developer William Harris Smith sold in New York for $225,000. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

“ Now we’re seeing established collectors from the United States and Europe walking into our galleries and asking to see the KAWS as well as the de Kooning.”

Scott Nussbaum, Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, New York, quoted in The New York Times

Around the world, we witnessed several emerging artists make their star turns. Phillips introduced Tschabalala Self to auction during our first Evening Sale of the year in London in March, selling Lilith for £125,000 and setting the stage for June’s sale of Leda for £237,000. In New York in May, we broke the auction record for Nicolas Party as Landscape smashed its high estimate of $150,000 to climb past $600,000. After new records for KAWS in 2018, THE WALK HOME sparked a fierce bidding battle that saw the painting skyrocket to nearly $6 million from a $600,000 low estimate. And in Hong Kong in May, we set three consecutive records for American artist Eddie Martinez and debuted

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20th Century & Contemporary Art / 01

Dana Schutz at auction in Asia, leveraging the increasingly global market to sell Boy with Bubble for HK$2.7 million, more than HK$1 million above its high estimate. Our New Now sales in New York and London continued highlighting works by on-trend artists including Awol Erizku, Mary Weatherford, Anish Kapoor and Sean Scully, among others.

ABOVE/BELOW:

Tschabalala Self, Leda, 2015.

Sold in London for £237,500. © Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London.

Nicolas Party, Landscape, 2015. Sold in New York for $608,000, setting a new auction record for the artist. © Nicolas Party

R I G H T:

Mary Weatherford, Truxtun, 2012. Sold in New York for $325,000. © Mary Weatherford

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Featured Results

Zao Wou-Ki, Ailleurs, 1955. © Zao Wou-Ki - ProLitteris, Zurich

Sold in Hong Kong’s Evening Sale for HK$52,040,000.

Eddie Martinez, Untitled, 2012.

Sold in Hong Kong’s Evening Sale for HK$2,500,000 against a low estimate of HK$700,000, setting a new auction record for the artist.

Guests view Avon & Somerset Constabulary (Pink), 2000, at Phillips X’s Taipei selling exhibition, Banksy: The Authentic Rebel.

Courtesy of Pest Control Office.

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Banksy: The Authentic Rebel attracted over 12,000 visitors in Taipei.

Private selling exhibitions offered

collectors around the world even more opportunities to interact with Phillips. According to Miety Heiden, Deputy Chairwoman and Head of Private Sales, “we want to connect with clients 365 days a year, both online and offline.”

Curated by Arnold Lehman, Senior Advisor and Director Emeritus of the Brooklyn Museum, New York’s AMERICAN AFRICAN AMERICAN brought together more than sixty works from the 1950s to today by Ed Clark, Stanley Whitney, Kehinde Wiley and Mickalene Thomas, among others. Internationally, Banksy: The Authentic Rebel brought the artist’s whimsical satire to Taipei, breaking records for a Phillips exhibition in Asia

by hosting more than 12,000 visitors in a single week. Across Paris and Hong Kong, we exhibited works by Jorge Eielson, Gerhard Richter, Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita and Sanyu.

ABOVE/BELOW:

Jorge Eielson, Quipus 30T-1, 1969–71.

Archivio Jorge Eielson and Centro Eielson Firenze.

Léonard-Tsuguharu Foujita, Nu allongé, Madeleine, 1931.

The season came to a close as NOMEN: American Women Artists from 1945 to Today, also curated by Lehman, consciously excluded male artists in order to bring previously overlooked icons like Judy Chicago, Laurie Simmons and Ghada Amer to the fore in our Park Avenue galleries. 

© Foujita Foundation/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 2019.

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The Design team at Phillips has been integral in establishing the market for twentieth-century and contemporary design as it stands today, and this spring proved no exception.

Isamu Noguchi’s Rare chess table, model no. IN-61, circa 1947 (detail). Sold in New York for $325,000. This is among the rarest and most sought-after of Noguchi’s furniture designs, with only eight known extant examples in the ebonized finish. © 2019 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Design

02 / Design

We began our season in February with Ettore Sottsass: Fragile, a London exhibition of ceramics and enamels from two private collections.

Co-curated by Italian historian Fulvio Ferrari and French architect and avid Sottsass collector Charles Zana, the show marked the first time these museum-quality examples were ever exhibited to the public.

Continuing the theme of rare Italian design, we presented Casa di Fantasia in association with Cambi Casa d’Aste. The

March evening sale in London showcased property from one of the most important commissions of Gio Ponti’s career: Milan’s Casa Lucano, completed in 1951 and reimagined in our London galleries at Berkeley Square. An ode to the architect and his collaborative spirit, the white-glove sale achieved staggering prices, with the top lots, two chests of drawers by Ponti and Edina Altara, realizing a total of £587,000 against a combined high estimate of £130,000.

From the collection of Diane and Marc Grainer: Lucie Rie, Bowl, circa 1983. Sold in New York for $68,750 against a high estimate of $40,000.

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From Casa di Fantasia, a chest of drawers by Gio Ponti and Edina Altara sold for £337,500 (detail).

“ With Casa Lucano, Gio Ponti completed his quest for the fantasy home.”

That same day, our Important Design sale was led by a mid-century wardrobe by Lucio Fontana and Osvaldo Borsani, which soared past its low estimate of £140,000 to achieve £275,000. More Italian and French design rounded out the top ten lots, with important chairs by Carlo Mollino, ceiling lights by Studio BBPR and a golden carp by François-Xavier Lalanne all significantly exceeding their estimates.

Domenico Raimondo, Head of Design, Europe

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Installation view of Casa di Fantasia, a collection of property from Gio Ponti’s Casa Lucano commission, at Phillips Berkeley Square.

Ponti used concepts from this project in his Via Dezza apartment.

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Alberto Giacometti “Tête de femme” table lamp, designed circa 1933 (detail).

Sold in New York for $375,000 against a high estimate of $150,000. This design belongs to a group of decorative objects that Alberto Giacometti created for Jean-Michel Frank between 1932 and 1940. © 2019 Alberto Giacometti Estate/ VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris

Design continued its expansion into Asia, offering American, Nordic and Italian design alongside 20th Century & Contemporary Art during Hong Kong auction week. Strong results were achieved for an early example of Finn Juhl’s iconic ‘Chieftain’ armchair and a pair of FJ 45 armchairs executed by master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder.

An international cast of the most significant designers headlined June in New York. Top prices were achieved by Swiss Alberto Giacometti, American Isamu Noguchi, FrenchSwedish Ingrid Donat and German Eckart Muthesius.

Design / 02

The Collection of Diane and Marc Grainer saw stand-out results for British and American ceramics in addition to Judy Kensley McKie’s Monkey Settee—one of the most iconic examples of her work. A female counterpart to the likes of Wendell Castle and George Nakashima, McKie was a pioneer of the American Studio Craft movement, and her market has grown significantly in recent auction seasons. 

ABOVE/BELOW:

Ingrid Donat “Commode Galuchat,” 2014. Sold in New York for $275,000. Donat’s body of work is well-contextualized within the larger history of twentieth-century furniture design, making her an ideal fit for important and diverse collections.

Judy Kensley McKie “Monkey Settee,” 1994. Sold in New York for $187,500. As one of only a few female woodworkers, her contributions from this period of design have been more recently receiving attention by institutions and the design canon at large.

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Kourtney Roy, Sorry, No Vacancy 7, 2017 (detail).

Sold in London for £23,750.

Phillips introduced this artist to auction.

As in our other categories, women figured prominently—both as artists and subjects— for Phillips Photographs this spring.

Photographs

03 / Photographs

Our April auction in New York featured the momentous sale of Helmut Newton’s Sie Kommen, Paris (Dressed and Naked) for $1.8 million, more than tripling the work’s low estimate, breaking the artist’s auction record and becoming the most expensive work ever sold in a Photographs sale at Phillips.

Several more records were set that evening for female artists, including those for Tina Modotti and Consuelo Kanaga, in Passion & Humanity: The Susie Tompkins Buell Collection.

“It’s a testament to Susie’s vision that photographers such as Kanaga and Dorothea Lange, who she championed so many years ago, were received with such enthusiasm,” said Senior Specialists Caroline Deck and Christopher Mahoney of the business mogul and philanthropist.

“ Helmut Newton’s Sie Kommen is a tour-deforce of fashion photography.”

Vanessa Hallett, Deputy Chairwoman and Worldwide Head of Photographs

L E F T T O R I G H T:

Edward Weston, Circus Tent, 1924. Sold in New York for $788,000. This work was the top lot from Passion & Humanity: The Susie Tompkins Buell Collection.

Tina Modotti Telephone Wires, Mexico, 1925. Sold in New York for $692,000, an auction record for the artist.

Consuelo Kanaga, Profile of a Young Girl from the Tennessee Series, 1948.

Sold in New York for $106,250, an auction record for the artist.

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03 / Photographs

“ The image has to grab you,” Yuka Yamaji, Co-Head of Photographs, Europe, told British Vogue. “Usually it’s very instant. We’ll see something, and within the first few seconds we’ll know—that’s a stopper and a seller.”

The latest edition of ULTIMATE in May brought more rareto-market works to auction in London. European Co-Heads Yuka Yamaji and Genevieve Janvrin describe the program as “a multifaceted collection of exclusive works, ranging from rare masterpieces to unique works and sold-out editions. As this exciting program evolves, so do our criteria for entry. If it’s the first, the last, special, unique, a one-off or the only chance to own it, then it might just be the ultimate.” Auction records were set for Richard Mosse, Don McCullin and Kourtney Roy, while Man Ray’s La Prière sold above estimate for £100,000 during the same sale.

L E F T:

Eiji Ohashi, Roadside Lights #001, 2017. Sold in London for £20,000.

ABOVE/BELOW:

Anne Collier, Folded Madonna Poster (Steven Meisel), 2007. Sold in London for £41,250.

Man Ray, La Prière [Prayer], 1930. Sold in London for £100,000.

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Photographs / 03

The season culminated with

a statement auction, Artist | Icon | Inspiration: Women in Photography, presented in collaboration with renowned gallerist Peter Fetterman. In advance of the auction, actor, artist and collector Whoopi Goldberg visited the galleries

to share her approach to collecting and her passion for photography. Lange’s Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California led the auction, selling for $87,500, while Carrie Mae Weems’ Untitled (man smoking) from Kitchen Table Series nearly tripled its low estimate, setting a new record for a single print by the artist at $70,000. 

L E F T T O R I G H T:

Gallerist and Collector Peter Fetterman, Specialist Rachel Peart, Collector Whoopi Goldberg and Worldwide Head of Photographs Vanessa Hallett.

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Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo remains the global market leader for watch collectors. This spring saw unique lots, enthusiastic bidding and an escalating level of digital engagement around the world.

Watches A very rare and attractive yellow gold Patek Philippe Reference 1463 chronograph wristwatch with two tone dial, sold during The Geneva Watch Auction: NINE for CHF 200,000.

04 / Watches

Leading The Geneva Watch Auction: NINE in May, the George Daniels Grand Complication achieved a world record for the model and the highest result of Geneva auction week at CHF 2.4 million (nearly a million above the pre-auction estimate). One of only 23 pocket watches ever made by George Daniels, its result demonstrates the worldwide appeal and appreciation for independent watchmaking. Alongside additional world auction records for a Rolex ‘Big Crown’ Submariner ref. 6200, ‘Small Crown’ Submariner ref. 5508 and ‘Padellone’ Reference 8171 in yellow gold, Vacheron Constantin’s long-lost ‘Don Pancho’— considered the watchmaker’s “holy grail,” rediscovered after missing for almost 70 years—recorded the highest price for a vintage Vacheron Constantin wristwatch at CHF 740,000.

“ For me it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I spent 25 years dreaming of this watch until the day we figured out where it was.”

Alex Ghotbi, Head of Watches, Continental Europe & Middle East

L E F T:

The Vacheron Constantin ‘Don Pancho’, the most important twentieth-century wristwatch of the storied manufacture’s history.

OPPOSITE:

George Daniel’s Grand Complication pocket watch.

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04 / Watches

Phillips & Blackbird: SPORTS offered vintage collectors’ watches by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, IWC, Omega and Richard Mille as well as a celebrity-owned watch from Bruce Lee.

Just two weeks later, we made a splash in Hong Kong with the first 100%-sold “white-glove” Watches sale in Asia with Phillips & Blackbird: SPORTS. The thematic evening sale was also the first Watches auction curated by an Asian collector, Mr. TK Mak, who founded the Blackbird Automotive Group.

Coupled with The Hong Kong Watch Auction: EIGHT, these two days of sales brought in HK$183 million and marked a 47% increase year-over-year.

Thomas Perazzi during the thematic Phillips & Blackbird: SPORTS sale, the first “white-glove” Watches auction in Asia.

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Watches / 04

Outside of the saleroom, Spring 2019 was a landmark season for Watches. Following last December’s collaboration with men’s fashion authorities Mr. Porter and The Rake, we partnered with bespoke menswear brand Thom Sweeney for a London selling exhibition featuring rare watches by Philippe Dufour, Vianney Halter, Ludovic Ballouard, Richard Mille and Rolex.

We announced a new platform, Phillips Perpetual, which is anchored by private selling exhibitions and a physical retail space, launched in September of this year. Senior Consultant Aurel Bacs noted that “Perpetual will enable us to offer unique collector experiences year-round.” London has hosted two successful selling exhibitions that included the sale of a Philippe Dufour Simplicity in pink gold and a “barn find” Rolex 6263. These were followed by an exhibition in Hong Kong and at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

The Phillips Perpetual London showroom

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04 / Watches

Across the board, increasing digital engagement has been a key factor in Phillips Watches’ success. “Online is now the favorite bidding method for watch collectors,” said Arthur Touchot, Specialist and Head of Digital Strategy for Watches. Almost 1,000 online bidders registered for our spring auction in Geneva, which sold CHF 6,166,625 in value online and saw record participation, spanning 73 countries, for any watch auction in company history. Similarly, the duo of Hong Kong sales brought in hundreds of online bidders and participants across six continents, ultimately selling over 100 lots online. 

Aurel Bacs.

Credit Alex Teuscher

Watches sold during the Spring 2019 auction season showed the diverse taste of current watch collectors.

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A Patek Philippe bracelet formerly in the collection of French actress Catherine Deneuve

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Jewels

Expansion defined the spring season for Jewels at Phillips. We welcomed Graeme Thompson as our Worldwide Head of Jewels, poised to oversee a growing division of specialists, sales and exhibitions around the world.

Van Cleef & Arpels, Diamond, Colored Diamond and Gold Necklace and Pendant/Brooch. Sold in New York for $117,500.

Graff, Unique Diamond ‘Butterfly’ Brooch, circa 2013. Sold in Hong Kong for HK$2,000,000 (US$255,000).

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Jewels / 05

Phillips Jewels focuses

on sourcing pieces of outstanding quality and rarity and championing emerging contemporary designers in the field.

The year began in New York with the exhibition of ‘552’, the largest yellow diamond ever mined in North America.

The uncut stone was nicknamed for its weight in carats and became instantly recognizable for its vibrant color.

Come March in Hong Kong, we presented a selling show of jewels by Sarah Ho. The Hong Kong-born, London-based jeweler drew inspiration from her heritage to create 30 pieces on offer—including from her “Full Circle” collection, which donates a portion of proceeds to the communities from which the rare gemstones are sourced.

Sarah Ho, Full Circle— A Ruby and Diamond Ring, from Jewels in Collaboration with Sarah Ho. Karen Suen, Pair of Carved Jadeite Plaque, Ruby and Diamond Pendent Earrings.

Sold in Hong Kong for HK$525,000 (US$67,000).

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05 / Jewels

Trends emerged in May and June when we hosted auctions of fine jewelry in Hong Kong and New York in addition to an online-only sale. Global buyers are continuing to seek rare, high-quality stones. Among these successes, Terry Chu, Head of Jewels, Hong Kong, commented on our sale of an Ashoka diamond ring for HK$2.5 million, explaining that “Ashoka is a patented form of diamond cutting that has limited annual production. Its rarity and unsurpassed brilliance have proven to be very appealing among collectors.” Another top lot in Hong Kong was an articulated Graff ‘Butterfly’ brooch—Graff took inspiration from the geometric symmetry of butterflies—boasting oversized wings of brilliant-cut diamonds.

“ Colored gemstones and signed pieces performed exceptionally well, with top examples including jewels

by Belperron, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.”

Susan Abeles, Head of Jewels, Americas

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Signed jewels by iconic houses were popular globally. Three of our top four lots in New York were signed—by Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. Susan Abeles, Head of Jewels, Americas, applauded the success of signed pieces by emerging designers as well, with contemporary makers V.A.K and Cezua fetching impressive prices.

It was a 6.01 carat fancy intense, orangy pink diamond that concluded our June auction in New York, as the rare-hued stone reached $1,340,000 and became the most expensive diamond sold to date at Phillips. This top lot of the spring cemented a 33% increase in sales compared to the inaugural New York auction six months prior. 

Suzanne Belperron, Pair of Cultured Pearl and Gold Earrings. Sold in New York for $45,000.

An Exceptional and Rare Fancy Intense Diamond, Diamond, Platinum and Gold Ring. Sold in New York for $1,340,000. Seen in our galleries in front of Lillian Bassman, Blowing Kiss, Barbara Mullen, New York, circa 1958.

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Editions

Roy Lichtenstein, Landscape Mobile (Limoges), 1991.

Sold in New York for $68,750 against a pre-auction high estimate of $35,000. Š Estate of Roy Lichtenstein

Blue-chip names of the 20th century are commanding top prices at auction, as we anticipate continued fervor for prints, multiples and works on paper this fall.

Editions Specialist and Auctioneer Rebecca ToobyDesmond at the rostrum in New York, with Roy Lichtenstein’s Thinking Nude from Nude Series, 1994, in the background. © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein.

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Editions / 06

The market for editions

and works on paper is booming, and the Phillips team continues to lead the charge. In London this January, a daylong, 290-lot affair saw a 96% sell-through rate by value.

57% of the lots sold went to online bidders. The standout piece, Yayoi Kusama’s Amour pour Toujours, 2000, sold for £200,000, establishing a new world auction record for this set and becoming our most expensive edition by a living artist this season.

In New York, an even larger sale of 343 lots was headlined by auction records for two prints by Roy Lichtenstein: Reverie, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume II, 1965, and Thinking Nude, from Nude Series, 1994. Continued interest in Kusama saw a new auction record set for her Soaring Spirit series in stainless steel and wire.

Yayoi Kusama, Soaring Spirit, 2006.

Sold in New York for $52,500, a new auction record for this series. © YAYOI KUSAMA

Online participants bid on 90% of the lots in the New York sale, winning 55%.

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06 / Editions

In June, London Editions celebrated the 50th anniversary of iconic publisher Edition Schellmann with Fifty Are Better Than One. Far exceeding its pre-auction high estimate, the cohesive London auction was buoyed by rare pieces from Jörg Schellmann’s close working relationships with renowned artists including Joseph Beuys, Keith Haring and Donald Judd. 

“ Celebrating Jörg Schellmann’s legacy as the definitive European Contemporary editions publisher, we pushed the boundaries in terms of material and concept, expanding the Editions category beyond prints and multiples.”

Anne Schneider-Wilson, Senior Specialist, Editions London

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Andy Warhol, Details of Renaissance Paintings (Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1482), 1984. Sold in London for £243,750.

Keith Haring and Jörg Schellmann looking at a prototype for Totem, at Hans Meyer Gallery, Dusseldorf, 1987

© 2019 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Licensed by DACS, London. 2019.

© The Keith Haring Foundation, 2019 © Schellmann Art

Keith Haring, Dog, 1986. Sold in London for ÂŁ362,500, this was the most expensive edition sold this season at Phillips.

Keith Haring artwork Š Keith Haring Foundation

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