Ritcher, Bacon, Freud, Boetti...
Sotheby's Contemporary art harvest for the 15th of February includes these and other established names in the bussiness
Amist the Old master sales scheduled this week in New York, the London sales room brings forward the highlights of its upcoming Contemporary art sale. After the third most luvrative year in its history, Sotheby's seeks to outperform its greatest rival, Christie's, during the first week of February, something it has been longing to do since 2008, up to now with unflattering results.
Contemporary art, besides representing the greatest market share for both firms, is also the most noted by the press and discussed by the public. Two conditions which strengthen even more its importance. After the series of battles Sotheby's faught with its rival, with a final result clearly slanted in the other direction, Febreury is the greatest bet of the trismester for the british auction house.
The artillery gathered for the 15th of February includes such lethal names as Gerhard Ritcher, present in the sale with two works: Eis (ice) and Abstraktes Bild (rot). the first is an intimate portrait of the artist's psyche, based on a photograph of a landscape in Iceland taken by the artist in 1972. The dessolate environment covered in white reflects the painter's challenges at that time, like his physical and emotional exile from his native Dusseldorf and his troubled marriadge. It has an estimate of 2-3 million British pounds.
Meanwhile Abstraktes Bild marks the author's incurssion into abstraction with his red themed works. This challenging and complex work, posseses above all an impacting beauty. With an estimate of 2.5-3.5 million pounds, it could become the artist's new record. The orange figure of a sportsman by Michel Basquiat, provides the adequate dose of rarity to the sale, since it is one of the most market shy works to come to light.
Cheyenne Westhpal, director of Contemporary art Sotheby's, comments: "With a total of 1.17 billion dollars made by Sotheby's in its Contemporary art sales in 2011, the firm is leading the market in this category". Alfonso Carbajo Agrasar
