Phillips Contemporary Art Auctioneer Earned $ 41 Million and White Gloves

Participants from 50 countries did not leave a single unsold lot in the catalog. In total, on July 2, 2020, the auction house earned more than $ 51 million at the auctions of 20th-century contemporary art and art of the 20th Century and Contemporary Art Sale.

The catalog of the day auction, which brought in total more than $ 10.2 million, was sold by 84%, and the evening auction showed 100% effectiveness and brought more than $ 41 million.

The bidding took place in the remote form in real time. The auctioneer conducted bidding online, and bidders from around the world had the opportunity to bid online or by phone. According to the auction house, a record number of participants from 50 countries of the world were registered for bidding. During the auction on July 2, eight personal records were set for individual artists. Three records for participants in the evening session and five for works sold at the day auction.

The top lot of the 20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale was the abstract composition Noel (1961-1962) by Joan Mitchell, sold for $ 11 million, with an estimate of $ 9.5-12.5 million. The three best results also included the works of Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild (801-3) (estimate: $ 2-3 million; result: $ 3.68 million) and Jean-Michel Basquiat Victor 25448 (estimate: $ 8-12 million; result: $ 9, 25 million).

Commenting on this result, Jean-Paul Engelin and Robert Manley, co-heads of the department of contemporary art and art of the 20th century, said that they had never before had to do business with such a degree of uncertainty as in the past few months, so they focused on a selection of the authors’ works, whose market is most stable in the current conditions, which led to one hundred percent result. This auction showed that the key names of the art of the XX and XXI centuries today still remain in demand among collectors. They also took advantage of their Digital First virtual sales strategy, which helped them adapt and succeed. This bidding also proved the strength of their relationship with collectors.