The world’s biggest auction houses host international art sales at their Hong Kong headquarters semiannually. As of this year, their springtime sales take place during Art Basel Hong Kong. This fall, for the first time, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips—the big three houses—are also holding their autumn modern and contemporary auctions this weekend, in the wake of Typhoon Ragasa. Art by top dogs like Andy Warhol, KAWS, Takashi Murakami and more are set to hit the block.
In recent years, the Hong Kong fall auctions have offered temperature checks. Last year they were the first major art sales to happen after the American election. This year, they mark the art world’s first sales after a summer rife with gallery closures. Yes, last week’s Pauline Karpidas sale broke records, but that was a special, once-in-a-lifetime type of sale. Last fall’s Hong Kong results were lackluster, as were this spring’s. So, it will be interesting to see how this week goes.
Christie’s kicks the party off with a 20th/21st Century Evening Sale on Friday. Pablo Picasso’s “Bust de femme” (1944), immortalizing his muse Dora Maar, leads the rockstar lineup with an estimate of $11,060,488 to $13,632,695. The auction debut of Chinese-French abstractionist Zao Wou-Ki’s 1963 painting “17.3.63” follows, with an estimate of $9,002,723 to $11,574,930. David Hockney, Claude Monet, and Louis Vuitton collaborator Yayoi Kusama will also appear.
On Saturday, Christie’s will host a 20th Century auction led by Hockney’s “The Twelfth V.N. Painting “ (1992) (est. $1,929,155 – $2,572,206), which has never hit the block—then a 21st Century auction, headlined by Kusama’s acrylic painting “Pumpkin (C)” (1991) (est. $1,774,822 – $2,417,874). While the 20th Century auction has historic names like the Old Master J.M.W. Turner and self-taught Filipino-American Pacita Abad, almost all of its 79 lots are by dead artists.
By comparison, every one of the 65 lots in their 21st Century sale was made by artists who are still evolving. That includes established legends like Alex Katz and George Condo (of Kanye West album cover fame) and ascendant hotshots like landscape painter Shara Hughes (who sold out her New York solo show this month) and sensual Danish painter Eva Helene Pade, the top outperformer from Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Day Auction in Hong Kong last fall.
Sotheby’s, meanwhile, is already getting warm by hosting a brooding, sex-positive group show titled “EROS/THANATANOS.” Guests must be 18 and older to see the spectacle, which they’re calling a gesamkunstwerk—or total artwork. The show pairs a custom playlist with haunting paintings like Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Thin in the old” (1986) and evocative sculptures like a warped figure by Zeng Fanzhi, dubbed “one of China’s most acclaimed—and expensive—living artists.” All of the art is on sale, which means you could nab Jeff Koons’s “Dirty – Jeff on Top” (1991)—a life-sized sculpture of the artist having sex with his first wife—to spice up your living room.
On Sunday, Sotheby’s will host a Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction, led by iconic Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s “Can’t Wait ‘til the Night Comes” (2012) (est. $8,359,671 to $10,931,878.) Fun fact, there’s an entirely different painting under this work, proof that artists change their mind. And, worth noting, this piece sold for more than its current high estimate with Christie’s in 2019—the same year that Christie’s initiated their habitual fall Hong Kong auctions.
On Monday, Zao Wou-Ki’s “Paysage vert” (1950) could reign supreme in Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary Day Auction, with an estimate of $643,051 to $1,028,882. Down the ballot, rising names to look out for at this sale include dreamy Chinese “half-stractionist” Li Hei Dei (who set her auction record of $179,506 with Sotheby’s in Hong Kong this March) and American artist Jonathan Lyndon Chase (who had a lovely pop-up show at Acne Studios in New York this May.)
Phillips is celebrating their 10-year anniversary in Asia. To celebrate, they’re hosting a stocked evening event on Saturday and a larger daytime one on Sunday. Nara headlines the former, where “Pinky” (2000) is expected to fetch $7,690,000 to $10,260,000 in its auction debut. Two impressive single-owner collections will also appear—a cache of works by Vietnamese painter Mai Trung Thu, and another collection of Zao Wou-Ki paintings, hidden from public view for 75 years. American-Japanese sculptor Ruth Asawa, who has a retrospective opening at New York’s MoMA next month, will make her first Hong Kong auction appearance—alongside rising talents like Chinese abstractionist Yuan Fang and American transcendentalist Loie Hollowell. The houses did their part sourcing hot artworks to sell. Now, let’s see if the bidders will do theirs.
