LONDON.- Figure on a Bed II, an early masterpiece by the British painter Frank Auerbach, sold for £1,448,750 at
Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary Art Sale in London today (Wednesday 27 June). Offered at auction for the first time, it had been estimated at £800,000-1,200,000.
Figure on a Bed II was painted in 1967, and had been in the collection of Michael Hobbs, an Australian collector, since 1967. Hobbs had acquired the work directly from Marlborough Fine Art.
Mire G 13 (Bolivar) by Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) made £296,750 against its pre-sale estimate of £180,000-250,000. Part of the Mire series, created between 1983 and 1985, it was among Dubuffets final works.
Other highlights of the sale included:
Lichtscheibe by Günther Uecker (b.1930) which sold for £428,750. One of the very rare motorized pieces by the German ZERO artist, it had been estimated at £350,000 550,000.
14 Steel Row by Carl Andre which made £392,750 against an estimate of £250,000-300,000. A seminal, early work from 1968 it came from Andre's pioneering period during which the artist saw a meteoric rise in his recognition and influence.
M60 by Wojciech Fangor from 1968 estimated at £65,00-85,000 sold for £143,750, and another work by the same artist, M90 from 1967 made £137,500. It too had been estimated at £65,000-85,000.
Bonhams Global Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Ralph Taylor said, Auerbachs Figure on a Bed II was a superlative work from an important period in the artists career and Im not surprised it was so keenly contested. This, and the high prices paid for pieces by Dubuffet, Uecker and Carl Andre, show that the market for carefully selected, good quality contemporary art continues to thrive.