Basquiat Crowns Christie's Hong Kong Sales

An artist for all seasons, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s classic 1984 painting Ancient Scientist was the star of Christie’s autumn sales of modern and contemporary art in Hong Kong.

The work, which carried a guarantee, sold for $9.8m with fees, just above its high estimate, helping the auction house reach a $121.9m total. The three sales, held on September 29 and 30, achieved a C+ on the HENI Auction Index, slightly down from the auction house’s spring sales in Asia but on a par with 12 months ago.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s each totaled nearly $122m in their flagship Hong Kong sales this fall.

The Basquiat showcased the young artist’s creative skill with a brush and Xerox photocopier, images from which he incorporated into the canvas. It was first exhibited by Larry Gagosian in what proved to be a turning point in both their careers.

Another auction favorite did not disappoint. Large and small Yayoi Kusama pumpkin paintings were on offer, and both found buyers in the evening and day sales. The Japanese artist’s A-Pumpkin (YHP) (2011), which was backed by a guarantee, sold for $7.4m with fees in the former, above its low estimate, while the smaller A PUMPKIN (TSS) (2003) fetched nearly $1.5m with fees.

The HENI Auction Index puts the sales into context: against equivalent sales at Christie’s in Hong Kong, the result was average.

The nearly $122m total was slightly up from its auctions last spring but 34% below the comparable average. The 193 lots offered were also 31% below the average.

Another metric tells a mixed story: the percentage of works selling above their low estimates rose by nearly 3 percentage points compared with the average for comparable sales, but the percentage selling above their high estimates fell by more than 9 percentage points.

The percentage of works that failed to find a buyer was 4 percentage points below the comparable average, while the share withdrawn increased by just 1 percentage point.

The share of works with strong and weak guarantees was in line with the average, also contributing to the C+ score.

The vagaries of the art market were illustrated by the performance of two paintings by the Chinese-French artist Zao Wou-Ki. The artist’s market received a boost from a major show at Hong Kong’s M+ museum last year.

His abstract Voie lactée - 09.11.56 (Milky Way - 09.11.56) was the second-highest lot in Christie’s evening sale, selling for $7.5m with fees. That was some $450,000 less than it fetched at Christie’s in 2019. However, in the day sale his 27.10.1992 (1992) was the top lot, selling for $1.2m with fees, well above its low estimate.

Methodology: for how the HENI Auction Index classifies sales, see here.