Tsuguharu Foujita Leads SBI Art Auction Co. $13.72m Modern Legacy: An Important Japanese Collection of 20th & 21st Century Masters / Bloom Now Auction
3 min read · 17 Mar 2026
Portrait d'Hélène Franck by Tsuguharu Foujita sold for $3.18m. Image courtesy of SBI Art Auction Co.
A work by Tsuguharu Foujita was the headline sale at SBI Art Auction Co. 'Modern Legacy: An Important Japanese Collection of 20th & 21st Century Masters / Bloom Now' auction on March 14-15 in Tokyo.
- The sale totaled $13.72m (JPY2.19bn), meeting the pre-sale estimate.
Snapshot of the sale
- 148 works sold totaling $13.72m.
- Estimates totaled: $8.77m (low) and $14.73m (high), excluding premiums.
- The sell-through rate was 97% of the original 153 lots announced.
The star lot was: Tsuguharu Foujita, Portrait d'Hélène Franck (1924), which sold for $3.18m, 142% above its $1.31m low estimate. It has not been traded before.
Red Flowers ⅤIII by Jose Maria Sicilia sold for $34,600 (957% above estimate). Image courtesy of SBI Art Auction Co.
The outperformer sold for 957% above its low estimate. Jose Maria Sicilia, Red Flowers ⅤIII (1998), sold for $34,600 ($3,276 low estimate). It has not been traded before.
- 94 works, or 64%, sold above their high estimate.
- 47 works, or 32%, sold within their low and high estimate.
- 7 works, or 5%, sold below their low estimate.
- 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.
Guaranteed sales
No sales had a guarantee.
Works that did not sell
6 works were bought-in, including: Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Nets Beyond the Sky (1989), estimated at $1.18m (low) to $1.83m (high). It has been traded once in the past.
Withdrawn before the sale
0 works were withdrawn
Terms and definitions
All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Estimates, sale prices and totals are converted into US dollars. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.
Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.
Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.
Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.
Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.
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