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Week in Review: Leonora Carrington Soars at Sotheby’s, Boom Time for Basquiat and Christie’s Hit by a Cyber Attack

3 min read  ·  17 May 2024

Leonora Carrington, Les Distractions de Dagobert. Image courtesy of Sotheby's

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Leonora Carrington's auction record jumped 700% when a 1945 painting by the Surrealist sold for $28.48m, more than twice its low estimate, at Sotheby’s. HENI News

2

Felix Gonzalez-Torres's auction record jumped 77% when his light-bulb installation sold for $13.63m at Christie’s. The work was part of the Rosa De La Cruz collection. For more on the sale, see HENI News

3

An Egon Schiele watercolor, once owned by the cabaret star Fritz Grunbaum who was murdered by the Nazis, sold for $1.2m, 71% above estimate at Christie’s. For more, see the HENI News report

4

Jean-Michel Basquiat led auctions at Phillips, where his Untitled (ELMAR) (1982) sold for $46.48m (backed by a guarantee), and the artist’s riff on Popeye sold for $32m at Christie’s. For more, see HENI News sale reports here and here.

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Ana Mendieta's auction record jumped 175% when Untitled (Sandwoman Series / Serie Mujer de Arena) sold for $567,000 at Christie's. HENI News

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A print of one of Andre Kertesz’s best-known image,Satiric Dancer (1926) set a new auction record when it sold for $567,000 at Christie's. The price was 27% more the photographer's previous record sale, also set by the same image. HENI News

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Faith Ringgold’s painted textile work, Dinner at Gertrude Stein's, set a new auction record for the artist. It sold for $1.57m at Sotheby's, backed by a guarantee, 225% more than the late artist’s previous record sale. HENI News

In other news

London: Highlights of Elton John and David Furnish’s gift from the collectors’ vast photographic collection went on show at the V&A museum.

New York: Steve McQueen has transformed the basement of Dia: Beacon into a base (sound) and light installation called simply “Bass”.

Profile: Lucian Freud’s daughter, the novelist Rose Boyt has written a memoir, “Naked Portrait” inspired by the times she posed for three paintings for her father. “Dad was certainly confusing,” she told The Observer with some understatement.

New York: Jenny Holzer has updated her text-based installation at the Guggenheim, 35 years after the work's debut.This time the texts are enhanced by AI and other digital effects. Opeing today, May 17, her solo show runs until September 29.

Jenny Holzer, Installation For The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1989/2024. Copyright Jenny Holzer/Artists Rights Society (Ars), New York/Photo Ariel Ione Williams And David Heald, Copyright Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York