ChineseArts

Christie's Hong Kong: One Bidder, $146 Million In One Year

One bidder spent more than $146 million this year and dropped a boatload of cash at the Christie's Hong Kong art auction on Monday, pushing prices higher and smashing records. Wang Wei, with her husband, investor Liu Yiqian, ranks 176th among the wealthiest in China, with a net worth of $740 million ... and she wouldn't say how much she's spent on art this year.

Wang waved Paddle 960 aggressively on Monday, sometimes tossing bids up HK$1 million at a time to distance herself from competitors for particular pieces. A few times, she didn't bother lowering her paddle, instead just holding it up until her rivals quit.

At Sotheby's Hong Kong in October, Wang's husband shelled out $11 million for a Qing Dynasty imperial throne, complete with carved dragons, setting a record. And, this month, he payd $25 million for a Ming Dynasty scroll by Wu Bin at Beijing's Poly auction -- it was the most paid for a Chinese painting.

At Monday's Christie's sale, HK$126.7 million in art sold, and the house wouldn't reveal how much of it went to Wang. Speaking for herself, the collector reveals why she made the purchases she did. According to Bloomberg News: "I just bought those for fun."

[Photo courtesy of Christie's]

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Presale Estimates Thrashed at Sotheby's Hong Kong

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

What a difference a year makes!

Buyers brought their wallets to the Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong Monday, shelling out plenty of cash for pieces by Chinese masters. Sanyu's "Lotus et Poissons Rouge" fetched $4.7 million – beating the presale estimate soundly. But, the price was still considered low for Sanyu. In fact, the success of the auction is tainted by the fact that estimates aren't reflective of past sales levels. A painting by abstract artist Zao Wou-ki pulled in $2 million for the house.

Of course, there was plenty of optimism, fostered by both the performance relative to estimates and a burning desire to be out of the art market slump. Hua Yuzhou, who owns a gallery in Shanghai, says in Bloomberg News, "Give it a few months and these pieces may run beyond our reach again."

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Hong Kong Art Auction: A Year after the Crash

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Hong Kong will come to life with the sound of a gavel on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. Sotheby's will be holding its Modern and Contemporary Asian Art auction, which will consist of three sessions: 20th Century Chinese Art, Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings and Contemporary Asian Art. More than 380 works by Asian artists will come to auction, and the house expects close to $25 million in sales. Beyond bringing some new cash into Sotheby's, the auction is likely to give a sign as to the strength of the market, particularly with the November sales following shortly. Christie's will be holding its Hong Kong auctions on November 29 and 30.

In a sense, this is the one-year point for the art auction market. It was a year ago – in Hong Kong – that the world saw the effects of the financial crisis unfold in the art market. So, this bit of trivia will be front-of-mind as bidders make tough decisions on which pieces to acquire.

Sotheby's is betting big on the Contemporary Asian Art category, hoping that 190 lots will bring in $12.5 million in sales. High-profile artists are represented, including Guogiang Cai, Minjn Yue and Zhengjie Feng. There will be 130 lots in the Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings auction, including I Nyoman Masriadi's The man from Bantul, The Monster, which is estimated at $100,000. The 20th Century Chinese Art category has a mix of safe and speculative pieces.

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Arteamericas Results: Shorter Distance to Crash

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

When you're close to the floor, you don't have far to fall.

That was the sentiment at the seventh Arteamericas event, which ran from March 27 – 30 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. This year, the fair drew 52 exhibitors, down from 70 last year. Collectors and dealers alike see this as positive in a generally harsh art market.

The Latin American art space, which is the focus of Arteamericas, did not grow as aggressively as the Chinese art sector, which has protected collectors. Since prices did not rise to absurd proportions (by art market standards, at least), the art crash of 2008 and 2009 won't impact these collectors as severely. Sitting on the panel, "Latin American Art in Today's Global and Local Art Markets," Vivian Pfeiffer, a regional director for Christie's in South Florida, said, "We don't have that much distance to crash." Further, collectors of Latin American art tend to be unwilling to sell their holdings even when times are tough.

The largest sale at the event was the 1945 painting Sorcerer, by René Portocarrero of Cuba. It fetched $135,000 on the first night of the event. Another Portocarrero, Woman with Birds (1982) sold for $40,000.

[Photo: "The Smoker" by Julio Aguilera"]

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