Six artist records at Christie's Italian Sales as Italian postwar art booms

Christie's Italian Sales on October 16 achieved £27 million, exceeding the £22 million low estimate, with six new artist records. Alighiero Boetti's Colonna was the top lot at over €3 million. Other records: Agostino Bonalumi at €461,000, Piero Dorazio at €346,000, Carla Accardi at €212,000, Marina Apollonio at €115,000, and Nanda Vigo at €65,000. Paolo Scheggi also performed well, exceeding £300,000. Mariolina Bassetti, President of Christie's Italia, attributed the results to a healthy gradual growth in the Italian postwar art market. Earlier in Frieze Week, Phillips held its first evening sale at its new Berkeley Square location on October 15, achieving £14.8 million (below estimate) with 80% sold by lot and 77% by value. Top lot was Christopher Wool's Untitled (1990) at £2 million, followed by Tauba Auerbach (record at £1.1 million) and Jeff Koons's Jim Beam – Observation Car (1986) at £962,500. Other records at Phillips: Danh Vo's We The People (2011) at £206,500 and KAWS's Accomplice (2010) at £266,500. Christie's had opened the week on October 13 with the Essl collection sale, totaling £46.9 million for 43 works (91% sold). Sigmar Polke works led at £16.2 million. Anthony Gormley's Aggregate (2004) sold for £1.2 million (estimate £150,000-200,000), and Maria Lassnig's Zwei Maler, drei Leinwände (1986) achieved £182,500, her second-highest auction price. Records were set for Bernd & Hilla Becher and a Georg Baselitz sculpture.