Led by Hockney and Brown, Phillips auction raises $7 million for Ukraine
Phillips auction March 2022 - Haydon Perrior - Thomas De Cruz Media
Two works by David Hockney and Cecily Brown were the highlights of Phillips' auction of modern and contemporary art, with the auction house donating 100% of its commission to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Image © Haydon Perrior: Thomas De Cruz Media
"Self Portrait on the Terrace", a luminous Californian scene by David Hockney, which Phillips compares -indirectly and somewhat confusingly- to Pablo Picasso's "Les femmes d'Algers" series, sold for £4.86 million ($6.5 million), within its pre-sale estimate range. The second big star of the auction was "When Time Ran Out", a monumental abstraction painted in 2016 by Cecily Brown, which exceeded its pre-sale expectations by fetching £3.2 million ($4.25 million). Another abstraction by Brown, "Blithe Spirit" (1999), also exceeded expectations when it was auctioned for £845,000 ($1.1 million).
Shara Hughes. Jadé Fadojutimi. If you have been following our recent summaries of the modern and contemporary art auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's, these names will surely be familiar. Both artists again had spectacular results: "Crooked" by Shara Hughes, which had a pre-sale estimate of between £150,000 and £250,000, fetched £627,500, while "A Cropped Perspective of This Whirlwind Effect" and "My Blanket has a Possessive Nature" fetched £627,500 and £529,200, more than three times their most optimistic pre-sale estimates. Lauren Quin's "Airsickness", which had a pre-sale estimate of £30,000-50,000, sold for £441,000.
The auction also had some disappointment: an "Abstraktes Bild" by Gerhard Richter, valued at between £1.8 million and 2.5 million, failed to find a buyer. The work is clearly not among the most notable abstractions by Richter, one of the artists whose paintings appear most frequently on the market. Another disappointment was a work by another of the "old acquaintances" of contemporary art auctions, Banksy, whose "Laugh Now Monkeys with Monkey Placards" -with a pre-sale estimate of between £1.5 million and £2.5 million- also failed to find a buyer.
“The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is doing incredible work to support and protect people in the region”, said Stephen Brooks, Phillips Chief Executive Officer. “It is our hope that the £5.8 million of buyer’s premium and vendor’s commission from our Evening Sale will help this extraordinary charity as they continue their lifesaving mission.”

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