The 2017 Sotheby's Spring Auction was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center from April 1-5th. The show introduced a variety of important Western Contemporary art on its first night of auction, revealing a change in previous patterns at market, a bright success.
The auction had a turnover of 574 million HK dollars (2.228 billion NT) on the evening of April 2nd, which significantly exceeded the previous estimates. The top selling piece at auction was Andy Warhol's "Chairman Mao" (Note 1) at 98.5 million HK dollars (385 million NT), sold to Asian collectors. Basquiat's "Water Worshipper" (Note 2) was also sold at auction for 42 million HK dollars (165 million NT).
Xiao Qin participated in this auction for the first time, auctioning off his work "Light of the 16" for 2.5 million HK dollars (NT 970,000) to European collectors. Zao Wou-Ki sold five important works "< 17.07.67 > for an approximate total of 40 million HK dollars (165 million NT). Lang Jing Shan's early photographs "Light Painting" and "Eastern Painting". Other artitsts Huo Gang, Xia Yang, Xiao Qin, Lin Yuanjia all did very well, but it was Lang Jing Shan that broke the world record. Surprisingly, well-known Chinese contemporary artist Zhang Xiaogang's work "Blood Mother and First Son" did not do well at auction.
On the third day at the Hong Kong Auction, the pieces to fetch the top three prices were all works by Yayoi Kusama. Southeast Asian photography collectors continue to expand their collections, with Asian countries participating really actively in this auction. The highest the highest transaction price from Ding Xiongquan's phot "Summer", at 2 million, with Le Pho's "Family life" breaking his personal record at auction, priced at 9 million HK dollars.
Looking at the complete auction results, the highest transaction price was a Ming Dynasty bowl belonging to the Xuande Emperor, a large porcelain blue and white fish-patterned piece, fetching 229 million HK dollars (8.93 million NT), sold to the Shanghai Long Art Museum. This year, contemporary East and Southeast Asian art photography had a far greater turnover rate, and at higher prices than previous years. The turnover rate this year was over 90%, which makes it seem as though the market is coming up, but the results of a single spring auction are not enough to determine the patterns of the overall market. At the very least though, this auction shows that the Asian art market has an increasingly international appeal, with Chinese paintings, traditional ink paintings, and antiques fetching high and continually rising prices at auction.
[1] "Mao" by Andy Warhol in 1973, an important work from his 1970s style transition
[Note 2] "Water Worshipper" Basquiat's work, with visible influences from Andy Warhal, his only use of screen-printing on plywood