Simon de Pury’s Bold New Auction Venture
Veteran dealer and auctioneer Simon de Pury’s latest project was a bona fide success, based on today’s online auction, in which all 16 of the lots offered all by women artists and created in the last two and a half years were sold. The hammer total was $704,500 compared with expectations of least $568,500 to $787,500.
After kicking off “Women: Art in Times of Chaos,” as a virtual exhibition earlier this month, with works by artists including Alexis McGrigg, Chloe Wise, and Allison Zuckerman, today’s live auction marked the culmination of the initiative.
An animated, talking avatar of de Pury himself helmed the sale, kicking it off by saying: “Hello, I am not saying good-evening or good-morning as we have art lovers following this sale from all over the world. Welcome to the auction! Now let’s get started.”
De Pury went on to sell all the works by “16 female artists that I admire very much,” known in auction parlance as a “white-glove” sale. Ten new records were set, albeit in some cases for up-and-coming artists with short track records.
And since pre-auction bidding was allowed, some works were already spoken for by the time the live action kicked off today, such one by the sought-after Irish artist Genieve Figgis. Her painting Dreaming of Spring with Birds (2022), sold for $170,000, far higher than the estimated $70,000 to $100,000. That was the highest price of the sale.
Meanwhile, In Full Bloom (2022), by Phyllis Stevens, sold for $80,000, missing the low estimate of $100,000, and Pieno di vuoto (2020), by Minjung Kim, sold for $85,000, clearing the low end of its $80,000 to $120,000 estimate.
Other works by buzzy artist names hovered near their low estimates, such as Allison Zuckerman’s Chaos Reigns (2022), which sold for $70,000, and Feelings For You (2022) by Chloe Wise, which sold for $47,500.
The list of artist auction records included the aforementioned results for Kim and Stephens, along with Andrea Marie Breiling ($50,000); Haley Josephs ($25,000); Alexis McGrigg ($25,000); Thandiwe Muriu ($15,000); Shelby Seu $14,000; Daisy Sheff ($6,000); Thu Van Tran ($20,000); and Amanda Wall ($42,500).
