Sotheby’s Autumn sale of Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Paintings in Honk Kong, totaled of HK$78 million / US$10 million (high estimate: HK$45 million / US$5.7 million*), the highest sale total for a various owners sale in this category at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Today’s sale provoked active participation in the room and over the phone. There was particularly strong interest in top-end Southeast Asian contemporary paintings, which led to two auction records set for two artists – S. Sudjojono, Father of Indonesian Modernism, and Filipino artist Ronald Ventura.
S. Sudjojono A New Dawn. Photo: Sotheby’s
S. Sudjojono’s A New Dawn sold for HK$10.7 million / US$1.4 million (high estimate: HK$2.5 million / US$322,000*) to a phone bidder after a few minutes of intense competition. Ronald Ventura’s contemporary work – Natural-Lies – spurred over 30 furious bids from not less than 5 bidders and eventually fetched HK$2.5 million / US$326,000, over nine times its high estimate (HK$280,000 / US$36,100*). The majority of the works in today’s sale fetched multiple times their pre-sale estimates.
MOK Kim Chuan, Sotheby’s Head of Southeast Asian Paintings, commented: “Top end Contemporary works fetched strong prices today with many pieces bringing multiples of their pre-sale high estimates. Among Modern works, the supreme highlight was the S. Sudjojono, a museum-quality example of the artist’s work which spurred a fierce bidding battle among nine bidders before selling for HK$10.7 million, a price which was four times the top estimate and set a record for the artist at auction. These results confirm the strategy of using conservative estimates to attract competition and let the market set the price level.”
The sale of 20th Century Chinese Art and Contemporary Asian Art continue in the afternoon.
* Estimates do not include buyer’s premium
