A painting by Clyfford Still will lead the Contemporary art sales of Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Still’s PH-568 (1965) will be offered on April 19 alongside works by other Western artists, including Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, Gerhard Richter, and Adrian Ghenie. It is expected to fetch a price of $13.5 million–$18.7 million.
The painting was purchased when Still was leaving New York, where he made most of his famous works, and the painting was exhibited at the storied Marlborough-Gerson Gallery in 1969. The work is now coming to auction from the holdings of J. Landis Martin, a Colorado-based philanthropist and founder of Platte River Equity.
Alongside this, Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections on Thud! (1990) is making its debut at the Hong Kong contemporary art sale. The painting depicts a fallen dinosaur using a comic-book aesthetic. The current owner of the painting purchased it through Lichtenstein’s dealer Leo Castelli and it has been privately held since 1990. It is expected to sell for $10 million–$13.9 million.
Gerhard Richter’s 1985 abstraction Schwefel (Sulphur) is estimated at $10.3 million-$12.9 million, and there will also be works by Chinese contemporary artists on offer—Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline: Mother and Son No.1 (1993) and Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask Series No. 18 (1994) are expected to fetch a collected $4.7 million.