The second part of Sotheby’s two-part sale of works from the collection of public art duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude, finished online. Comprising of 373 lots, the latter half of the sale raked in an additional $1.4 million in sales, bringing the entire auction’s total to $11.2 million.
The second segment of the collection sale, titled “Unwrapped, Part II: The Hidden World of Christo and Jeanne-Claude,” which took place online from February 8–18, saw 345 works. Holzer’s undated cast aluminum block You Live the Surprise Results of Old Plans was one of the top performers in the grouping of the online sale. It was sold for €63,000 ($76,200) which was more than 10 times its estimate of €5,000. video art pioneer Nam June Paik’s Before the world there was light, after the world there will be light (1992), a vintage TV casing with a lit candle inside, saw strong bidding move its final premium price up to €56,700 ($68,400).
1992 SOTHEBY’S
An untitled work by Keith Haring depicting the artist’s signature haloed cartoon infant was sold for €56,700 ($68,400).Though works by Haring are pervasive in the secondary market, this piece, having come to auction for the first time with only two prominent owners (the first being German designer Jörg Schellmann), saw the work exceed its estimate of €8,000 seven times over.
A 1975 edition of Man Ray’s readymade Object indestructible, a metronome with a ticker featuring an image of his muse Lee Miller’s eye, sold for €47,880 ($57,800), against an estimate of €7,000. Pyramids I, a painting from an Egyptian-born artist and critic Nicolas Moufarrege, which is made with fabric patterns and paint was acquired by Christo and Jeanne-Claude acquired directly from Moufarrege was sold for r €44,100 ($53,200), 29 times the estimate of €1,500.