48 | MAY/JUN 2017 | ISSUE 103
colored Figure (2014) intertwines
variously weighted lines, serving
as an abstraction of the human
form, sold for USD 162,500,
making it into the top ten lots of
the sale. Overall, this sale totaled
USD 8 million, down by one-third
from last year’s USD 12 million
tally, during its two modern and
contemporary art sales at Christie’s
Dubai, which celebrated the
company’s ten years in the emirate.
Auctions remain active in East
Asia, with buyers in China fueling
high bids. There was a frenzy of
art events on the roster in Hong
Kong to coincide with Art Basel
Hong Kong. On March 23, Christie’s
jumped at the chance to catch new
collectors in town by presenting
its “First Open” 90-lot sale, which
offered a curated selection of both
Western and Asian art at affordableprices (estimates ranged from
USD 390 to 389,000). Despite
the vague, practically nonexistent
curatorial direction, there were
works by the usual suspects, such
as modernists Chu Teh-Chun, Mai
Trung Thu and Sanyu, along with
contemporary stalwarts such as
Yayoi Kusama, Yoshitomo Nara and
Ronald Ventura. It was refreshing
to see new names in the auction
circuit, including young French
artist Margaux Helleu, whose
black-and-white photograph taken
in Hong Kong’s Central district
last year sold for USD 1,300. A
photograph by Malaysian artist
Yee I-Lann went for USD 6,465,
edging toward its high estimate.
Hong Kong artist Lee Kit, whose
Hand Painted Cloth Used as Flag
(2004), comprising a photograph
and a piece of the artist’s signatureANDY WARHOL
MAO
1973
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 127 x 106.6 cm.
Courtesy Sotheby’s Hong Kong.KOOROSH SHISHEGARAN
FIGURE
2014
Acrylic on canvas, 160 x 200 cm.
Courtesy Christie’s Images, Ltd., 2017.
From 1879 to 1884, van Ruith lived
in Bombay and established a studio
there. He would often depict local
people in their various trades. In
A Brahmin Household, van Ruith
paints a family inside their home,
portraying them at leisure. Though
estimated between USD 40,000
and 60,000, the work attained a
hammer price of USD 384,500.
In Dubai, and held in conjunction
with Dubai Art Week (3/13–18),
Christie’s conducted an auction
series with sales in modern and
contemporary Middle Eastern art
and luxury watches. This series
of March auctions pulled in
USD 13.4 million. In its Modern
and Contemporary Middle Eastern
sale on March 18, the highest
price paid was for Egyptian artist
Mahmoud Saïd’s 1949 landscape
painting of sail boats docking
amid a backdrop of pyramids. The
work sold for USD 685,500, nearly
tripling its presale estimate. The
event concluded with new auction
records set for 18 artists, including
contemporary Lebanese painter
Marwan Sahmarani and senior
Iranian abstract artist Koorosh
Shishegaran, whose vibrantly