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| Chairman of contemporary art in Europe for Sotheby’s, Cheyenne Westphal, speaking about the important pieces in the upcoming sale, including this work by Cindy Sherman. PICTURES: Jayan Orma |
Sotheby’s has brought a selection of the best pieces from its upcoming contemporary art sale in London to Doha, offering art enthusiasts and potential buyers the opportunity to view some of these beautiful works of art in person.
This is the most valuable collection of contemporary art to be displayed by Sotheby’s here, with an estimated pre-sale value of more than £25mn, an indication of the growing local interest in modern pieces.
The world famous auctioneers have been bringing various exhibitions to Doha for a number of years as more buyers emerge in a market where art and culture have been come to the fore.
The current preview exhibition contains nearly 15 pieces, representing a cross section of the sale with a wide variety of work on display, before the auction set to take place in London on February 15-16.
All of the pieces were created in the 20th century, with the earliest, a Lucien Freud drawing called the ‘Cacti and Stuffed Bird’ and the most recent, the exuberant ‘Open Your Hands Wide, Embrace Happiness’ by Takashi Murakami, who is set to stage his own exhibition in Qatar next month.
The cover lot of the sale, the Jean-Michel Basquiat piece entitled ‘Orange Sports Figure’ which is estimated to sell at between £3mn and £4mn is also in Doha, as are a number of pieces by Gerhard Richter, whose work is particularly popular at the moment, with a sale in 2011 seeing the price record for his work broken twice.
Gulf Times spoke to Sotheby’s chairman of contemporary art in Europe, Cheyenne Westphal, about the pieces in the sale and the developing market here in Qatar.
“We are delighted to be returning to Doha with such a qualitative selection of contemporary art, which we will offer for sale in our February Evening Auction of Contemporary Art,” Westphal said.
“Sotheby’s is also extremely grateful to the Katara Cultural Village in Doha for allowing us to use their exquisite space in the Katara Art Centre to showcase these extraordinary artworks.
“In addition to four masterpieces by Gerhard Richter, the exhibition also features a rare Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, two pencil drawings by Lucian Freud, an urban London painting by Leon Kossoff, and other outstanding works by Alighiero Boetti, Alberto Burri and Cindy Sherman.
“These pieces have come from New York before they go on display in London, and they go nowhere else, so Doha is part of a very important tour,” she said, noting “we have seen developing interest in the local market and we hope that continues to grow.”
She explained that many serious art collectors are emerging from this part of the world, and that contemporary art has been the mainstay of Sotheby’s sales in recent years. While the economic downturn around the world saw a dip in sales in 2009, last year was a record breaking year for Sotheby’s, and Westphal is hopeful that this success will continue.
Qatar has been attracting a great deal of attention in the art world after enthusiasts here purchased high quality pieces from sales all over the world to add to their private collections.
Modern art has also seen a recent upsurge of interest here following the establishment of Mathaf, the Arab Museum of Modern Art.
For anyone interested in learning more about this genre of art, the Sotheby’s collection provides an interesting insight into contemporary art from some of its greatest exponents, and having such an exhibition in the art centre makes the space feel like a museum, with such a high quality works on display.
The exhibition is open today and tomorrow from 10am until 10pm.