the art collectors

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

It’s Hirstory

Image: Steve Forrest for The New York Times

Excuse the questionable title…Following months of equal parts anticipation and speculation, the results are in on Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, Damien Hirst’s unprecedented auction at Sotheby’s, London. While many forewarned weak results, others hoped the market could somehow insulate itself from a deepening recession and the past week’s global economic crisis.

Recent announcements of the near bankruptcy of financial service provider, Lehman Brothers, the government bailout of AIG, and the impending collapse of mortgage corporations, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac (both are under federal control), have certainly shaken confidence in an already uncertain art market. A Sept. 12th Bloomberg report cited last weeks’ 9% drop in Sotheby’s stock and 40% drop in shares over the past year as a sign of things to come, going as far as quoting one dealer who said, “it’s very simple, Damien Hirst will fail.”

Not all observers were skeptical. According to The New York Sun, art market research company ArtTactic’s poll of 51 market insiders concluded the auction would fare well and close within Sotheby’s published estimates.The report can be viewed in more detail here

When the final hammer dropped on Tuesday afternoon, the 223 lots on the block had grossed a total of $198 million USD (£111.7 million), breaking initial auction house estimates of $116.5 million USD (£65 million), and yielding sales more than 40% higher than anticipated. Some of the biggest successes of the two day sale were Hirst’s spin and butterfly paintings (both of which the artist has announced he will stop producing), and several formaldehyde encased animals, including a tiger shark entitled The Kingdom, which sold for $17,115,756 USD (£9,561,250), shattering its high estimate of $10.885,573 USD  (£6 million). However, not all pieces fared as strongly, with some even going unsold or below estimate.

Reporting on the auction’s strong results, The New York Times quoted Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, who stated, “Damien Hirst is a global artist who can defy local economies,” and Hirst’s personal business manager, Frank Dunphy, who said, “I woke up this morning in the teeth of the gale of recession, but we came out as confident as ever.”  While Hirst may have defied the odds of a gloomy economic climate and re-solidified his position as a global art juggernaut, time will tell if these astounding results will transfer into a larger resurgence of art buyer confidence.

Read on for detailed results and auction highlights.

The Golden Calf (Hirst not included), Hammer Price: $18,715,034 (£10,345,250)
Estimate: $14,475,209-21,712,814 USD (£8-12 million)

The Kingdom, Hammer Price: $17,115,756 USD (£9,561,250)
Estimate $7,258,044-10.885,573 USD (£4-6 million)

The Broken Dream, Hammer Price: $916,776 USD (£505,250)
Estimate: $1,088,671 USD-$1,451,562 (£600,000-800,000)

Psalm 9: Confitebor Tibi, Hammer Price: $219,946 (£121,250)
Estimate: $108,859-145,145 USD (£60,000-80,000)

Beautiful Sekhmet Premonition Intense Painting (With Extra Inner Beauty
Hammer Price: $459,902 USD (£253,250), Estimate: $272,376-363,168 USD (£150,000-200,000)

Beautiful Black Hole, Time Warp, Retina Burst, Shit That’s Hot Painting
Hammer Price: $288,850 USD (£157,250), Estimate: $99,127-138,778 USD (£50,000-70,000)

Tetrachloroauric Acid, Hammer Price: $1,413,023 USD (£769.250)
Estimate: $793,021-1,189,532 (£400,00-600,000)

View more auction results at Artnet

Hirst with Golden Calf image via DailyLife/Reuters. All other images via Sothebys/Artnet.