Expectations were high for yesterday’s London sale of the Evill/Frost collection, which Sotheby’s had called “the most prestigious group of 20th Century British Art ever to come to auction.” The results made estimates seem modest. The auction record for a painting by Sir Stanley Spencer fell twice, first by “Workmen in the House,” which sold for $7.6m, then by “Sunflower and Dog Worship,” which soared to $8.7m, more than double what Sotheby’s expected.
The two works carried high estimates of $4.1m. In all, seven Spencer works were sold at the auction, for a total of $37m. The previous auction record for one of Spencer’s works was the $2.3m paid last December at Sotheby’s for “Hilda and I at Pond Street.” Lucien Freud’s “Boat on a Beach,” which had carried an estimate of just $998,000, scored another world record at yesterday’s sale when it realized $4.2m, a new high for one of his works on paper. Every lot sold at the auction, which brought in $60.5m, more than doubling estimates. Sessions two and three of the sale continue today.
Read more at BBC.
