Bonhams’ Greek Art Sale Earns 2.4 Million Euro

 

 

The British auction house Bonhams seems to be withstanding the pressure and holding onto its market share, despite the crisis.

The first Greek sale in the London auction managed to find buyers for 71 percent of the lots. Turnover came to 2.4 million euros, up from 1.9 million at last spring’s auction of Greek art.

The top lot of the auction was  a “young Greek soldier” by Yiannis Tsarouchis (1910-1989). This piece shows the artistic identity of the great Greek painter. It was sold at 183,000 euros — four times the amount it was originally estimated at.

The second art work was “City on a hill” by Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas (1906-1994). The Greek painter highlighted the usage of geometric forms and juxtapositions of Greek landscape — from his mature artistic period in the ’60s. This piece was auctioned for 175,800 euros.

The third best seller was the piece “Ulysses Brings Iphigenia, the Daughter of Agamemnon, to the High Priest Kalhas for Her to Be Sacrificed to the God Apollo” by Theofilos Hadjimichail (1867-1934). It consists of a leading artistic sample of the favorite subject of a Greek painter who fused iconographic and linguistic symbols, in a uniform and living Greek myth. This piece was purchased for 161,000 euros.

Another piece by Tsarouchis, his marvelous “Erotokritos,” was the big surprise of the Greek Sale, as it sold for eight times its original estimate, at 121,080 euros.

The top five list is completed with the masterpiece “The Boat” by Nikos Hadjikiriakos-Ghika (1906-1994) which belonged to the collection of the prominent art critic and Ghika’s close friend E. Teriade (Stratis Eleftheriadis). The final price reached 118, 200 euros.

Meanwhile, the head of Art Expertise, Terpsichore Angelopoulos was pleased with the final results and trends as she discerned a possible recovery of the art market.

During November, the French auction house Piasa, also held a Greek art auction in two installments. The first auction held on November 18, was a sale of furniture and sculpture by Philolaos (1923-2010), which fetched a total of 570,000 euros (including commission). On November 26, the second one was the Greek Sale which had a total turnover of 117,000 euros. Piasa refers to the majority of buyers who are mainly French and not Greeks.