Home / Market reports / April 2018 Art auction market report: April 2018 In April 2018, ArtSell recorded 5,386 auction lots from 26 auction houses, of which 3,910 sold (73% sell-through). The 3,910 sales with a published price total $54,956,950, with a median of $3,190 (USD at the sale-date rate). The top sale was Jeffrey Smart, “The Observer II 1983-84”, at $1,486,846 (Menzies). 15 artists set a new high compared with every earlier result in the database.
Lots offered
5,386
26 houses
Sold
3,910
73% sell-through
Total
$55M
3,910 priced sales
Top sales # Work Artist House · date Price 1 The Observer II 1983-84 , 1983-84 Jeffrey Smart Menzies · Apr 26, 2018$1,486,846 (A$1,963,636) 2 NUMBERS ONE through ZERO , 1978-2003 Robert Indiana Phillips · Apr 24, 2018$915,000 3 Evening on Stony Plains 1978 , 1978 Russell Drysdale Menzies · Apr 26, 2018$743,423 (A$981,818) 4 'Mouton' , circa 1992 François-Xavier Lalanne Phillips · Apr 26, 2018$666,369 (£477,000) 5 Heart Attack City , 1972 Peter Beard Phillips · Apr 9, 2018$603,000 6 Pair of 'Têtes de Lionnes' armchairs, second version , conceived 1979, executed 1979-1981 Diego Giacometti Phillips · Apr 26, 2018$599,313 (£429,000) 7 State III , 2012 Antony Gormley Phillips · Apr 11, 2018$523,094 (£369,000) 8 Spotted Buffalo John Clymer Scottsdale Art Auction · Apr 7, 2018$468,000 9 The Victors Gerard Curtis Delano Scottsdale Art Auction · Apr 7, 2018$444,600 10 Solitude. The Coconino Forest, Arizona Thomas Moran Scottsdale Art Auction · Apr 7, 2018$438,750 11 Composizione di elementi di legno colorato e specchio, il tutto unito da funi di canapa, designed for Galleria Arform, Milan , 1959 Ettore Sottsass Phillips · Apr 26, 2018$431,673 (£309,000) 12 Bewegungsstudie (Movement Study) , 1924 Rudolf Koppitz Phillips · Apr 9, 2018$399,000 13 'Berceau' low table, first version , designed circa 1963, later cast Diego Giacometti Phillips · Apr 26, 2018$398,145 (£285,000) 14 'Toad' table , circa 1976 Diego Giacometti Phillips · Apr 26, 2018$381,381 (£273,000) 15 Important and rare low table, designed for the Contini Bonacossi residence, Quadreria Moderna, Villa Vittoria, Florence , 1927 Gio Ponti Phillips · Apr 26, 2018$364,617 (£261,000)
Top American artists Ranked by total of priced sales in the month; region from the artist’s recorded nationality.
Top American artists, April 2018 # Artist Total sold Priced sales Top result 1 Robert Indiana American
$928,500 3 NUMBERS ONE through ZERO — $915,0002 Andy Warhol American
$850,861 21 Marilyn — $137,5003 Peter Beard American
$836,750 7 Heart Attack City — $603,0004 Roy Lichtenstein American
$795,250 15 Reverie, from 11 Pop Artists, Volume II — $181,2505 John Clymer American
$702,000 2 Spotted Buffalo — $468,0006 Charles Marion Russell American
$637,650 3 Indian On Horseback — $321,7507 Gerard Curtis Delano American
$533,520 3 The Victors — $444,6008 Thomas Moran American
$479,700 2 Solitude. The Coconino Forest, Arizona — $438,7509 Joseph Henry Sharp American
$469,430 6 The Artist in the Studio Mirror — $204,75010 William Wendt American
$347,500 3 Houses Along the Coast — $250,000
Top European artists Top European artists, April 2018 # Artist Total sold Priced sales Top result 1 Diego Giacometti Swiss
$1,378,839 3 Pair of 'Têtes de Lionnes' armchairs, second version — $599,3132 Ettore Sottsass Italian
$963,155 21 Composizione di elementi di legno colorato e specchio, il tutto unito da funi di canapa, designed for Galleria Arform, Milan — $431,6733 Gio Ponti Italian
$891,441 12 Important and rare low table, designed for the Contini Bonacossi residence, Quadreria Moderna, Villa Vittoria, Florence — $364,6174 François-Xavier Lalanne French
$727,488 2 'Mouton' — $666,3695 Pablo Picasso Spanish
$718,975 29 Large corrida bird (Gros oiseau corrida) — $137,5006 Antony Gormley British
$620,554 2 State III — $523,0947 Rudolf Koppitz Austrian
$410,250 2 Bewegungsstudie (Movement Study) — $399,0008 Andreas Gursky German
$331,250 1 EM, Arena, Amsterdam I — $331,2509 Jean-Michel Frank French
$314,325 5 Unique canapé and pair of armchairs, designed for Robert Chevalier, Épinal — $122,23810 David Hockney British
$250,750 8 Walking Past Two Chairs, from Moving Focus Series — $93,750
New artist records The artist’s best price this month exceeded every earlier priced result for them in the ArtSell database (artists with at least three earlier priced results).
Artist Work Price Previous high Jeffrey Smart The Observer II 1983-84 Menzies $1,486,846 $981,885 (114 earlier) Robert Indiana NUMBERS ONE through ZERO Phillips $915,000 $485,000 (141 earlier) François-Xavier Lalanne 'Mouton' Phillips $666,369 $413,000 (17 earlier) Peter Beard Heart Attack City Phillips $603,000 $217,838 (82 earlier) Antony Gormley State III Phillips $523,094 $509,952 (30 earlier) Ettore Sottsass Composizione di elementi di legno colorato e specchio, il tutto unito da funi di canapa, designed for Galleria Arform, Milan Phillips $431,673 $92,222 (171 earlier) Rudolf Koppitz Bewegungsstudie (Movement Study) Phillips $399,000 $23,391 (3 earlier) Gio Ponti Important and rare low table, designed for the Contini Bonacossi residence, Quadreria Moderna, Villa Vittoria, Florence Phillips $364,617 $297,254 (293 earlier) Wendell Castle Unique three-seater sofa Phillips $314,325 $161,163 (31 earlier) Pierre Jeanneret Set of ten 'Committee' armchairs, model no. PJ-SI-30-A, designed for the High Court, the Assembly and Punjab University administrative buildings, Chandigarh Phillips $279,400 $237,500 (104 earlier) Judy Kensley McKie 'Leopard Couch' Phillips $209,550 $31,250 (3 earlier) Elioth Gruner On the Sands 1920 Menzies $204,441 $191,723 (27 earlier) G. Harvey Rocky Mountain Cowhands Scottsdale Art Auction $198,900 $128,700 (12 earlier) Robert Capa Death of a Loyalist Soldier Phillips $162,500 $16,252 (13 earlier) John Coleman Four Bears Scottsdale Art Auction $157,950 $21,060 (9 earlier)
Auction houses this month Phillips (1,054) Bonhams (533) Twents Veilinghuis (430) Scottsdale Art Auction (389) León Gallery (301) Pananti (290) Lempertz (250) im Kinsky (244) Wright (237) Levis Fine Art Auctions (210) Sloans & Kenyon (161) Artmark (148) Morgan O'Driscoll (139) deVeres (137) Menzies (134) Van Ham (101) Clarke Auction Gallery (95) Sopocki Dom Aukcyjny (87) Jackson's International Auctioneers (86) Art+Object (82) Toovey's (70) Agra-Art (57) Smith & Singer (56) Bolsa de Arte (50) HAUS Galerii (38) Leonard Joel (7)