Sotheby breaks 15-year hiatus in SG with $24.5m sale

Tierfable (Animal fable) by Spies was the top-selling piece during the live auction, selling for $4m.

Sotheby marked its return to Southeast Asia’s art capital with a record-breaking $24.5m (US$18m) sale.

The fine arts company said the sale of its August live auction –- the first in 15 years –- was its highest total for any sale it held in the city-state. The total sale from the live auction was also higher than the pre-sale projection of $18m (US$13m). 

Tierfable (Animal fable) by Spies was the top-selling piece during the live auction, selling for $4m.

The August sale was also monumental for Singaporean Modern Art pioneer Georgette Chen and Luxembourgish artist Michel Majerus who broke new world auction records.

Chen’s Boats and shophouses, oil on canvas from circa 1960, fetched $2m (US$1.4 million) –- the highest price ever achieved at auction for one of the foremost artists of the Nanyang art movement. 

Sotheby’s also set a new record when o.T. (collaboration Nr. 8) by Majerus sold for $1.1 million (US$790,000).

Other artists featured during the auction were Lê Phổ, Hendra Gunawan, Fernando Amorsolo, Chu Teh-Chun, and Rafa Macarrón. 

Meanwhile, the auction also achieved a sell-through rate of 94%, with 47 out of 50 lots sold. 
 According to Sotheby, more than half of their bidders came from SEA, 

“Singapore’s art landscape is thriving like never before, with the recent auction as proof that the city has become a centre not only for Southeast Asia but also for modern and contemporary art around the world,” Sotheby said.