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Agence France-Presse

Jeff Koons’ Rabbit broke the record for the highest sum paid at auction for a work by a living artist this week in New York. That gives the artist two works in the top five. Here are the top five:
1. Jeff Koons: Rabbit 
The stainless steel casting of an inflatable rabbit fetched a record price for a living artist of US$91.1 million at Christie’s on Wednesday.
Created in 1986 and measuring 1.04 metres (41 inches) in height, it is among the best-known works of 64-year-old Koons.

The piece was auctioned from the collection of deceased publishing mogul S.I. Newhouse, whose empire included Condé Nast, which published magazines like Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair.
Christie’s in New York set the record for the most expensive work of art known to have been sold with the sale in 2017 of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi for US$450 million.

2. David Hockney: Portrait of an Artist 
The previous record was for David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), which fetched US$90.3 million at Christie’s in New York in 2018.
Completed in 1972, the colourful oil painting shows a smartly dressed man standing on the edge of the pool and looking pensively at another figure swimming under water toward him. Called by Christie’s “one of the great masterpieces of the modern era”, it was snapped up after more than nine minutes of bidding.

One of Hockney’s most celebrated works, it has featured on the cover of a number of monographs about the 81-year-old artist.
He was the top-selling living artist in 2018, with auction turnover for the year reaching US$206 million, according to Artprice, global specialists in art market data.
This is ahead of German Gerhard Richter (US$143 million) and Chinese Cui Ruzhuo (US$124 million).

3. Jeff Koons: Balloon Dog (Orange)
In 2013 another Koons sculpture, Balloon Dog (Orange) made history for the sale of a work by a living artist by fetching US$58.4 million at Christie’s, New York.
At three metres high, it is one of five different-coloured sculptures of dogs that appear to be made from balloons released over 1994 to 2000 and have become icons of contemporary art.
Auction sales of Koons’ work in 2018 amounted to US$38 million, according to Artprice, putting him at 14th in the ranking of living artists behind US painters George Condo (US$63 million) and Jasper Johns (US$58 million).

4. Gerhard Richter: Abstraktes Bild
The fourth most valuable work by a living artist is German painter Gerhard Richter’s oil-on-canvas Abstraktes Bild 599, which sold for US$46 million in 2015 at Sotheby’s in London.
The 87-year-old, one of the top abstract and photorealistic artists of his generation, had completed the work of bold strokes in 1986.
A large piece at roughly 300cm x 250cm, it sold in 1999 for US$607,500. In 2012 British guitarist Eric Clapton sold another piece in the “Abstraktes Bild” series for around US$34 million, more than 10 times what he paid for it in 2001.

5. Cui Ruzhuo: The Grand Snowing Mountains
This vast ink-on-paper by one of Chinese greatest artists, 75-year-old Cui Ruzhuo, sold for US$39.6 million at the Hong Kong Poly Auction in 2016.
Completed in 2013, the multi-panelled mountain scene measures more than 800cm x 300cm.


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Five most valuable works by living artists after Jeff Koons US$91m sculpture sets new auction record

US artist Jeff Koons with his work ‘Rabbit’, which sold this week at auction in New York for a record US$91 million. Photo: EPA

Embargoed until November 2, 2013 - 01:00 GMT / Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog (Orange)" is displayed October 31, 2013 at Christie's in New York. The mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating is part of Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale  scheduled for November 12, 2013.      AFP PHOTO/Don Emmert       "MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION" (Photo by DON EMMERT / AFP)

CUI RUZHUO The Grand Snowing Mountains

Balloon Dog (Orange), Jeff Koons

A woman looks at David Hockneys "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" during a press preview on September 13, 2018 at Christie's New York. - The painting is to be auctioned during Christie's November 2018 Evening Sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art. Christie's expects the painting to sell for 80 million USD, making the work the most valuable piece of art by a living artist ever sold at auction. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION

A 1986 "Rabbit" sculpture by American pop artist Jeff Koons is on display in this image released by Christie's auction in New York, U.S., May 16, 2019. Courtesy Christie's/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

Abstraktes Bild, Gerhard Richter

Monet oil painting sells for a record US$110.7 million at Sotheby’s auction

Meules, an oil on canvas painted in 1890, is part of Monet’s Haystacks series. Photo: Reuters

New king of gallerists brings his act to Hong Kong

David Zwirner is known for his love of challenging artists. Photo: handout

This handout image shows a artworks Sirtaki, 2016. by Michael Borremans. Oil on wood, 8 7/8 x 12 3/4 inches (22.5 x 32.4 cm). Photo / Courtesy the Michael Borremans and David Zwirner, New York/London [09MARCH2016 FEATURES ONLINE]

David Zwirner  Art gallery, staircase linking 2 levels of the gallery the interior space 5-6/F, H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong, February 22, 2018 [POST MAGAZINE CHARMAINE] CREDIT / Jonathan WONG

Jennifer Yum, David Zwirner, Leo Xu of David Zwirner Gallery

Artist Neo Rauch, one of Germany’s richest men, on his unsettling art and fall of the Berlin Wall

German artist Neo Rauch is currently showing 15 of his paintings at the David Zwirner gallery in Hong Kong.

Der Aufschneider, 2018 , by German artist Neo Rauch

German artist Neo Rauch in studio.

Propaganda, 2018., by German artist Neo Rauch

Lifestyle

Arts

American artist’s ‘Rabbit’, a stainless steel figure measuring just over a metre tall, was sold at Christie’s in New York this week, smashing auction estimates
Sale broke record set by David Hockney work just six months ago; another Koons work, Balloon Dog (Orange), is the third most valuable work by a living artist


American artist’s ‘Rabbit’, a stainless steel figure measuring just over a metre tall, smashed estimates when it sold for US$91 million this week. Another of his works is among the five most valuable by living artists.


Auctions