Christie's London Sales Set 9 New Records During London Frieze Week

Last week during London Frieze Week, Christie’s 20th/21st Century Evening Sales totalled £96.5 million and set nine auction records for modern and contemporary artists. Chrome Productions once again partnered with the team at Christie’s to livestream the auction, bringing the energy, buzz, and excitement of the salesroom directly to viewers around the world.

Of the evening’s success, Giovanna Bertazzoni, vice chairman, 20th/21st Century Art, remarked, “London has always played a pivotal role in galvanising the global art community, bringing together the creative minds who have shaped the cultural impact and legacy of this unique city. As we marked 20 years of Frieze London, Christie’s convened collectors from across the globe to our saleroom, with spirited bidding on works that spanned antiquities to contemporary art. Our sales were strategically put together to reflect the breadth and diversity of the London market.”

Christie’s successful curatorial strategy paid off: new auction records were set for artists as disparate as modern painter Félix Vallotton and the late art world darling Paula Rego, whose 2021 retrospective at the Tate marked the most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work to date. The sale was led by New York City graffiti icon Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose Future Sciences Versus the Man achieved £10.4 million.

Following the 20th/21st Century Art Evening sale, Christie's offered works from a single-owner collection: Masterpieces from the Collection of Sam Josefowitz: A Lifetime of Discovery and Scholarship. The sale's undisputed highlight was Kees van Dongen's 1918 masterpiece, La Quiétude, which sparked an intense eight-minute bidding war before selling for a jaw-dropping £10.7 million.

Having live-streamed several of Christie’s marquee actions before, Chrome was no stranger to capturing the fast-paced action with a dynamic mix of camera technology and production design, enabling them to showcase the energy of the auction and engage the audiences watching digitally.

Chrome created a stunning array of vignettes which filled the room with colourful artwork details, bringing the stunning works to life. Combined with a bespoke package of graphics and VTs and an array of dynamic cameras to cover the furious bidding, the auction felt akin to a refined broadcast.

Chrome’s in-house team of creatives, producers, editors, and post-producers drew on their knowledge of and relationship with Christie’s and their team to kick-off their exciting line-up of fall auctions. London successfully wrapped, the team at Chrome now look ahead to the November sale in New York!