Written by: Zhao Zhihan Ryan Chiu
With just one month to go before the Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Sotheby's has finally unveiled its ace in the contemporary art section.
Abstraktes Bild (649-2), a masterpiece by German abstract master Gerhard Richter from the 1980s, will be unveiled at the evening sale of contemporary art on October 6 and will be valued at HK$120 million - 140 million. Once successfully sold, the painting will become the most expensive Western artwork in the history of Asian auctions.
▲ German abstract master Richter
Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild (649-2)
Oil on canvas
Created in: 1987
Size: 200 x 200 cm
Estimate: HK$120,000,000 - 140,000,000
Among the living contemporary art masters, Richter (also translated as Richter) is among the top in terms of status, fame and value.
The German is known for his "abstract paintings" and "photographic paintings". The auction records of the two series were written at Sotheby's in 2015 and 2013 respectively:
Abstract Painting | Abstract Painting, 300.5 x 250.5 cm, Sotheby's London, £30,389,000 (about HK$364 million)
Photo painting| Piazza del Duomo, 275 x 290 cm, Sotheby's, New York, US$37,125,000 (approx. HK$289 million)
Abstract Painting changed hands for £30.38 million that year, writing a "record for the sale of living European artists". To this day, "Abstract Painting" and "Piazza del Duomo" still occupy the fourth and fifth places in the "Living Artists" list, after Jeff Koons, the "King of Pop Art", and David Hockney, the British giant.
▲ Abstract Painting, which wrote The Record of Richter's Transaction
▲ Abstraktes Bild (649-2) auctioned in Hong Kong
Richter entered the world of abstract art around the 1960s, and by the 1980s he had matured and become a great hero. The above-mentioned "Abstract Painting" and the "Abstraktes Bild (649-2)" (provisional translation: Abstract Painting (649-2)), which is currently in Hong Kong, are works from 1986 and 1987 respectively.
In the 1980s, Richter also developed a unique style of creation: using the scraper as a tool to wipe the paint on the canvas, blurring the contours of the picture and revealing different layers of texture effects. This technique breaks away from the shackles of the brush, which can be said to open a new chapter in abstract art.
▲ Richter pioneered the "scraping" technique
▲ Abstraktes Bild (649-2) part
From the beginning of the photo painting series, Richter often created landscapes, and this habit continued into later abstract painting series. Behind his abstract creations, in fact, there are many hidden Western traditional landscape themes.
The record for "the most expensive Western artwork ever auctioned in Asia" is now owned by KAWS. On April Fool's Day 2019, his painting "The KAWS ALBUM" was auctioned at Sotheby's Hong Kong for HK$115 million.
As for Abstraktes Bild (649-2) at this auction, hk$120 million - 140 million is the best western artwork auctioned in Asia. If the hammer is successfully dropped, it can take the throne from KAWS as "the most expensive Western art in the history of Asian auctions".
▲ The Kaws ALBUM is the most expensive Western artwork in the history of Asian auctions