Works by postwar Japanese artists also garnered robust results. Yoshitomo Nara’s angry looking green-eyed Frog Girl (1998) fetched HKD 96 million (USD 12.4 million), above a HKD 80 million (USD 10.3 million) high estimate. The painting was last sold for USD 482,500 at Christie’s New York in May 2010. Two other paintings of girls, namely Ten Stars (2014) and Life is Only One! (2008), achieved HKD 36 million (USD 4.6 million) and HKD 19.5 million (USD 2.5 million), respectively, with the former exceeding its high estimate of HKD 28 million (USD 3.6 million). The artist has enjoyed much success recently, with his current USD 24.9 million auction record set in October 2019 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong with Knife Behind Back (2000). Another favorite, Yayoi Kusama’s painting-sculpture I Carry on Living with the Pumpkins (2013) sold at HKD 15.9 million (USD 2 million), more than doubling its high estimate.  

Paintings by 1990s contemporary Chinese artists continue to attract interest, following last year’s trend, led by Zhang Xiaogang’s oil and photo collage on canvas, Bloodline: Mother and Son No.1 (1993), which brought in HKD 33 million (USD 4.3 million), within estimates. Fang Lijun’s brightly colored portrait of an old man and a young girl, 1993 No.4 (1993), one of six works he created for the 45th Venice Biennale, sold at HKD 24 million (USD 3 million), within estimates. Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask Series No. 18 (1994), adapting Auguste Rodin’s famous The Thinker (1902), sold at HKD 14.7 million (USD 1.9 million), also within estimates. 

Amid Sotheby’s week of live auctions, which ends this Friday, Christie’s Hong Kong announced on April 19 the single-lot sale of Xu Beihong’s Slave and Lion (1924) during its upcoming May series. Mostly known for his ink works, oil paintings by the Chinese modernist are rare on the market, and Slave and Lion has been estimated at HKD 350–450 million (USD 45–58 million), the highest-estimated Asian artwork ever offered by a Western auction. It will be interesting to see whether strong results continue in Hong Kong in May.

Pamela Wong is ArtAsiaPacific’s assistant editor. 

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