MutualArt Investigates The Top Selling Female Artists Of 2011

Top Selling Female Artists Of 2011

Lot results and fiscal reports from the leading auction houses in the first half of 2011 showed a promising continuation of art market recovery and renewed investor confidence. Yet given the recent upheaval in global markets, speculation is mounting as to how this tumultuous August will affect the auction block. Recently, to gear up for the highly anticipated upcoming sale season, MutualArt reviewed the top highlights from the auction floor so far this year.

Unfortunately, in gathering the auction data there was one factor that was unintentionally overlooked; one sector of artists that somehow evaded all our top 10 lists - Females! This total lack of women's names was realized thanks to MutualArt users who commented on our auction round-up article, bringing this uncanny occurrence to our attention.

So now, in response to our readers’ comments, find out which female artists brought the highest hammer prices, which saw the greatest surge in bidding enthusiasm, and which just can’t seem to catch a steady break - whether for the right or wrong reasons. With just a few short weeks left until the gavel starts swinging again, continue to prepare for the fall season with MutualArt’s list of the top lots, top flops and top shocks of 2011 for women artists.

Continue reading after the slideshow.

Mutual art women artists

Top 10 Best Selling Lots:

Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka just managed to surpass Russian artist Natalia Goncharova, grabbing the top-selling spot this year as well as a personal record. Yet she could not overcome Goncharova’s previous standing record of $10,870,506 for a work by any female artist. The top numbers here still greatly trail behind the blue-chip success of the male masters; at the same Sotheby’s sale that de Lempicka achieved her top price, Egon Schiele broke his world record with a £24,681,250 bid, achieving the third highest sale of the year so far. In fact, out of the top 300 lot prices realized from January through July, only 10% came from women artists.

(Top lot of the year: £26,697,250 - Venice by Francesco Guardi)

1) $6,571,884 (£4,073,250)- La Dormeuse by Tamara de Lempicka. World auction record for the artist in USD. (Sotheby’s London, 6/22/2011)

2) $6,372,999 (£3,961,250) - Les arbres en fleurs (Pommiers en fleurs) (pictured above left) by Natalia Goncharova (Christie’s King Street, 2/9/2011)

3) $5,010,500 - Mont St. Hilaire by Joan Mitchell (Christie’s New York, 5/11/2011)

4) $4,945,671 (£3,044,000) - Arab Priest by Irma Stern. World auction record for the artist. (Bonhams New Bond Street, 3/23/2011)

5) $4,025,000 (HK$4,025,000) - Infinity Nets by Yayoi Kusama (Est-Ouest Auctions Hong Kong, 5/27/2011)

6) $3,890,500 - Untitled by Cindy Sherman (Christie's New York, 5/11/2011)

7) $2,762,037 (£1,700,000) - Seated nude with oranges by Irma Stern (Bonhams New Bond Street, 3/23/2011)

8) $2,434,500 - The Winged Figure by Louise Bourgeois (Sotheby's New York, 5/10/2011)

9) $2,404,872 (£1,497,250 ) - Branded by Jenny Saville (Christie's King Street, 2/16/2011)

10) $2,210,500 - Yellow Jonquils IV by Georgia O'Keeffe (Phillips de Pury & Company Upper East Side NY, 5/12/2011)

Top 10 Most Disappointing Lots:

The top female artists, while only fetching a fraction of the prices compared to the male market leaders, had trouble securing steady success throughout the year. And the biggest loser is... female auction star Irma Stern, who had particular difficulty to secure a steady stream of buyers. After her auction record in March (#4 above), she was hailed for ushering in a new surge for the South African market. Yet despite her top 2 lots, on this list she offers a total of 8 failed lots.

1) Natalia Goncharova’s Sailboat. Unsold against an estimate of £2,500,000-3,500,000 (Christie's King Street, 6/21/2011)

2) Irma Stern’s The Zulu Woman. Unsold against an estimate of R16,000,000-20,000,000 (Stephan Welz & Co., Cape Town, 6/22/2011)

3) Cindy Sherman’s Untitled. Unsold against an estimate of £1,000,000-1,500,000 (Christie's King Street, 6/28/2011)

4) Irma Stern’s The Lemon Pickers. Unsold against and estimate of R10,000,000-14,000,000 (Strauss & Co., Cape Town, 3/7/2011)

5) Irma Stern’s Still life with irises, Still life with amaryllis, and Indian woman. All unsold against estimates of £700,000-1,000,000 (Bonhams New Bond Street, 3/23/2011) (Lot 201 also failed to sell) (left to right above)

6) Natalia Goncharova’s La trottinette. Unsold against an estimate of €800,000-1,000,000 (Tajan, 3/31/2011)

7) Irma Stern’s The Cellist and Still Life of Roses and Apples. Unsold against estimates of R7,000,000-10,000,000 (Strauss & Co., Johannesburg, 5/16/2011; Strauss & Co., Cape Town, 3/7/2011)

8) Marlene Dumas’ The White Disease (below left) sold for $998,500, below the low estimate of $1,200,000 (Christie's New York, 5/11/2011)

9) Artemisia Gentileschi’s The Penitent Magdalene (below right). Unsold against an estimate of $800,000-1,200,000 (Christie's New York, 1/26/2011)

10) Marlene Dumas’ Evil Eye. Unsold against an estimate of $900,000-1,200,000 (Phillips de Pury & Company Upper East Side NY, 5/12/2011)

Top 10 Most Surprising Lots:

The artists who made the greatest leaps above their estimates represent a range of mediums, categories and styles. The most popular and sought after artists appear to be Barbara Hepworth and Yayoi Kusama (who also turns up in the best-selling list above). In general though, buyers seem to remain tame when it comes to women artists, whose “leaps” came no where near the 3,494% above estimate Gaspar van Wittel achieved for his Rome painting.

1) Mandala by Barbara Hepworth sold 542% above estimate for $523,274 (Sotheby's London, 2/9/2011)

2) La Fenetre by Eva Gonzalès sold 451% above estimate for $812,500 (Sotheby's New York, 5/4/2011)

3) Self Obliteration by Yayoi Kusama sold 204% above estimate for $1,022,500 (Christie's New York, 5/12/2011)

4) Untitled (Infinity Nets) by Yayoi Kusama sold 200% above estimate for $902,500 (Christie's New York, 5/11/2011)

5) Untitled by Cindy Sherman sold 194% above estimate for $3,890,500 (Christie's New York, 5/11/2011)

6) Bimorphic Theme by Barbara Hepworth sold 180% above estimate for £325,250 (Christie's King Street, 5/26/2011)

7) Mathilde Holding Baby who Reaches out to Right by Mary Cassatt sold165% above estimate for £577,250 (Christie's King Street, 6/22/2011)

8) Red-Nets No. 2.A.3 by Yayoi Kusama sold 165% above estimate for $662,500 (Sotheby's New York, 5/10/2011)

9) The Winged Figure by Louise Bourgeois sold 162% above estimate for $2,434,500 (Sotheby's New York, 5/10/2011)

10) Still Life of Roses, Carnations, Marigolds and Other Flowers...by Maria van Oosterwyck sold 158% above estimate for $1,426,500 (Sotheby's New York, 1/26/2011)

Written and Compiled by MutualArt.com Staff

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