NUDES BY TAMARA DE LEMPICKA AND JENNY SAVILLE LEAD QUIET SOTHEBY’S MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY SALE
Sotheby’s held their June Modern and Contemporary evening sale this week, netting £50.8m (£62.5m with fees). With an 87% sell-through rate, the sale just fell short of the £55.2m - £81.1m pre-sale estimate. Despite some major sales of women artists, the auction marked a 25% decrease from last year’s June sale which had achieved £71.8m (£83.6m with fees). The top lot of the evening was La Belle Rafaëla (1927) by Tamara de Lempicka, depicting her muse and lover Rafaëla. The lot sold for just over its low estimate at £6.1m (£7.4m with fees). While Jenny Saville’s Juncture (1994) hammered just below its £5m low estimate, Saville’s Mirror (2011-12) invoked a bidding battle before surpassing its high estimate of £1.2m and achieving £1.7m (£2.1m with fees). Sold via Modern British art specialist Tamsin Golding Yee, the lot marked an auction record for a Saville drawing. However, the strongest lot of the sale was Marlow Moss’ White, Black, Blue and Red (1944), which sold for double its high estimate at £609,000. The first two lots of the sale also achieved high hammer prices; Nishimura’s through the snow (2023) hammered at £292,100 (with fees) against a high estimate of £70,000, while Jospeh Yager’s Loyalty to the nightmare chosen (2022) achieved £101,600 (with fees) against a £60,000 high estimate.
Tamara Lempicka, La Belle Rafaëla, 1927
YINKA SHONIBARE WILL CREATE A SCULPTURE FOR NEW QUEEN ELIZABETH II MEMORIAL IN LONDON
A new national monument in St James’ Park to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II will include a sculpture by celebrated British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Designed by architect Norman Foster and his firm Foster + Partners, the final design will be presented in April 2026. Five projects were shortlisted before this particular proposal was chosen, which features Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture as an integral part of the design. Foster has noted that one of the key aspects of the project is its minimal impact on the surrounding park, he shared how the “design will have the minimum impact on the nature and biodiversity of the park, and it will be phased to ensure that the precious route across it will never be closed.” A new bridge will also be replacing the Blue Bridge, the new design inspired by the Queen Mary fringe tiara worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding in 1947. Sculptures of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will be installed near the Birdcage Walk, which was named after Prince Philip. As for Shonibare’s sculpture, previous iterations of Wind Sculpture include the sculpture in New York’s Central Park that resembled Ankara fabrics blowing in the wind. Shonibare has gained critical acclaim across the world, having held multiple solo shows at major galleries and institutions such as Serpentine Galleries in 2024, James Cohan Gallery in 2023, and Goodman Gallery in 2022.
A rendering of Yinka Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture within the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial
CLIMATE CHANGE DEMONSTRATOR DOUSES PICASSO WITH PINK PAINT AT MONTREAL MUSEUM
On June 19, a man affiliated with Last Generation Canada, a civil resistance group, splashed paint across Pablo Picasso’s L’hétaïr (1901) at the Montreal Museum of Art. The painting, protected behind glass, was loaned by Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin and was being shown in an exhibition titled Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde. The man was arrested and charged with criminal mischief under $5,000 but has since been released. The act was a part of a three-week effort by Last Generation Canada to raise awareness about climate change and mirrors similar action that has occurred in galleries across Europe. Stéphane Aquin, the museum’s director, has released a statement regarding the situation, saying, “It is most unfortunate that this act carried out in the name of environmental activism targeted a work belonging to our global cultural heritage and under safekeeping for the benefit of future generations. Art is another powerful tool for social change. Museums and artists alike are allies in the fight for a better world.” As for the painting, there appears to be no damage to the work itself due to the protective glass, but thorough examinations are currently underway.
Pablo Picasso's L'hétaïre, 1901, splattered with pink paint at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, June 19, 2025.
RARE MIND-BENDING M.C. ESCHER WORKS ARE UP FOR AUCTION
M.C. Escher has become synonymous with psychedelic art with his interest in the concept of infinity and optical illusions. Escher’s works will be featured in The Art of Infinity, a sale at Christie’s that will be running from July 8 – 22, 2025. Featuring several works by Escher, the sale is estimated to raise more than USD 1 million. Many of the works come from the collection of Robert Owen Lehman Jr., a documentary filmmaker and member of the Lehman family. Despite his eventual focus on geometric patterns, Escher’s initial inspiration was derived from the nature of his childhood walks through the countryside outside of Arnhem. Later in his life, this interest in nature continued during his time in Rome, where he would often travel to southern Italy with its rugged landscapes and architecture. His practice appears to exist in a space between art and mathematics, highlighting the precision that has often played a key role in art history. From the Renaissance artists to the Dutch masters, perspective and geometry have played integral roles throughout history. The auction will also be coinciding with Christie’s 10th Art+Tech Summit, with proceeds going toward the Robert Owen Lehman Foundation.
M. C. Escher, Bond of Union (1956)
MILICA TOMIĆ: ON LOVE AFTERWARDS
Milica Tomić is opening a solo exhibition titled On Love Afterwards, at Kunsthaus Graz. Exploring themes of courage, memory, political violence, and social asymmetries, Tomić unpacks the historical events that led to the political situation in former Yugoslavia and the resulting contemporary reality. Tomić has used love as an alternative language to view such heavy topics, highlighting the courage and faith that accompanies resistance movements again political oppression and exploitation. The Portrait of My Mother is one of the central works to the exhibition, presenting the artist’s own personal history within the broader political landscape. Tomić films her walk through a city following the bombing of Serbia and Kosovo in 1999, discussing her complex relationship with her mother while simultaneously opening up the conversation between the artist and the urban environment. The installation piece includes a large-scale tapestry, created by the artist’s mother, who has employed the traditional method of knots and weaving that was often used by women artists in former Yugoslavia. Across her practice, Tomić works with photography, video, installation art, and discursive, educational art, performance, and socio-political engagement. The exhibition will be running from June 27 – October 12, 2025.
Milica Tomić, One day, Instead of One Night, a Burst of Machine-Gun Fire will Flash, if Light Cannot Come Otherwise, 2009
ART COLLABORATION KYOTO: THE FAIR THAT LETS GALLERIES WORK AT JAPAN’S SPEED
Art Collaboration Kyoto (ACK) is set to open this November, with aims to encourage exchange between international and domestic markets. Featuring 72 galleries, the theme of this year’s fair is 2050 – Gaze Toward the Future, exploring cooperative practices with the end goal of improving the future of the art world. Booths will be subsidised due to backing by both local and federal government. This year’s fair is also introducing 30 dual-gallery presentations, pairing Japanese spaces with international counterparts. Prominent international names will be presenting at the fair such as, Perrotin, Sadie Coles HQ, and Gladstone Gallery. Pairs for the dual-gallery presentations include Gladstone with Tokyo’s TARO NASU and Mendes Wood DM with Kyoto’s Shibunkaku. ACK shared with Ocula, “Japan’s collector base is steadily growing, driven by a new generation of thoughtful, research-driven buyers.” The fair’s open plan layout lacks distinction between local and international galleries, allowing for fluidity between galleries and visitors alike. The fair’s director, Yukako Yamashita, shared, “a stronger future can be built not through a single dominant force, but through a harmony of many small forces that transcend disciplines and regions.”
A Thousand Plateaus Art Space, ANOMALY, and N/A booth
Jordan Tan holds an MA in History of Art from the prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art. With a passion for fine art and the art market, Jordan plays a key role at Art Works by researching and interpreting trends across the primary and secondary markets, delivering valuable insights and business intelligence for the fine art department.
