INTERNATIONAL ART NEWS LETTER
Winter 2024
Mick Jagger (F&S II.144)
Estmate: $140,000-180,000
Obey Giant Star, 1989
Estmate: $65,000-85,000
Our Fall Live Aucton Achieved Outstanding Results
Toronto — Cowley Abbot established its Internatonal Art department in 2021 in order to meet the needs of the numerous buyers and sellers of Internatonal art in Canada and abroad. Our eventul Fall 2023 Live Aucton drew ferce bidding and media atenton, which led to exceptonal results. The highlight of the evening was a vibrant screenprint by Andy Warhol of The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, soaring above its pre-sale estmate and selling for $276,000, setng a record for this image, originally issued in a suite of ten. This result strengthened our frm’s success in the sale of works by renowned Internatonal artsts, and Warhol in partcular, to a local and worldwide audience. Other highlights include:
• A paintng of children playing alongside a seaside shore by the Britsh artst Dorothea Sharp, selling for $48,000.
• A lithograph by Marc Chagall paying tribute to the ceiling of the Paris Opéra, hammering down at $31,200.
• An early entry by Roy Lichtenstein into the Pop Art genre with Foot and Hand (Corlet II.4) selling for over $20,000.
ANDY WARHOL
SHEPARD FAIREY
UPCOMING SPRING LIVE AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
Driving Results through Promoton, Advertsing & Outreach
Leading up to the Fall Live Aucton, Cowley Abbot carried out extensive advertsing and promotonal campaigns. Several weeks of public previewing were held in Montreal and Toronto, with cocktail events for VIP and corporate clients in both cites.
Regional and natonal newspapers frequently featured advertsements of our aucton highlights, and owners Rob Cowley and Lydia Abbot travelled across the country to appear in television news segments and radio shows.
The Internatonal Art department’s mailing list is ever-growing, including hundreds of collectors, art advisors, dealers and galleries from Canada and abroad. This wide-ranging exposure and outreach played a crucial role in the tremendous success of the Fall Live Aucton.
ANDY WARHOL
Mick Jagger (F&S II.141), 1975
Price Realized: $276,000
ANDY WARHOL
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom from the Reigning Queens (F&S II.334-337), 1985
Price Realized: $936,000
Exceptonal Results of Internatonal Art
FERNANDO BOTERO
The Kitchen, 1994
Price Realized: $468,000
DHead XLVI, 1997
Price Realized: $108,120
The
Price Realized: $18,530
Price Realized: $40,800
FERNANDO BOTERO
Compoter aux fruits, 1980
Price Realized: $150,000
ROY LICHTENSTEIN Foot and Hand (Corlet II.4), 1964
Price Realized: $20,400
DAVID BOWIE
Nail-Head of Trent Reznor, 1995
Price Realized: $38,400
Price Realized: $31,200
CYRIL POWER
The Eight Price Realized: $114,000
DAVID HOCKNEY
Nehemiah Checking the Walls of Jerusalem, 1966
Price Realized: $102,000
ANDY WARHOL
Mammy (F&S II.262), 1981
Price Realized: $36,000
JOAN MITCHELL Unttled
Price Realized: $132,000
ANTONIUCCI VOLTI
Reverie
Price Realized: $72,000
EDWARD SEAGO
Morning Sunlight on the Orwell
Price Realized: $50,400
DOROTHEA
Children at the Seaside Price Realized: $48,000
DAVID BOWIE
FRANCIS N. SOUZA Portrait, 1994
MARC CHAGALL L’Opéra (M.715)
JEFF KOONS Balloon Rabbit (Violet)
Price Realized: $12,000
ANDY WARHOL
Shadow, 1981
SHARP
Exploring the Andy Warhol Market with Cowley Abbot
Despite the fuctuatons in the art market and the broader economy, Andy Warhol’s prints and paintngs remain one of the best asset classes of the twenty-frst century, with collectors and investors contnuing to show strong interest.
Since Cowley Abbot began featuring artwork by internatonal artsts, Warhol’s works have been central to the identty and success of our sales. Our frm was pleased to present in 2015 The Shadow, where the American artst is unmasking himself, which sold for over $18,000. The iconic image of Campbell’s soup can has become synonymous with Warhol, who elevated an American pantry staple to high art. In 2022, we presented an Autographed Campbell’s Tomato Soup Can Label signed by the artst, selling for over $3,000.
In 2021, Howdy Doody (F&S II.263) and Mammy (F&S II.262) from his Myth Series of 1981, sold for $60,000 and $36,000 respectvely. Both works incorporated real diamond dust partcles in the printng process, giving the prints a shimmery, refectve surface.
Celebrity culture and fame fascinated Warhol, who admired
female power in subjects such as Queen Elizabeth II, Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor. Interestngly, since 2021, prints of Queen Elizabeth II have led the Warhol market. According to Ron Rivlin, the founder of the Andy Warhol-focused Revolver Gallery, “of the top twenty most valuable Warhol prints ever sold, ten were Queen Elizabeth II prints sold in 2022.”
The Spring 2023 Live Aucton featured a suite of four silkscreens of Queen Elizabeth II from the artst’s 1985 Reigning Queens series. The set of four rarely appears at aucton as one lot, and we were delighted to have the opportunity to present this set at aucton in Canada for the frst tme. Consigned by the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq, the insttuton sold the four prints as part of their deaccessioning process, with the sale proceeds intended to acquire work by Canadian Indigenous artsts. The set of Warhol silkscreens reached an internatonal audience of collectors, the suite selling to an American buyer for $936,000, the highest price ever paid in Canada for a set of Andy Warhol prints.
Following this successful sale, Cowley Abbot was entrusted with a Warhol print of Mick Jagger for the Fall Live Aucton, which came to us from a private collecton in Ontario. Not the frst person to do so, this collector recognized a strong market in Canada for Warhol’s work and chose to sell the screenprint with our frm rather than shipping it outside of the country.
As with the set of Warhol prints in the spring, Cowley Abbot’s marketng to an internatonal audience drew atenton across Canada and beyond our borders, pushing the Mick Jagger to more than double its opening bid, fetching $276,000. The price is the highest ever achieved at aucton in Canada for an image of Jagger by Warhol, and one of the highest aucton prices recorded for a single print of the iconic singer internatonally.
Cowley Abbot’s success in the marketng and selling of Warhol’s work has provided us with direct contact with leading collectors and authorites of the artst’s work internatonally. Our frm retains a deep client list of collectors actvely pursuing Andy Warhol’s work through this robust market.
ANDY WARHOL
Autographed Campbell’s Tomato Soup Can Label
Price Realized: $3,360
ANDY WARHOL
Howdy Doody (from the Myth Series)
Price Realized: $60,000
Upcoming Spring Sales
Preparaton is well underway for Cowley Abbot’s Spring Live Aucton of Important Canadian and Internatonal Art, set for Thursday, May 30th, to be held at the Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto. The aucton will feature exceptonal works by Andy Warhol, William Kentridge, Shepard Fairey and Joan Miró, among others.
In additon to our semi-annual live auctons, Cowley Abbot hosts curated online sales of Internatonal art: Prints & Multples, The Art of Europe, Modern & Contemporary Art and our newly launched photography sale Capture, opening in April. By presentng works by established artsts at various price points, our specialists ensure that collectors at all levels can partcipate in our auctons.
Our specialists will also be hostng valuaton days across Canadian cites. Please contact our experienced team for a complimentary and confdental art valuaton at internatonalart@cowleyabbot.ca
Katherine Meredith Montreal Representatve Internatonal and Canadian Art Specialist
Catherine Lacroix Junior Internatonal Art Specialist