Sotheby’s London will stage (Women) Artists, its first auction dedicated to female artists across the centuries, online from 20 to 27 May 2021, accompanied by an exhibition at New Bond Street from 22 to 27 May.
The sale spans some 400 years, from a 1680s Dutch still life by a 22-year-old Rachel Ruysch to Dame Laura Knight, the first woman granted full membership of the Royal Academy, and a sculpture by Rachel Whiteread, the first woman to win the Turner Prize. The narrative is set to unfold further through a virtual panel discussion with Marina Abramović in May.
The earliest work is Ruysch’s Forest floor still life with a pool (est. £150,000 to 200,000), painted in 1687 and not seen since it was acquired in The Hague in the 1950s. Ruysch achieved international fame in her lifetime, served as court painter to Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, and always signed with her maiden name; the Rijksmuseum recently announced it would permanently exhibit works by women artists, including Ruysch, in its Gallery of Honour.
Dorothea Tanning’s The Witch (est. £220,000 to 320,000), painted in 1949, was created for the ballet of the same name choreographed by George Balanchine. The sale also includes German Dada artist Hannah Höch’s Begegnung mit dem Wesensfremden (est. £12,000 to 18,000), an early example of photomontage, and Dame Laura Knight’s The Gift (The Flower) (est. £150,000 to 200,000), among the largest of her canvases.
Further lots include Barbara Hepworth’s 1956 carving Imprint (est. £110,000 to 160,000), Rachel Whiteread’s Wait from 2006 (est. £60,000 to 80,000), and Martha Rosler’s Wine (Muktada) (Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful, New Series) (est. £6,000 to 8,000), part of a photomontage series the artist began in 1967.
Citing its own Mei Moses data, Sotheby’s noted that over the previous five years prices for female artists had outpaced those for male artists by 29 percent across the market, rising to 49 percent in the contemporary market and 45 percent in the Old Master and 19th-century markets. The record for any work by a female artist stood at $44.4 million for Georgia O’ Keeffe’s Jimson Weed / White Flower No. 1, sold in New York in November 2014, and the record for a living female artist at $12.5 million for Jenny Saville’s Propped, sold in London in October 2018.
(Press Release)
