Artwork Selections at Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction

Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction on 14 October featured some outstanding lots.

Among these, Frank Auerbach‘s Head of J.Y.M. (1984–85) is a powerful portrait of Julia Yardley Mills, a model who sat regularly for the German-born British painter.

The contrasting monochromatic tones—punctuated by a few flecks of colour—gives the image a stark intensity further enhanced by Auerbach’s deliciously thick impasto.

Feted by the great critic David Sylvester, and counting Lucian Freud as a lifetime friend and admirer, Auerbach will go down as one of the masters of psychological portrait painting.

Demonstrating the painter’s skilful brushwork and astute observation, Head of J.Y.M. (1984–85) was the main highlight of the evening auction. The lot sold for over 5.6 million GBP, well over its high estimate of 4 million GBP.

Also for sale was Francis Bacon‘s Three Studies For Portrait of Henrietta Moraes (1963). Bacon’s small triptych features abstracted portraits executed in an intense crimson and white palette on a dark background. Applying masterful brushstrokes, Bacon’s unsettling painting perfectly encapsulates both beauty and violence. Bacon’s portrait sold for over 2.4 million GBP.

A painting by Jean Dubuffet also stood out. Sourire (Tête hilare II) (Smile (Hilarious Face II)) (1948) depicts a caricature-style portrait rendered in Dubuffet’s archetypal style of Art Brut. Painted in tones of pink, orange, and cobalt, Sourire reflects the French artist’s rejection of the traditional. Dubuffet’s portrait achieved a result well over its estimated range at 1.7–2.2 million GBP, selling for over 2.7 million GBP.

Main image: Frank Auerbach, Head of J.Y.M. (1984—85) (detail). Oil on canvas. 66 x 61 cm. Courtesy Sotheby's, London.