Christie’s Dubai Art Auction celebrates its 10th anniversary on March 16 at Emirates Towers Hotel, after a 4-day long exhibition and sale.
The short period of spectacular sales will have several sections, including sales of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art, Honaronline reported.
According to Christie’s website, the curated anniversary sale, ‘Now and Ten’ will showcase the very best of modern and contemporary art from the region, including Iranian masterpieces drawn from the collection of Akbar and Sousan Seif Nasseri.
This will be followed by a second auction of ‘Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art’ that will bring together important works from the most sought after artists of the region.
‘Important Watches’ features a wide selection of vintage and modern timepieces crafted by the most sought after names while handbags, jewels and timepieces will be offered in an ‘Elements of Style’ auction, for the first time in Christie’s Dubai history.
The event provides two separate catalogues; one specialized for the 10th anniversary, which includes information of 40 items from Iranian, Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi, Moroccan and Turkish artists. The catalogue cover portrays a work of art by Egyptian artist Hamed Ewais (1919-2011).
The most expensive item is a triptych painting from Egyptian Omar El Nagdi, which is similar to ‘Guernica’ (1937) by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. The painting will go under the hammer at an estimated price of $400,000 to $600,000. Works by Shafik Abboud from Lebanon and Hamed Ewais are the other most expensive items, presented for $300,000 to $400,000.
The 10th anniversary’s catalogue also includes works by 15 Iranian artists including Parviz Tanavoli, Sohrab Sepehri, Manouchehr Yektaei, Bahman Mohasses, Kourosh Shishehgaran, Jafar Rouhbakhsh, Faramarz Pilaram, Mansour Qandriz, Hossein Zendehroudi, Mohammad Ahsaei, Monir Farmanfarmaian, Farhad Moshiri, Rokni Ha’eri Zadeh, Afrouz Amiqi and Hayedeh Shafe’i.
Among the Iranian works, Tanavoli’s ‘Heech’ (2007), with the base price of $300,000, is the most expensive, followed by a 1970 painting by Sepehri from his collection ‘The Trees’, presented for $250,000 to $300,000. A 2012 painting by Ahsaei, $200,000 to $300,000, another sculpture by Tanavoli, $140,000 to $180,000, a mirror work (1974) by Farmanfarmaian, $180,000 to $240,000 and an oil painting (1964) by Yektaei are among the items from Iran.
The other catalogue, which will be presented following the former, suggests 86 artworks from 64 artists, among which 35 items are works of Iranian artists. The presented items in the section are not so expensive; the highest price is $100,000 to $150,000, for a calligram by Zendehroudi, titled ‘Yellow Leaf’, and an art work by Moshiri, titled ‘YHGNL’.
With some 36 participants, Iran has a strong role in the event, forming about one-fourth of artworks submitted. The exhibition part of Christie’s opened on March 13 at the Godolphin hall in the venue.
