Sotheby’s Dubai staged its inaugural auction November 13 with Iranian modernist artworks among the highlights of the event.
Titled ‘Boundless,’ the auction sought to explore the influence of the Middle East on artistic innovation around the globe, Honaronline reported.
The sale, which has been curated by Iranian-Swiss art specialist and deputy director of Sotheby’s Middle East Ashkan Baghestani, 30, and a worldwide team of experts, brought together works from across the world to create a forward-looking dialogue for both new and seasoned collectors.
Attracting participants from five continents and 33 countries, with bidders spanning the whole Middle East, Sotheby’s Dubai inaugural auction took in over three million dollars this week.
The sale offering attracted a broad span of regional and international participation. The top lot of the sale was Iranian painter Ali Banisadr’s captivatingly explosive canvas, ‘In Medias Res’, described as an intoxicating mix of color and exuberant brushstrokes inspired by elaborate Persian miniatures.
It was chased in an extended bidding battle by no less than six bidders to a final sum of $459,000. Banisadr’s other painting ‘Meanwhile’ was sold for $118,750.
Among other Iranian items on sale at the auction were works by abstract expressionist Manouchehr Yektai, 94; painter and sculptor Bahman Mohasses (1931-2010); poet and painter Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980); avant-garde painter, poet and sculptor Jazeh Tabatabai (1931-2008); painter Farhad Moshiri, 54, and illustrator, cartoonist and painter Ardeshir Mohassess (1938-2008).
Two untitled still life paintings by Yektai were sold for $87,500 and $18,750, his ‘Portrait of Mrs. Homa Vakil Mansour’ for $81,250.
An untitled painting by Bahman Mohasses, master of disfigured works fetched $375,000. A minimal ink painting of a village by Sepehri received $40,000. His abstract painting went for $112,500, while his other work at the auction, a painting from the famous ‘Tree Trunk Series’ remained unsold.
A painting by Tabatabai in the style of Saqqakhaneh, a neo-traditionalist movement incorporating Iranian folk art, was sold for $7,500. From Ardeshir Mohassess there was a collage painting of a headless figure holding a pig head on his lap which went under the hammer for $20,000.
‘Palm,’ an oil-on-canvas painting by Taher Pourheidari, 33, a proof of the painter’s mastery on play of light, was sold for $10,525.
A tree in somber colors, painted by Behjat Sadr (1924-2009) received $15,000. Milad Mousavi’s painting ‘Against Procrastination’ was sold for $1,375. An untitled painting by Moshiri, in the form of calligraphy practice on canvas, was finalized at $137,500.
Also under the hammer were the works by Mohsen Vaziri-Moqaddam, Abolqasem Saeedi, Nazgol Ansarinia, and a series of lithographic books signed by painter and sculptor Charles Hossein Zanderoudi, 80.
The items on sale were sourced internationally and united by the common thread of the appeal and influence of the Middle East across artistic disciplines and eras.
The Dubai sale generated a total of $3.6m and a sell-through rate of 80 percent. Bidders in the room, on the phone and online competed to buy works spanning 20th century and contemporary Middle Eastern and international art, design, photography, jewelry, books and manuscripts and arts of the Islamic world.
