Author sculpture "Angel of the North" is the third largest amount of sales at auctions among British artists

This year the work of British sculptor Antony Gormley (Antony Gormley) benefited from increased media attention, mainly due to the fact that the artist of the honor to decorate their work the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. Rather than install it sculpture or installation, Gormley decided to turn the site into a pedestal, on which he could climb any person. Lottery fortune smiled on 2,4 thousand people: each of them was able to hold on a pedestal hour.

In Russia, Gormley also said a lot: in the summer in the center of Moscow "Garage" was his show (details of which you can read the here ). It is time to tell about how this artist's state of affairs in the auction market.

In the period from July 2008 to June 2009 are creations Gormley brought to public auction 4,7 million euros (19 lots, 10 of them - sculpture). He is in third place on the auction result in the money among the British artists (the list is headed, of course, Damien Hirst (Damien Hirst), whose work brought 134.7 million euros, followed by Peter Doig (Peter Doig) with 12,2 million euros ).

Gormley's first solo exhibition was held in 1981 at London's Whitechapel Art Gallery. The artist was 31 years old. It was then that he began to create sculptures, which are based on casts of his own body. Career artist sharply went up the hill after he received the 1994 Turner Prize. The award went to him for his installation, entitled "Field for the British Isles" (1993) - "terracotta army" of 40 thousand (!) Small figurines. In working on these'bodies-surrogates "involving hundreds of volunteers. This is not the only "field" created under the guidance of Gormley. In 2006, he hired 350 Chinese residents of the village Fragrant Hills, which produced about 190 clay sculptures which has reflected the area of 2 thousand square meters.

The figures, contained in the "field", put up for auction very often. In February 2001, at Christie's auction appeared lot of 200 terracotta sculptures, which went for 26 thousand pounds (41 thousand euros) in Estimé 25-35 thousand pounds. Since then, the work by his presence auction zhaluyut. Due to the fact that the creation Gormley generally go to the secondary market infrequently (about 10 jobs per year), they are very expensive. The most popular among collectors pieces are sculptures of naked people, who usually bring more than 100 thousand euros.

world fame through the work of Gormley called "Angel of the North". This monumental sculpture, the height of 20 meters, 54 meters wide and weighing 200 tons, is one of the main sights of Gateshead. This is the largest sculpture ever created in Britain. In 1998, the artist received for his Order of the British Empire. Last year at the auction there were two prototype "Angel of the North", one of whom, 5 meters wide, brought 2.02 million pounds (2.55 million euros) in Estimé 600-800 thousand pounds. The work sold at auction Sotheby's auction on July 1 , took first place in list of the most expensive works Gormley. Three months later, a copy of a width of 3 meters, made in bronze, went under the hammer (again at Sotheby's) for 480 thousand pounds (615 thousand euros). Preliminary assessment of the sculpture was 350-450 thousand.

The artist also produces large amounts of graphic work, much more affordable than the sculpture. In October of this year, Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury put up for auction of contemporary art in one drawing Gormley, each of which brought about 2,2 thousand euros.

Material prepared Yulia Maximova , AI

Source: artprice.com , artinvestment.ru