PAINTINGS TRIUMPH AT LONDON CONTEMPORARY SALES

As the London art market emerges from hibernation, the first signs of what the new year will bring emerged in the major sales held by Sotheby’s and Christie’s in February, Will Bennett and Colin Gleadell write in The Telegraph. Last week’s auctions gave those involved at the top end of the price scale good reason for optimism. In the contemporary art sales, fifteen record prices were set, contributing to the highest totals ever recorded for contemporary art at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London—nearly £40 million ($75 million). Most of the top-ten selling and record-breaking works were paintings—a triumph for painting indeed.