SINGAPORE
In an affirming nod to Singapore as a burgeoning Asian art-market capital, Sotheby’s first Modern and Contemporary Art auction on August 28 in the Lion City churned up a total of USD 17.4 million, flying over its USD 13 million estimate, across 47 sold lots.
While the sale boasted a lineup of Asian masters and emerging international talent, it was led by Moscow-born modernist Walter Spies’s 1928 painting of wild animals in a lush Balinese forest, created by the artist during his stay in Indonesia. Rarely seen at auction, the oil-on-canvas work was sold for USD 2.8 million, against undisclosed estimates. European artists’ depictions of Bali proved popular: another top lot, Dutch painter Willem Gerard
