Middle Eastern contemporary art breaks records in London
Several sales in recent years have pointed to the growth of the market for modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art, and a series of auctions held this week in London serve to highlight the upward trend.
Auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams all held sales of Indian and Islamic Art in London from October 6-9.
Among the results, a sale of modern and contemporary Middle Eastern art by Bonhams broke records for five of the artists represented.
Most notably, Iranian-born artist Manoucher Yektai's 1960 work "Portrait of Iris Clert" far surpassed its £50,000-70,000 pre-sale estimate, earning £182,500 (€246,500). Egyptian artists Mahmoud Moussa and Georges Hanna Sabbagh and Iraqi artists Hafiz Drubi and Faeq Hassan also had record-setting works featured.
The high prices were not entirely unexpected; in a September interview with Blouin Art Info, Bonhams Group CEO Matthew Girling singled out contemporary Middle Eastern and Iranian art as the area that had seen the most growth in 2014.
One reason for such a dramatic rise in prices is that art from the region is becoming more widely exhibited.
In the Middle East, events such as Art Dubai are increasingly providing a platform for local artists, and earlier this year, the Armory Show in New York spotlighted Middle East artists as part of its broader MENAM focus (Middle Eastern, North American and Mediterranean), choosing Jordanian artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan as its 2015 Commissioned Artist.
Noah Horowitz, executive director of the Armory Show, called the region "a thriving part of the contemporary art world which to date has achieved only limited visibility in the American market, despite... the wealth of artistic talent within it."
At the Christie's outpost in Dubai, a number of artist records have been set in past years, including 19 alone at a "Modern and Contemporary Arab, Iranian and Turkish Art" auction in October 2014.
Next up, Christie's in Dubai will once again feature leading artists from the region -- including Yektai -- in a Modern & Contemporary Art sale on October 20.
