Damien Hirst’s “The Golden Calf” kept alive a 10-year bull run in the art market last night as collectors vied for the British artist’s works at Sotheby’s, even as global stock markets collapsed.
Hirst’s “Beautiful Inside My Head For Ever” auction in London took 70.5 million pounds ($126.6 million) with fees, led by the 10.3 million-pound preserved Charolais calf with 18-carat gold horns. The total was a record for a sale of works by one artist, said Sotheby’s, which had estimated the evening would fetch as much as 62.4 million pounds. All but two of the 56 lots sold.
“The sale was magnificent, a triumph”, London dealer Ivor Braka said in an interview. “At a time when other markets are reeling, the people with the free cash and the will have ignored the storm warnings and the voyage goes on”.
The event, which attracted more than 21,000 visitors to the pre-sale view, drew enthusiasic bids in a saleroom of collectors and celebrities such as Bianca Jagger, seated near the front. As bidders pushed up the price of Hirst’s preserved animals and butterflies, financial markets reeled after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be bought by Bank of America for $50 billion. (Bloomberg)