In the opening days of the sophomore edition of Paris + par Art Basel, business appeared exceptionally roobust across the the fair’s participating exhibitors.
While French galleries made up a third of the fair’s participants, US and Europe-based mega-galleries and mid-tier outfits saw very strong sales. David Zwirner reportedly sold a Kerry James Marshall painting for a staggering $6 million, in addition to works by Marlene Dumas, Alice Neel, and Michaël Borremans. Hauser + Writh sold out its booth—stocked with works by Mark Bradford, George Condo, and Roni Horn, among others—on the first day, with much of the works going to private and institutional collection in France, according to gallery president Marc Payot.
Paris-based dealers Galeries Allen and Applicat-Prazan sold pieces by Jacqueline de Jong and Jean Hélion, while Christian Berst’s and and Mennour reported sales of works by Anna Zemánková and Lee Ufan. Elsewhere, Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, which has two locations in West Africa, sold three paintings from a solo booth dedicated to Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux’s work at prices between €30,000- €40,000. Emerging galleries like Vienna’s Felix Gaudlitz in and Tbilisis’s LC Queisser sold a variety of works at prices between $3,000-$15,000, a promising sign for dealers that promote rising talent.
Below, a list of artists whose works were sold by some of the fair’s standout galleries:
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Kerry James Marshall, Marlene Dumas at David Zwirner
For David Zwirner’s booth, demand for works by critical darlings, especially American painters, was high. Notably, a painting by Kerry James Marshall from the artist’s “Black and part Black Birds in America: (Crow, Goldfinch),” series, which he began in 2020, sold for an impressive $6 million. The gallery also sold a Marlene Dumas work to a private collector for $3 million, alongside an Alice Neel painting at the same price point. The dealer reported sales for other prominent names on its roster, including Noah Davis, Michaël Borremans, Dana Schutz, Elizabeth Peyton, Oscar Murillo, Josef Albers, Neo Rauch, Lisa Yuskavage, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Lucas Arruda, and Jordan Wolfson.
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George Condo, Mark Bradford at Hauser & Wirth
On the opening day of the fair, Hauser & Wirth, which operates locations in Zurich, Gstaad, St. Moritz, London, Somerset, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, Monaco, and Ciutadella de Menorca, reported sales in the seven figures. George Condo’s Female Portrait Composition, a 2023 oil-on-linen artwork fetched $2.4 million, Mark Bradford’s The Nature of Space, a 2023 mixed media creation, sold for $1.8 million and a solid cast glass artwork from 2021-2022 by Roni Horn was sold for $1.5 million to a museum in China. Additionally, works by Ed Clark, Nicolas Party, Rashid Johnson, Ellen Gallagher, Frank Bowling, Charles Gaines, Lee Lozano, Lorna Simpson, Angel Otero, Takesada Matsutani, Zhang Enli, Luchita Hurtado, Hélène Delprat, and Philip Guston also sold at the fair.
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Loie Hollowell, Adam Pendleton at Pace
Image Credit: © Loie Hollowell, courtesy Pace Mega-gallery Pace, which has locations in Hong Kong, Seoul, Geneva, London, East Hampton, New York, Palm Beach, and Palo Alto, reported strong sales at Paris+. The standout pieces included Loie Hollowell’s mesmerizing Red-Orange Brain (2023), an artwork composed of oil paint, acrylic medium, and high-density foam on linen over a panel, sold for $450,000, and Adam Pendleton’s Black Dada (A), also from 2023, a silkscreen ink on canvas across two joined panels that sold for $275,000. The gallery also reported sales of works by Li Songsong, Torkwase Dyson, Michal Rovner, Maysha Mohamedi, and Alicja Kwade. The gallery reported that Kwade’s sculpture Trait Transference (2015) sold for $65,000 to a private collector based between Paris and Texas within the first hour of the fair.
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Robert Rauschenberg, Simon Hantai at Thaddaeus Ropac
Image Credit: Courtesy of Thaddeus Ropac Over at Thaddeus Ropac, Robert Rauschenberg’s 1962 untitled diptych, an oil and silkscreen ink work conjoining two canvases, garnered considerable attention and was sold for $2 million. Georg Baselitz’s vibrant oil painting Sommer in Dinard (2023) achieved another top price for the Salzburg-based dealer, selling to a French collector for €1.2 million. The dealer sold Simon Hantaï’s expressive oil on canvas work Les larmes de Saint Ignace (1958) for just above €1 million, also to a French collection. Sales did not stop there: Works by living artists like Adrian Ghenie, Martha Jungwirth, and Rachel Jones all also sold.
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Tracey Emin, Cecilia Vicuna at Xavier Hufkens
Image Credit: Courtesy of Xaviar Hufkins Brussel-based Xavier Hufkens landed several major sales. Among the top works the dealer sold was Tracey Emin’s All the time I could Feel you, a 2023 acrylic on canvas, which sold for $750,000 ($911,000) to a private collection. The gallery sold Cecilia Vicuña’s Obstructing the Doors is Dangerous, a 2023 oil on canvas work, for $300,000. The new work shows a naked figure at center with text bearing the work’s titled flowing out of the figure’s mouth. The gallery also sold work by artists such as Leon Kossoff, Thomas Houseago, Thierry De Cordier, Qiu Xiaofei, Louise Bourgeois, and Sayre Gomez at prices ranging from $35,000 to $200,000.