Sotheby’s Sale Highlights Appeal Of Female Artists

The popularity of contemporary art is often reflected in its value, but sometimes the impact of modern female painters can be overlooked. Household names like David Hockney and Damien Hirst may create the impression that this is a male-dominated genre, but the evidence of leading auctions shows that is not quite true.

A prime example of this is the Sotheby’s auction of contemporary art on March 5th. Some of the works on sale have been expected to command high values of up to £700,000, while others, if not selling for hundreds of thousands, were certainly expected to go for tens of thousands.

This marks the sale out as being at the top end of contemporary art and, predictably enough, works by the likes of Hockney and Hirst are among them. But there are also quite a few female artists represented.

For example, there is an untitled piece by Martha Jungworth from the series ‘Paros’, with a guide price of £40-60,000. There is the ‘Red Forge’ by Rachel Jones, with a guide price of £20-30,000, and ’Before Battle’, a work by Jesse Mockrin expected to command a price of up to £80,000.

Other female artists in the sale included Yayoi Kusama, Sarah Ball, Miriam Cahn, and Pat Steir. Cahn’s work, Im Weg Liegen, was expected to be the highest-valued work by a female artist in the sale, at up to £150,000.

Although these artists only make up a minority of those whose works are in the sale, it is enough to show that female artists are making their mark in the contemporary scene and that their paintings can command high values, even among a line-up of big-name male artists.

It was in another Sotheby’s sale that the highest figure for any work by a female artist was paid, when Jenny Saville’s work Propped sold for $12.4 million (£9.5 million) in New York in 2018.