Pursuits

Basquiat Drawing Tops $15.2 Million Phillips Contemporary Sale

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

A Jean-Michel Basquiat drawing was the most expensive work last night in a $15.2 million auction of contemporary art at Phillips, the first to be held in London under its new branding -- and a new auctioneer.

Basquiat’s 1982 pastel, oilstick, colored crayon and charcoal work on paper, “Untitled,” showing a mask-like face with a halo and raised right hand, was knocked down by Phillips’s new British auctioneer Alexander Gilkes to a single telephone bidder for 1.9 million pounds ($2.9 million) with fees, the top price of the night.