Marcel Duchamp Prize Top 10

[2016年10月14日]

Discover the best sales every Friday! Every other Friday Artprice posts a theme-based auction ranking. This week, we reveal the ten best auction sales by winners of the Marcel Duchamp Prize over the last 10 years.

Has the Marcel Duchamp Prize had an effect on the evolution of the rating of these artists and is this impacting on the French or international market? A few days before the opening of the FIAC at the Grand Palais in Paris, Artprice reveals the best sales achieved by the winners of the Marcel Duchamp Prize over the last 10 years.

Rank Artist Hammer Price Oeuvre Sale
1 Latifa ECHAKHCH (1974) $203,296 “Sitting on Haunches Behind the Bushes Until There is No Longer Any Noise and Breathing Slowly. Then Stand Up and Walk Away” 2015-12-09 Phillips Londres
2 Cyprien GAILLARD (1980) $193,750 Untitled 2015-11-12 Sotheby’s New York NY
3 Philippe MAYAUX (1961) $96,560 Camelot au show/Rose papa/Rose Maman/Bûche, réchauffe moi 2007-10-21 Cornette de Saint-Cyr (S.V.V.) Paris
4 Tatiana TROUVÉ (1968) $66,911 Untitled (ref: cable 9) 2015-02-13 Phillips Londres
5 Claude CLOSKY (1963) $22,854 Untitled (Rasi.Mi-27-01-03-12-02-03) 2015-02-11 Sotheby’s Londres
6 Laurent GRASSO (1972) $27,023 Studies into the past 2014-10-29 Christie’s Paris
7 Mircea CANTOR (1977) $17,459 Diamond Corn 2008-06-30 Phillips de Pury & Company Londres
8 Saâdane AFIF (1970) $14,315 Prodige 2013-10-24 Artcurial (S.V.V.) Paris
9 Melik OHANIAN (1969) $8,784 (G)host 2009-12-21 Millon – Cornette de Saint Cyr Paris
10 Gregory & Daniel GICQUEL & DEWAR (XX-XXI) $5,046 Lapin 2013-01-30 Christie’s Paris

Who are they?

The last 10 artists awarded the Marcel Duchamp Prize, created in 2000 by the ADIAF (Association for the International Diffusion of French Art) gathering together 400 contemporary art collectors, are Claude Closky (2005), Phillipe Mayaux (2006) Tatiana Trouvé (2007), Laurent Grasso (2008), Sâadane Afif (2009), Cyprien Gaillard (2010), Mircea Cantor (2011), Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel (2012), Latifa Echakhch (2013), Julien Prévieux (2014 ) and Melik Ohanian (2015).

Among the winners, two artists have achieved exceptional sales of over $100,000: Cyprien Gaillard (2010) and Latifa Echakhch (2013), thanks to the support of their galleries and their exhibitions outside France.

Born in 1980 in Paris, Cyprien GAILLARD lives and works in Berlin and New York. His work mainly focuses on the natural and urban landscape influenced by the notion of entropy. A few months after winning the prize on October 23rd, 2010, the artist staged an exhibition at Espace 315 at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the event being part of the Duchamp Prize and an opportunity for the public to discover his work. It took two more years before his work was introduced at auction, which was held in London rather than Paris. In 2013, three works sold by Phillips London found buyers for between $11,000 and $16,000. The demand does exist but the idea was to tread slowly so as not to flood the market. No work was put up for auction in 2014. The next year was a peak for Cyprien Gaillard as he was selected for the 13th Biennale in Lyon and was introduced to the New York market by the three major auction houses, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips. A record of $193,000 was set at the year end in New York, almost double the lowest estimate.

The young Latifa ECHAKHCH (born in 1974 in El Khnansa, Morocco), who was discovered by French gallery owner Kamel Mennour in 2009 with the exhibition “Pendant que les champs brûlent“, is now showing her work at Kamel Mennour’s London gallery with her exhibition “Spring and Fall“, until November 12th, 2016. The Dubai market was the first to show an interest and therefore to highlight her auction potential, a few months before she won the Duchamp Prize. Christie’s introduced her work in an auction in Dubai with the painting “Dérives 2”, which was immediately brought for $47,500 (April 16th, 2013). Other art market centres – London, New York, Paris – then showed an interest after she received the Duchamp prize, with the $200,000 sale of her work “Sitting on Haunches Behind the Bushes Until There is No Longer Any Noise and Breathing Slowly. Then Stand Up and Walk Away”, which was sold at Phillips in London in December 2015.

With the record sales achieved by Cyprien Gaillard and Latifa Echakhch, 2015 was a good year for the promotion of French contemporary art, especially at an international level as can be seen through the auction sales. Other significant sales also highlight the emergence of French artists, notably the record sales achieved by Claude Closky (Winner of the 2005 Marcel Duchamp Prize) and Tatiana Trouvé (Winner in 2007) also in February 2015, in London. Now represented by the Perrotin, Gagosian and Johann König galleries, Tatiana Trouvé’s international visibility is now assured on the primary art market. The secondary market is now also showing interest as the introduction of her work at auction dates back to 2010, with collages sold in Paris for around $10,000 and drawings sold at around $2,000. Her works have ben rapidly included in London and New York auction catalogues, as well as Paris. One of her sculptures first reached $50,000 in Paris in 2012 (Artcurial), then Untitled (ref: cable 9) was sold at Phillips in London in 2015 for the record price of $66,900, and finally another work, Untitled , was sold for $50,000 at Phillips in New York on February 29th, 2016… A good omen for the future!

The Marcel Duchamp Prize is indeed a great opportunity for winning artists but it is still only an opportunity, which does not guarantee the artists’ future success or an immediate increase in the value of their work at auction. Some winners have not received notable international recognition after winning the prize. In fact, supply and demand remains low at auction and home-grown French artists such as Sâadane Afif (seven sales only, all in Paris) Laurent Grasso (five sales, in Paris), as well as Melik Ohanian, Daniel Dewar & Grégory Gicquel and Phillippe Mayaux, whose slow progress in the French market (with rare exceptions) do not give them access to the “springboard” of sales rooms in London and New York.

This year, the artists nominated for the 2016 Marcel Duchamp Prize are Kader ATTIA (1970), Yto BARRADA (1971), Ulla VON BRANDENBURG (1974) and Barthélémy TOGUO (1967). A grant and an exhibition at the Pompidou Centre from October 12th to January 29th, 2017 will be awarded to the winner. The 2016 winner will be announced on Tuesday, October 18th at 6pm.