Artprice: The Art Market Confirms Robert Combas as One of France's Major Living Artists
PARIS, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past two years the value of Robert Combas' paintings (1957) has risen 40%. His large acrylics, especially those created in the late 1980s, now regularly fetch above $100,000 at auctions.
thierry Ehrmann: "With his market looking particularly dynamic, Robert Combas is today the second most sought-after living French artist after Pierre Soulages. Although his paintings still fetch much less than those of France's grand master of abstraction, his latest auction results suggest a rapid growth in demand and an expansion of his market as far as Asia."
In June 2017, the Chinese auction house Ravenel set a new auction record for Combas in Taiwan when his The Sun King (1987) sold for $214,500 (including fees). A year later, on 4 April 2018, La Prise de la Bastille (c.1989) and La bagarre de Zozo (1986) were each sold for $220,000 in Paris.
Boosted by these successive auction records, the enfant terrible of the Figuration Libre movement has proved he is still the best representative of French painting on the Contemporary Art Market.
As thierry Ehrmann puts it: "Combas is a one of our giants... he already has more than 5,000 auction results to his name..
Artprice Indicator: Value of The Sun King (1987) from 2000 to 2019
© Artprice.com
2018 was an excellent year for Robert Combas: 184 works were sold generating a total of $4.75 million. The market is trading more than forty years of artistic creation from his first canvases dated 1979 (the year he left art school in Saint-Etienne) to his most recent works.
However, the strongest demand focuses on works he produced from 1985 to 1995. Encouraged by rising prices, more and more collectors are selling major works they have sometimes kept for more than 20 years generating a virtuous market circle as Combas gains additional visibility.
The results speak for themselves: 8 of his top 10 auction results have been hammered since 2017.
Top 10 Best Auction Results for Robert Combas
© Artprice.com
Ranking - Work - Price - Sale (date and place)
- La bagarre de Zozo (1986) – $220 350 - 04/04/2018, Artcurial, Paris
- La prise de la Bastille (c. 1989) – $219 200 - 04/04/2018, Desbenoit, Paris
- Le Roi Soleil (1987) – $212 500 - 03/06/2017, Ravenel, Taïwan
- Il suffit de passer le pont (1992) – $212 400 - 19/03/2019, Sotheby's Paris
- Louis XIV (1985) – $207 700 - 28/03/2013, Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris
- Le chien à cinq pattes (1987) – $190 500 - 05/06/2018, Artcurial, Paris
- La charrette des Condamnés (c. 1979) – $190 000 - 04/06/2018, Desbenoit, Paris
- La gitane amoureuse (1988) – $184 500 - 03/12/2018, Artcurial, Paris
- Les 4 peluches de l'Ave Maria (1987) – $176 500 - 04/04/2012, Artcurial, Paris
- Nolon (1987) – $169 500 - 06/12/2017 – Sotheby's, Paris
With France accounting for 87% of his lots sold, the core of Combas' market remains French. However, his works are now selling well beyond France and Belgium, having already reached England and even Asia. The American market has so far resisted his prolific painting practice which is reminiscent of Keith Haring's.
Robert Combas' paintings now sell for somewhere between $15,000 and $200,000, depending on the size of the work, its subject, its provenance, etc. However, many of his works on paper are still accessible for less than $10,000, while his prints and his three-dimensional multiples usually change hands for between $1,000 and $5,000.
In the fall of 2018, the Parisian gallery Laurent Strouk presented his most recent works, created during the previous summer in Sète, a town on France's Mediterranean coast where Combas lived as a child.
The exhibition entitled Le Théâtre de la Mer showed his latest paintings, but also his latest sculptures, as well as some pieces of furniture (chairs, lamps, rugs). Indeed, Robert Combas has never limited his creativity to any particular medium and has always given free rein to his inspiration... including T-shirts, trousers, guitars and a variety of other formats.
As his latest auction results show, Robert Combas is enjoying a new international visibility. Most of his production is still affordable, but that could soon change. His prices have shown strong long-term growth, +500% since 2000, that has accelerated over the last 24 months.
Copyright ©2019 thierry Ehrmann – www.artprice.com
Try our services (free demo):
https://www.artprice.com/artist/23640/baishi-qi
Subscribe to our services:
https://www.artprice.com/subscription
About Artprice:
Artprice is listed on the Eurolist by Euronext Paris, SRD long only and Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF.
Founded by thierry Ehrmann (see Who's who certified Biography ) (c) https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2019/03/2019-bio-whoswho-thierry-ehrmann.pdf).
Dicover Artprice in video: https://www.artprice.com/video
Artprice is the global leader in art price and art index databanks. It has over 30 million indices and auction results covering more than 700,000 artists. Artprice Images® gives unlimited access to the largest Art Market resource in the world: a library of 126 million images or prints of artworks from the year 1700 to the present day, along with comments by Artprice's art historians.
Artprice permanently enriches its databanks with information from 6,300 auctioneers and it publishes a constant flow of art market trends for the world's principal news agencies and approximately 7,200 international press publications.
For its 4,500,000 members, Artprice gives access to the world's leading Standardised Marketplace for buying and selling art. Artprice is preparing its blockchain for the Art Market. It is BPI-labelled (scientific national French label) Artprice's Global Art Market Annual Report for 2018 published last March 2019: https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2018
Artprice is associated with Artron Group the Chinese leader in the Art Market, its solid institutional partner.
About the Artron Group:
Artron Art Group (Artron), a comprehensive cultural industrial group founded in 1993 by Wan jie, is committed to inheriting, enhancing and spreading art value. Based on abundant art data, Artron provides art industry and art fans with professional service and experience of quality products by integrated application of IT, advanced digital science and innovative crafts and materials.
Having produced more than 60,000 books and auction catalogues, Artron is the world's largest art book printer with a total print volume of 300 million a year. It has more than 3 million professional members in the arts sector and an average of 15 million daily visits, making it the world's leading art website.
Artron's Web: www.Artron.net
Artprice's Contemporary Art Market Annual Report for 2018 - free access at:
https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-contemporary-art-market-report-2018
Artprice's press releases:
http://serveur.serveur.com/Press_Release/pressreleaseen.htm
https://twitter.com/artpricedotcom
Artmarket News:
https://twitter.com/artpricedotcom & https://twitter.com/artmarketdotcom
https://www.facebook.com/artpricedotcom 4 million subscribers
http://artmarketinsight.wordpress.com/
Discover the Alchemy and the universe of Artprice http://web.artprice.com/video, which headquarters are the famous Museum of Contemporary Art, the Abode of Chaos: https://issuu.com/demeureduchaos/docs/demeureduchaos-abodeofchaos-opus-ix-1999-2013
The Contemporary Art Museum The Abode of Chaos
https://www.facebook.com/la.demeure.du.chaos.theabodeofchaos999 3.6 million subscribers
Contact: Thierry Ehrmann [email protected]
SOURCE Artprice.com
Related Links
WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?
Newsrooms &
Influencers
Digital Media
Outlets
Journalists
Opted In
Share this article