Peker, Akyavaş top weekend auction

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Orhan Peker’s ‘Kedili Özden’ (L) and Erol Akyavaş’s ‘Kabe’ series were sold for 425,000 liras for each and made the big sales at the 19th Beyaz Müzayede Auction.

Orhan Peker’s “Kedili Özden” (Özden with a cat) and work from Erol Akyavaş’s 1989 “Kabe” Series were the big sales at the Beyaz Müzyede auction March 17-18, with 425,000 Turkish Liras bid for each.

The minimum sales estimate for Peker’s work was 250,000 liras, while Akyavaş’s work was on sale within an estimated price range of 400,000 to 550,000 liras.

The 19th Beyaz Müzayede Auction was held in two sessions March 17 and 18 at the Conrad Hotel; the first session included 186 works of art and the second session 174. Included in the auction were paintings, videos, photographs and sculptures by prominent Turkish and foreign artists.

The famous painting “Alp,” by Taner Ceylan, who broke a record in 2011 when he sold a painting for $310,000 at Sotheby’s in London, was also on included in the auction, with an estimated price range of 160,000 to 200,000 Turkish liras, and sold for the top amount.

On the second day of the auction, Fahrelnisa Zeid’s “Red Melody” sold for 325,000 liras.

Other works on sale at the auction included nine paintings by the late Turkish contemporary master Ömer Uluç and seven works by the late Ferruh Başağa, including the famous “Güvercinler/Doves.” Nine works by Musrafa Ata, one of which figures on the cover of a book about the artist published by Bilim ve Sanat Galerisi (the Science and Art Gallery), two masterworks by Güngör Taner, “Kuğunu Ölümü – Tchaikovski’ye Saygı” (The death of the Swan – Homage to Tchaikovsky) and “La Dance Symphonique,” as well as six works by Zekai Ormancı, who died prematurely in 2008.

The first session of the auction on March 17 also included works by 11 prominent non-Turkish artists, including “Prison,” a masterpiece by U.S. artist Peter Halley, a world pioneer of geometrical abstract art; “Catherina Dancing in Red Dress,” by British artist Julian Opie; and “Portrait,” painted in 1994 by German contemporary artist Marcus Lüpertz.