Art sells in Cyprus, despite crisis

Psatharis auction raises €165,000

Psatharis Auction House held its fifth auction at the Hilton Hotel in Nicosia last week where 50 of the 88 works on offer were sold with a sale total of EUR 165,480. This compared to a similar sale rate at the previous auction held in October that raised 278,761 euros, primarily for works by George Pol Georghiou that sold collectively for 70,350 euros.
Once again, works by G. Pol Georghiou attracted the most attention with his “Nude” (pictured at right) selling for 31,657 euros, within the pre-auction estimate of 25,000-35,000 euros. There was particular interest in Cypriot and Greek artists such as Demetris Yerou’s “The Apple” that sold for 5,397, slightly above the estimate range of 3,000-5,000 euros. Yiannis Gaites’ “Spectators of Peace” fetched 6,097 euros, a margin above the estimate of 4,000-6,000 euros.
A lot of interest was also shown in Xanthos Hadjisoteriou’s works, all three having been sold at the auction at above-estimate prices, such as “Madonna With Carnation” (6,448 euros), “The Red Pithari” (5,159) and “The 4 Virgins” (5,862). There was also interest in John Corbidge’s works “Sailing Off From Ancient Amathounda,” “Workshops in Ancient Amathounda” selling for 5,276 euros, while his “Aphrodite” sold at the lower scale of the estimate at 5,862 euros.
Other sales included Andreas Ladomatos “Old Nicosia” (5,862 euros), George Skotinos “The Horses” (5,276), Nicos Kouroushis “Untitled” (4,690), Victor Ioannides “Female Figure” (4,455), George Skotinos “Horses” (5,276), Stelios Votsis “Untitled” (4,103) and Andreas Karayian “Loneliness on the Nicosia Road” (4.690).
The next auction will be held in October.