LONDON.- “In my twenty-two years at Sotheby’s in London, we have not had a white glove various owner sale in my field, until tonight. The success of the sale is testament to the quality of the single owner collections and stellar works that were entrusted to us, which together drove bidding from no fewer than 40 countries. When you offer a painting of such quality as the Kossoff for the first time in thirty years, it's a thrill to be able to place it in a collection where it will shine just as it did in the Lewis Collection." -- Alex Branczik, Chairman of Modern and Contemporary Art, Sotheby’s London

Facts & Figures:

• Sale total: £131m / $176m (est. £95.7-135.7m / $128.3-182m)

• 100% sold by lot: the first various-owner white glove sale of Modern & Contemporary art staged in London

• Participation from 40 countries

• 6,000 visitors attended preview exhibition, with over 300 people in the room during the evening

• Standout results for private collections. Four private collections were offered tonight, most of which exceeded their top estimate, with some standout results:

• Masterpieces from The Lewis Collection: 100% sold, totalling £35.8m / $48m (est. £18.6-26.8m)

• Beyond the Canvas: Masterpieces from a Private German Collection, which made £20.4m / $27.3m against an estimate of £15.1-20.9m, led by Alberto Giacometti’s Femme debout which doubled its top estimate at £5.1m / $6.8m (est. £2.2-2.8m)

• A group of Impressionist & Modern works from a private collection, 100% sold - £20.7m / $27.7m (est. £17- 24m), led by Claude Monet’s Maison de jardinier (Lot 12, which sold for £8.2m / $11m (est. £6.5-8.5m)

• Contours of Modernity: 9 works, 100% sold - £9.5m / $12.7m, over top estimate (£5.7-8.2m)

• Depth of bidding across artists and price points:

• 10 bidders: Lot 16, Leon Kossoff, Children’s Swimming Pool, 11 o’clock Saturday Morning, August

• 7 bidders: Lot 25, Alberto Giacometti, Femme debout

• 6 bidders: Lot 2, Andy Warhol, Dollar Sign

• 5 bidders: Lot 1, Joseph Albers, Study for Homage to the Square: Gobelin

School of London Lifts Off:

• A quartet of masterpieces from The Lewis Collection led the sale, forming one of the most compelling presentations of School of London works ever to come to market, bringing a combined total of £35.8m / $48m (est. £18.6-26.8m)

• Francis Bacon’s searing 1972 Self-Portrait (Lot 18) sold for a punchy £16m / $21.5m (est. £8-12m), doubling its low estimate in a spirited five minute long battle

• Formerly in the Saatchi Collection and entirely fresh to market, Lucian Freud’s Blond Girl on a Bed (Lot 19) - featuring Sophie de Stempel, one of the artist’s most important models of the 1980s - sold for £7.4m / $10m (est. £6-8m)

• A Young Painter (Lot 17), a pivotal portrait by Freud last seen at auction more than half a century ago, achieved £7.2m / $9.6m (est. £4-6m)

• Leon Kossoff’s Children’s Swimming Pool, 11 o’clock Saturday Morning, August (Lot 16), widely regarded as the artist’s masterpiece, made a splash, shattering the previous £1.4m record by nearly fourfold. The work achieved £5.2m / $7m (estimate: £600,000–800,000) after an intense five‑minute battle among 10 bidders, selling for 25x its 1992 price and nearly 7x the high estimate

• Frank Auerbach’s Study for Tree on Primrose Hill (Lot 20), originally in the collection of the gallerist Valerie Beston, a devoted champion of Auerbach, Freud and Bacon, achieved well over its estimate at £704,000 / $944,000 (est. £400,000- 600,000)

Further Standout Results:

• Constantin Brancusi’s Une Muse (Lot 13), a posthumous cast belonging to the artist’s series of ovoid heads - widely considered among the most pioneering contributions to the history of modern sculpture - sold over estimate to bring £3.6m / $4.9 (est. £2-3m)

• Vilhelm Hammershøi’s The Balcony, Spurveskjul (Lot 44) - a rediscovered work, having been known only from black and white photos, and having until now remained in the family of its first owner - sold for £1.8m / $2.4m (est. £1.5-2m)

• Anselm Kiefer’s Für Velimir Chlebnikov: Lehre vom Krieg: Seeschlachten (Lot 49) went for over double its high estimate at £1.4m / $1.9m (est. £400,000-600,000)