Contemporary Art 1945-1974, 3rd/4th April 1974

Artists: Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Richard Smith, Jim Dine, Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, Lucio Fontana, Cy Twombly, Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, Allen Jones, Phillip King, Peter Phillips, Dan Flavin et al. 
Author: Various
Publisher: Sotheby's
Date: 3rd/4th April 1974 
Condition: Generally good, a few handling marks and creases to the cover and some wear to the spine edges. Also with a separate loose sheet with map detailing off-site viewing at The Mall Galleries

Well, just look at this! The concept of a colour-cover, fully illustrated auction catalogue of a sale of contemporary art in the 1970s was absolutely new, and this sale, which took place the year after the ground-breaking Robert & Ethel Scull auction at Sotheby's New York, is filled with not only things that would make the mouth of any modern collector of post-war art water, but offers a fascinating snapshot of how the auction houses were looking to reinvent a market.

Until this point, the secondary market for major contemporary art was largely through the gallery system, but having seen that there was clearly a space for it in the auction calendar, the houses got stuck in. This catalogue, in a period when most had a plain card cover, few illustrations and those largely in black and white, is remarkably lavish. It had an evening sale session (starting at 9pm, no less, to catch the US buyers perhaps?), something that was very much a marker of swankiness, and every lot in this first part is given a double spread and a colour image.

Defining the period covered by the work included to a thirty year window ending with what was then today was also a serious marker that contemporary art had come of age and could stand alone.

The works included are of extremely high quality and also give a sense of the taste of the time - lots of Warhol plus the kind of American colour-field artists London audiences would be familiar with from shows at Kasmin, such as Noland and Louis, as well as we-known Europeans such as Fontana, Arman and Christo. Interestingly, and giving a sense of their standing at the time, alongside these artists are British figures like Richard Smith, Alan Jones, Phillip King, Peter Blake and Peter Phillips, something that one might not find in a comparable auction today. The viewing was off-site, another innovation, using the large white spaces of The Mall Galleries rather than the more traditional rooms at New Bond Street.

All in all, a document that is testament to a seismic shift in the art market as well as a record of some astounding post-war art.