Records smashed at fall auctions - Front Page - art sales at auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips de Pury and Luxembour

Art in America, Jan, 2004 by David Ebony

No. 3 (1953-54), a large painting by Joan Mitchell, shot past its $400,000-$600,000 estimate to sell for $903,500, an auction record for the artist, while Andy Warhors small Self Portrait painting, part of the series upon which the current U.S. 37-cent postage stamp is based, went for $1.4 million (est. $700,000-$900,000). While the sale was an overall success, there were a few notable casualities, including important lots by Yves Klein, Roy Lichtenstein and David Smith.

The totals at Sotheby's the following night were even more impressive. The evening's take was $74.6 million (the presale estimate was $66.9-$92.6 million), with 55 of the 68 lots sold and seven new artist auction records established. De Kooning's classic Ab-Ex work Spike's Folly 1 (1959) was the top lot, bringing $11.2 million (est. $10-$15 million). Second was a large Rothko, Number 8 (White Stripe), 1958, which brought $8.9 million (est. $8-$10 million). Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 painting Untitled (Two Heads on Gold) sold for $4.6 million (est. $2.5-$3.5 million); and David Smith's small 1959 bronze Walking Dida brought $1.5 million, about double its high estimate. Brice Marden's 10 (Dialog 2), 1987-88. went for $2.5 million (est. $2-$3 million), a record price for the artist at auction.

Agnes Martin's auction record was broken when her spare white Leaves (1966), from the Vera G. List estate, was knocked down for $2.6 million (est. $1.8-$2.2 million). New auction highs were also reached for Hans Hofmann, whose 1963 abstraction In Upper Regions brought $1.1 million (est. $400,000-$600,000), and Susan Rothenberg, whose painting of a pair of horses, Layering (1974-76), sold for $1 million (est. $600,000-$800,000).

Andreas Gursky's large photo, Chicago Board of Trade (1997), brought $478,500, far above its $350,000 high estimate. And, for the second night in a row, Lee Bontecou wowed the auction crowd when her untitled 1959-60 wall-hung construction zoomed past its $70,000 high estimate to sell for $456,000, a record price for the artist at auction.

On Thursday evening, Nov. 13, Phillips conducted a successful sale of contemporary works. The night's $11-million total was near the $11.4-million high presale estimate, and only 6 of the 55 works offered were bought in. Record prices were attained for 11 artists. The top lot was Damien Hirst's 2001 sculpture Something Solid Beneath the Surface of All Creatures Great and Small, consisting of a large metal-framed glass cabinet containing various animal skeletons. The work sold for $1.16 million (est. $800,000-$1.2 million), a record auction price for the artist. Among other stellar prices were $460,500 for Richard Prince's Untitled (Cowboy), 1999, several times its $120,000 high estimate, and $427,500 for Luc Tuymans's Within, a large painting of a cage, far above its $200,000 high estimate; these were auction records for both artists. New highs were also set for the young German figurative painter Daniel Richter, whose large canvas Gedian (2002) brought $240,500 (est. $40,000-$60,000); the late Juan Munoz, whose sculpture Looking Sideways (1996-97) sold for $185,500 (est. $100,000-$150,000); and Wire Delvoye, whose stained-glass sculpture St. Stephanus 11 (1990) went for $89,650 (est. $50,000-$70,000). A found-object-and-light sculpture by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Wasted Youth (2000), brought $218,500 (est. $100,000-$150,000), and a Pierre et Gilles photo, Madonna of the Sacred Heart (1991) brought $196,500 (est. $40,000-$60,000); these were auction records for both artist-teams.