Phillips Auction House Lands a Big One - Brief Article

Art in America, May, 2000 by David Ebony

As auction giants Christie's and Sotheby's continue to grapple with an ongoing federal investigation regarding possible collusion [see "Front Page," Apr. '00], Phillips, a smaller auction house, is doing brisk business. One of the highlights of Phillips's spring sales, to be held May 11 through May 19, at the American Craft Museum, is a rare painting by Kasimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition (1923-25), being sold by his heirs [see "Artworld," Oct. '99]. Estimated to sell for more than $10 million, the work is the most expensive lot Phillips has ever handled. To date, the 206-year-old, London-based company's top lot is a Monet seascape, which sold for $2.5 million in 1998. This season's Impressionist and modern art auction at Phillips, which includes the Malevich along with works by Picasso, Monet and Cezanne, is estimated to bring over $80 million, about 20 times the firm's usual earnings for a single spring sale.

The bonanza is not completely attributable to the legal dilemmas and recent rate hikes at the bigger auction houses (Phillips still charges a buyers fee of 15 percent on the first $50,000 and 10 percent of the remainder). Phillips's new owner, Bernard Arnault, chairman of the French conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has been trying to raise the profile of the auction house. Many experts believe that Phillips offered the Malevich heirs a hefty guarantee, in the vicinity of $15 million, to keep the painting out of the hands of competitors. Meanwhile, Christie's and Sotheby's are upbeat about their upcoming spring sales, in spite of the fact that neither is handling important estates this season. For auctions of Impressionist and modern art, each house expects to take in around $200 million, a figure consistent with spring earnings in previous years.