Auction highlights 2002 in review - Prices paid for Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art

Art in America, August, 2003

Listed below are highlights from the spring and fall 2002 auction season, featuring works of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art from five of New York's most prominent auction houses. Each entry provides the artist's name, title of work, date, final price, the work's presale estimate and the date of sale.

Final prices quoted here include commission rates, which vary. Christie's and Sotheby's charged 19.5 percent of the first $100,000 and 10 percent of the rest. In the spring, Phillips charged 15 percent on the first $50,000 and 10 percent on the remainder. In the fall. its rates matched those of Christie's and Sotheby's. Doyle charged 17.5 percent of the first $75,000, 10 percent of the rest. Swarm charged 15 percent for the first $50,000 and 10 percent for anything above. Estimates do not reflect commissions.

Sotheby's

Spring:

Paul Cezanne, Pitcher and Plate of Pears (1890-93), $16.7 million (est. $14-$18 million), May 8.

Juan Gris, Pot of Geraniums (1915), $8.5 million (est. $6-$8 million), May 8.

Tamara de Lempicka, The Musician (1929), $2.6 million (est. $1-$1.5 million), May 8.

Gerhard Richter, Candle (1982), $3.9 million (est. $2.5-$3.5 million), May 15.

Andy Warhol, Self Portrait (1986), $3.1 million (est. $1.5-$2 million), May 15.

Richard Tuttle, Letters (The 26 Series), 1966, $1.1 million (est. $500,000-$700,000), May 15.

John Currin, Entertaining Mr. Acker Bilk (1995), $427,500 (est. $400,000-$600,000), May 15.

Fall:

Claude Monet, Waterlilies (1906), $18.7 million (est. $16-$20 million), Nov. 5.

Amedeo Modigliani, Giovanotto dai Capelli Rossi (1919), $8.5 million (est. $6-$8 million), Nov. 5.

Willem de Kooning, Orestes (1947), $13.2 million (est. $8-$10 million), Nov. 12.

Franz Kline, Ninth Street (1951), $4.5 million (est. $4-$6 million), Nov. 12.

Wayne Thiebaud, Freeways (1975-79), $3.1 million (est. $1.5-$2 million), Nov. 12.

Christie's

Spring:

Constantin Brancusi, Danaide (ca. 1913), $18.2 million (est. $8-$10 million), May 7.

Gustave Caillebotte, Soldier (1881), $6.4 million (est. $2.5-$3.5 million), May 7.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Profit I (1982), $5.5 million (est. $3-$5 million), May 14.

Louise Bourgeois, Blind Man's Buff (1984), $1.4 million (est. $600,000-$800,000), May 14.

Asger Jorn, In the Beginning Was the Image (1965), $2.1 million (est. $900,000-$1.2 million), May 14.

Robert Indiana, The American Sweetheart (1959), $614,500 (est. $400,000-$600,000), May 14.

Julian Schnabel, Adieu Batista (1985), $361,500 (est. $200,000-$300,000), May 14.

Fall:

Pablo Picasso, Mother and Child (1951), $6.7 million (est. $5-$7 million), Nov. 6.

Alexej von Jawlensky, Young Woman with Green Eyes (ca. 1910), $3.3 million (est. $1.2-$1.6 million), Nov. 6.

Roy Lichtenstein, Happy Tears (1964), $7.2 million (est. $5-$7 million), Nov. 13.

David Hockney, Portrait of Nick Wilder (1966), $2.9 million (est. $2.5-$3.5 million), Nov. 13.

Morris Louis, Untitled (1959-60), $1.7 million (est. $700,000-$900,000), Nov. 13.

Jean Dubuffet, Mademoiselle Neon (1948), $1.1 million (est. $900,000-$1.2 million), Nov. 13.

Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg

Francis Bacon, Study for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes (1964), $6.7 million (est. $5-$7 million), May 13.

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain (1917/64), $1.3 million (est. $500,000-$700,000), May 13.

Lyonel Feininger, The Newspaper Reader (1909), $2.2 million (est. $1.7-$2 million), Nov. 4.

Franz Marc, Crouching Deer (1911), $1 million (est. $700,000-$900,000), Nov. 4.

Jeff Koons, Self-Portrait (1991), $2 million (est. $1.5-$2 million), Nov. 11.

Claes Oldenburg, Light Switches (1964), $691,500 (est. $500,000-$700,000), Nov. 11.

Blinky Palermo, Stoffbild (1969), $669,500 (est. $500,000-$700,000), Nov. 11.

Keith Haring, Untitled (1988), $196,500 (est. $100,000-$150,000), Nov. 11.

Chris Ofili, Mono Rojo (2000), $101,575 (est. $80,000-$120,000), Nov. 11.

Doyle

Zao Wou-Ki, Untitled (1959), $77,675 (est. $25,000-$35,000), Nov. 5.

Tony Smith, Untitled (1957), $26,290 (est. $15,000-$20,000), Nov. 5.

Sir John Lavery, The Beach, Evening, Tangier Bay (1920), $174,500 (est $80,000-$120,000), Dec. 10.

Swann

Ben Shahn, Seward Park (1936), lithograph, $29,900 (est. $25,000-$35,0000), May 2.

Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa (1893-94), woodcut, $52,900 (est. $45,000-$65,000), Sept. 18.

Georges Rouault, Christ en Croix (1936), gouache, $34,500 (est. $30,000-$50,000), Sept. 18.