Auction houses in full boom

Art in America, Sept, 2004 by David Ebony

This past spring and summer, art auction totals went through the roof at sales in the U.S. and abroad. New York's important evening auctions of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art at the city's two biggest houses, Christie's and Sotheby's, were the most successful in years. Sotheby's came out on top, realizing $403.6 million, including the $104.3 million for a single painting, Picasso's 1905 Boy with a Pipe [See "Artworld," June/July '04]. The total was greater than the house's $244.1-million fall earnings, and far outshone its $123.6-million take a year ago. Christie's also had a strong season, pulling in $204.6 million. The figure was somewhat below the $223.5-million total the company garnered in the fall, but far surpassed its $161.5-million earnings last year. Christie's was also responsible this season for realizing the first-ever $100-million auction of postwar and contemporary art, on the evening of May 11. Participating only in the contemporary-art arena, Phillips, de Pury & Co. (the new company name resulting from the departure of Daniella Luxembourg early in the spring) pulled in $25.9 million.

Final prices quoted here include the auction house commissions: Sotheby's and Phillips, de Pury & Co. charge 20 percent of the first $100,000 and 12 percent of the rest; Christie's commission is 19.5 percent of the first $100,000 and 12 percent of any amount beyond that. Estimates do not reflect commissions.

Impressionist and Modern

The season opener, Christie's evening sale of Impressionist and modern art on May 4, was not a resounding success, although it achieved some record-breaking prices. The night's total, $56.6 million, was below the $64.9-million low estimate, and seven of the 39 works offered failed to sell. Considerable excitement, however, was generated by six works being deaccessioned by the Museum of Modern Art to support its acquisitions fund. One of these, The Great Metaphysician, a landmark 1917 painting by Giorgio de Chirico, was the evening's star lot. A tall canvas showing an abstracted figure towering above a starkly lit Renaissance piazza, the work sold for $7.2 million, within its $7-10-million presale estimate. A large, stunning Redon pastel still life from the collection of the late Doris Duke, Vase with Japanese Warrior (ca. 1905), brought $3,8 million, well above its $3-million high estimate, and a record auction price for the artist. Tamara de Lempicka's auction record was broken when her 1929 Portrait of Mrs. Bush brought a whopping $4.6 million (est. $1.2-1.6 million).

The following evening's auction at Sotheby's was an historic event. A single-owner sale of works from the collection of the late Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney, undertaken to benefit the Whitney family's philanthropic Greentree Foundation, the auction garnered a staggering $189.9 million. The total was significantly greater than the evening's $157-million high estimate, and only two of the 34 lots offered were bought in. Although Picasso's Boy with a Pipe attracted the most press attention, having brought the largest sum ever paid for a work at auction, the sale featured numerous huge prices and several other record-breaking lots.

The evening's second-highest seller was Manet's 1872 equestrian painting, Races at the Beis de Boulogne, which sold for a hefty $26.3 million (est. $20-30 million). Another large painting of horses, Alfred J. Munnings's The Red Prince Mare (1921), trounced its $6-million high estimate to sell for $7.8 million, the artist's highest auction price to date. Among the sale's other highlights were two still lifes: Bazille's lush Pot of Flowers (1866), which garnered $5.3 million (est. $4-6 million), a record auction price for the artist, and Picasso's vibrant 1944 Tomato Plant, which shot past its $4-million high estimate to sell for $6.8 million. One of the evening's rarest gems was William Blake's visionary work on paper The Good and Evil Angels Struggling for the Possession of a Child (1795-1805). Soaring high above its $1.5-million high estimate, the work sold for $3.9 million, another artist auction record.

Riding the wave of success of the Whitney sale, Sotheby's auction of Impressionist and modern art, on May 6, was also strong. The night's $96.1-million total was near the $99-million high estimate, and 42 of 52 lots offered sold. The top lot, Monet's large Water lilies (1917-19), from the collection of Fran and Ray Stark, realized $16.8 million, well above its $12-million high estimate. Picasso's 1932 painting The Rescue was knocked down for $14.8 million (est. $10-15 million), and another Picasso, a large Seated Nude (1959), blasted its $3-4-million high estimate, selling for $11.8 million. A large canvas by Balthus, Golden Afternoon (1957), showing a young girl reclining by a window, brought $3.8 million (est. $4-6 million), a record auction price for the artist.

Contemporary

The extraordinary strength of Impressionist and modern works this past spring hel0ed turn up the heat in the contemporary-art field, which was already sizzling in the past few seasons. The result was a record-breaking evening for postwar and contemporary art at Christie's on May 11, which brought in $102.1 million, approaching the night's $105-million high estimate. Only 7 of 67 works offered failed to find buyers, and 6 new artist records were established, including one for Jackson Pollock, whose No. 12 (1949), a medium-size drip painting on paper, was the evening's top lot The work, being deaccessioned by MOMA to benefit its acquisitions fund, demolished its $7-million high estimate and sold for $11.7 million.