Spring auctions shatter records

Will the boom last forever? Many observers of the over-heated auction world predicted a cooling-off period after last fall's feverish art sales [see "Front Page" Jan. '07]. But this past spring's auctions at all three major New York houses provided yet another round of art-market milestones. After a fortnight of day and evening sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art, Christie's wound up on top with a hefty $760.2-million total, less than its $866.4-million fall earnings, but far above its $438.8-million spring take a year ago. Sotheby's also did exceptionally well, pulling in a whopping $681.8 million, above its $476.3-million fall total and the $433.4 million it garnered last year. Participating only in the contemporary art field, Phillips de Pury & Co. raked in $48.3 million, an increase over the $41.2 million it has generated in each of the past two seasons.

Final prices quoted here include the auction-house commissions. All three major houses charge identical rates--20 percent of the first $500,000 (up from $200,000 last season) and 12 percent of the rest. Estimates do not factor in the commission charges.

Impressionist and Modern

Sotheby's opened the season with a successful evening sale of Impressionist and modern works on May 8. Despite its lack of blockbuster lots, the auction realized $278.5 million, approaching its $295.8-million presale high estimate. Only 6 of the 61 lots offered failed to sell. The top lot, Cezanne's watercolor Still Life with Green Melon (I 902-06), brought $25.5 million, well above its $18-million high estimate, and the highest price ever paid at auction for a work on paper by the artist_ Second was Lyonel Feininger's 1915 Expressionist painting Jesuits III, which trounced its $9-million high estimate to sell for $23.3 million, a record for the artist at auction. Other auction records were set for Marino Marini, whose painted-wood sculpture of a horse and rider, L'idea del Cavaliere, sold for $7 million (est. $6-8 million); and Theo van Doesburg, whose diamond-shaped painting Contra-Composition VII (I 924) went for $4.2 million, far above its $2.5-million high estimate.

The following night, Christie's produced a similarly consistent and strong sale, which totaled $236.5 million, near its $245-million high estimate. Of the 78 lots offered 10 were bought in. The evening's top three lots sold for $18.5 million each: Picasso's Head of a Woman (1921), painted in his Classical style (est. $14-18 million), Alberto Giacometti's 1950 bronze Falling Man (est. $6.5-13.5 million) and Juan Gris's 1915 painting Pot of Geraniums (est. $14-18 million), auction records for both Giacometti and Gris. Among the evening's other highlights were Paul Signac's seascape Stem of the Tub (1888), which was bought for $11.7 million (est. $6-8 million), another artist auction record, and Miro's large bronze Project for a Monument (1981),which went for $9.9 million, the highest price ever paid at auction for a Miro sculpture.

Contemporary

Sotheby's May 15 evening auction of contemporary works was one of the most highly anticipated of the season, and it did not disappoint. The night's $254.8-million total was just shy of its $265-million high estimate, and only 9 of the 74 lots offered went unsold. Fifteen new artist auction records were established, including one for Mark Rothko, whose painting White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) was the evening's top lot. The large, brightly colored 1950 canvas was from the collection of David Rockefeller, who purchased the work in 1960 for under $10,000 and promised to donate the auction proceeds to various charities. A hush fell over the jam-packed auction room as bidding climbed above the piece's $40-million presale high estimate. After a prolonged bidding war, an anonymous phone bidder paid $72.8 million for the painting, the largest sum ever paid at auction for a contemporary work.

A number of other enormous prices were realized that night. Francis Bacon's painting of a pope, Study from Innocent X (1962), smashed its unpublished $30-million estimate to sell for $52.7 million,an auction record for the artist. Jean-Michel Basquiat's untitled 1981 painting went for $14.6 million (est. $6-8 million), and

Robert Rauschenberg's Photograph, a 1959 Combine, was knocked down for $10.7 million (est. $10-15 million), new auction highs for both artists. Peter Doig's large canvas The Architect's Home in the Ravine (1991) fetched $3.6 million, far above its $1.8-million high estimate, and Louise Bourgeois's tall bronze Sleeping Figure (1959) brought $1.9 million (est. $500,000-700,000).

Setting other artist auction records, a shaped canvas by Tom Wesselmann, Smoker # 17 (I 975), went for $5.9 million (est. $2.5-3.5 million), Hans Hofmann's 1959 abstraction Jardin d'Amour sold for $2.1 million (est. $800,000-1.2 million), and David Park's Standing Male Nude in the Shower (ca. 1955-57) brought $1.1 million. New auction highs were also established for Dan Flavin ($1.4 million), Morris Louis ($1.8 million) and Jim Hodges ($689,600). While the sale's flops were few, notable among them were several works by Jackson Pollock, whose estimates, according to some experts, were inflated.

While the Sotheby's auction seemed nearly impossible to beat, the next night Christie's managed to pull off the most successful contemporary art auction ever. Its $384.6-million take was well above the night's $305.5-million presale high estimate. Only 4 of 78 works offered failed to find buyers, and 16 new artist auction records were set. The top lot, a 1963 painting from Andy Warhors "Disaster" series, Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I), demolished its $35-million high estimate, selling to an anonymous buyer for $71.7 million, a record auction price for the artist. Warhol generated another large sum with his 1962 Lemon Marilyn, which sold for $28 million, far above its unpublished $18-million estimate.

Among the evening's numerous highlights was Jasper Johns's painting Figure 4 (1959), which brought $17.4 million, above the unpublished $14-million high estimate, and an auction high for the artist. Arshile Gorky's Khorkum, a Surrealist-tinged 1938 abstraction, generated $4.2 million (est. $2.5-3 million), a new auction high for the artist. A Donald Judd stack, Untitled 1977 (77-41 Bernstein), was bought for $9.8 million (est. $5-7 million), and a stainless steel medicine cabinet lined with pills, Lullaby Winter (2002) by Damien Hirst, sold for $7.4 million (est. $2.3-3.5 million), auction records for those artists.

Agnes Martin's auction record was shattered when her 1965 painting The Desert brought $4.7 million (est. $4-5 million), and a new record was also established for Eva Hesse, whose sculpture Iterate (1966-67) sold for $4.5 million (est. $3-4 million). Richard Artschwager's 1974 painting Interior with Sideboard I went for $1.3 million (est. $400,000-600,000), a record for the artist, and Noble and Webster's glowing 1996 wall relief "Forever" brought $420,000 (est. $350,000-$450,000). Among the sale's other high points were record-smashing lots by Richard Prince ($2.8 million), Cindy Sherman ($2.1 million), Cecily Brown ($1.6 million) and Lisa Yuskavage ($1.4 million).

The fervent mood of the auction crowd continued at the season's final evening sale at Phillips de Pury & Co. on May 17. While the sale had a few erratic moments, the night's total, $33.3 million, exceeded the $30.8 million presale high estimate. Only 6 of the 74 works offered were bought in, and 14 new artist auction records were set. The top lot was a 1965 Warhol, Colored Campbell's Soup Can, which went for $3.4 million (est. $3-4 million). An untitled 1962 sculpture by John Chamberlain set a new auction record for the artist when it sold for $1.4 million, well above the $900,000 high estimate. But the excitement of the auction, as in recent seasons at this house, was in testing the market clout of works by less-established artists. An untitled 2004 wall relief by David Hammons, for example, an assemblage made of African masks and found objects, sold for $1.5 million (est. $1.5-2 million), a record auction price for Hammons.

Among other highlights of the evening were record-setting lots by Rudolf Stingel, whose untitled 2002 silvery etched insulation panel brought $734,400, wildly above its $80,000 high estimate, and Rosemarie Trockel, whose 1990 bronze Creature of Habit 2 (Deer) sold for $312,000 (est. $ 100,000-150,000). A stainless-steel scholar's rock, Artificial Rock #42 by Zhan Wang, realized $288,000 (est. $ 100,000-150,000), and another glitzy work, Anselm Reyle's untitled purple foil relief (2005) sold for $192,000 (est. $25,000-35,000), new auction records for both artists. Artist auction records were also set for Jiri George Dokoupil, whose large 1984 painting Cigarette with Matches (from the Pacifier Series) went for $312,000 (est. $80,000-100,000), and Francesco Vezzoli, whose 1999 embroidered photo piece, Crying Divas from the Screenplays of an Embroiderer I, sold for $300,000 (est. $120,000-180,000).

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