Spring auction rollercoaster - art auctions

Art in America, July, 1993 by David Ebony

New York auction sales in May were filled with thrills and spills as Impressionist and Modern art hit some notable peaks while contemporary art stayed in a slump. Overall total for Contemporary and impressionist and Modern sales at Sotheby's was $102.3 million, quite a bit more than the $61.3 million taken in at last year's spring sales. At Christie's, the sales total of $74.29 million topped the $71.87 million garnered last year. Some of this increase reflected the new buyer's premium at both houses: 15 percent on the first $50,000 and 10 percent on the balance.

Contemporary Art. The big news at the contemporary art auctions was the failure of both houses to sell most of the Andy Warhols offered. Things got off to a shaky start at Sotheby's on May 3, when 10 of the 12 Warhols consigned by Fred Hughes, Warhol's longtime friend, business manager and executor of his estate, were bought in. Estimated to bring $3.7 million to $5 million, only two works sold, for a total of $610,000. The two were Old Telephone (1961), for $552,500 (est. $600,000-$800,000), and Portrait of Princess Diana (1982), which sold for $57,500 (est. 60,000-$80,000).

Most of Hughes's works were from Warhol's "classic" early '60s period, but they were never shown publicly during Warhol's lifetime, nor were they signed and authenticated by the artist although he had 25 years to do so. The Warhol auction market may have suffered as well from the Warhol Foundation's offer of a 50 percent discount to more than 60 museums interested in acquiring works from its substantial holdings.

A number of works did command good prices. Top lot was de Kooning's Untitled (Black and White Abstraction) (1949-50), which was knocked down for $965,000 (est. 500,000-$600,000). Di Suvero's Che Faro senza Eurydice, a sculpture made of timber, rope and metal, sold for $470,000 (est. $500,000-$700,000) and As It Goes (1978) by Philip Guston went for $442,500 (est. 400,000-$600,000). The Garden (1967) by Agnes Martin sold for $244,500 (est. $250,000-$300,000). Artschwager's Chair (1963), from the collection of advertising mogul Charles Saatchi, brought $178,500 (est. $80,000-$100,000).

But in the end, not a single work at Sotheby's contemporary sale went for over $1 million. The sale total, $8.8 million, was less than half the house estimate of $18.4 million to $24.7 million. The disappointing results were underscored by the relatively low reserves.

Christie's contemporary auction the following evening, May 4, fared only a bit better. Of the 60 works offered, 38 sold for a total of $10.6 million, well under the auction house's estimate of $13.3 million to $17.8 million. Both Warhols in the sale failed to find buyers. Bidding on Double Marilyn (1962) stopped at $200,000 (est. $300,000-$400,000), and on Campbell Soup (1965) at $130,000 (est. $200,000-$250,000).

The star of the Christie's sale was Jackson Pollock's Number 19, 1948, which sold to an unidentified European collector for $2.4 million, well above the $2 million high estimate. Other top lots were Bacon's Study for Portrait on a Revolving Chair (1967), bought for $1,212,500 (est. $1.2 million-$1.8 million), Lichtenstein's White Brushstroke #1 (1 965), for $728,500 (est. $750,000-$950,000), Nauman's South America Circle (1981), for $464,500 (est. 350,000-$450,000), and a large marble sculpture by Louise Bourgeois titled Nature Study (1986), which sold for $200,500 (est. 200,000-$250,000).

Highlights of Christie's contemporary art sale the following afternoon included Rebecca Horn's untitled 1989 motorized sculpture of dancing shoes, which sold for $43,700, nearly double the high estimate. A Cady Noland wall sculpture, Model for Entropy (1 984), sold for $21,850 (est. 10,000-$15,000), and Nam June Paik's multimedia portrait of Laurie Anderson (1988) sold for $40,250 (est. $35,000-$45,000).

Impressionist & Modern. Modern and Impressionist sales at both houses the following week produced some healthy prices--without the help of a single Japanese buyer. At Sotheby's evening sale on May 11, nine paintings sold for more than $1 million each, and the sale total, $75.9 million, was the highest at that house since 1990 when $77 million was reached. A new auction record was set for Cezanne when Still Life with Apples (1890-94) sold to an unidentified telephone bidder for $28.6 million (est. $12 million-$15 million). The painting was consigned by Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos, who had bought it for $252,000 from Sotheby's London in 1958. The previous auction record for a Cezanne was $17.1 million for a painting sold at Christie's London in November 1989.

Among other big prices were $14.3 million for Matisse's Fatma, the Mulatto (1912) (est. $10 million-$13 million), $6.7 million for Renoir's Woman in a Garden (1873), and $3.8 million for Braque's Echo (1953-56), also from the Embiricos collection. Dali's La Montre Molle (1949), a painting of a soft watch, sold for $662,500 (est. $350,000-$450,000).

At Christie's Impressionist and Modern sale on May 12, 48 of the 60 works sold for a total of $48.5 million, above the low estimate of $45 million. Nine works brought over $1 million each. The highest price was $9.6 million paid by an unidentified European collector for Monet's Jetty at Havre (1868), a large, rather somber seascape. A faint round of applause greeted the hammer as it fell at $6.3 million for Danseuses Russes, a colorful 1895 pastel by Edgar Degas. This was nearly double its high estimate of $2.5 to $3.5 million.