Given the state of the world in the build-up to the sales last week, with a forthcoming US election and a rapidly escalating war in Ukraine (amongst many other factors), it was a miracle the auction houses managed to collate the sales that they did. Outside of two fabulous single owner collections I was amazed by the strength of the results. The Miller Sale (216m USD; put together over 25 years by the advisor, and friend, David Norman) and the Ertegun Sale (189m USD) were stunning collections which formed the backbones of the sale series this term. The expected paucity of work on offer in the multi-owner sales was overhyped and in fact, judging by Christie’s results in particular, we saw great prices for individually sourced lots too. I was constantly reassured by clients that despite the potential issues surrounding a Trump presidency it would let the handbrake off all markets and the thought of tax cuts and future deregulation was a significant reason for strong results across the board.
As ever, quality is everything and the best works that were fresh to market boasting come-get-me estimates made the highest figures. Those paintings that were sub-par or overestimated struggled. The very top pieces had been presold to irrevocable bids which rather skewed the market at the top end but given the state of the world it was unsurprising that sellers with most to lose wanted to limit their losses in avoiding a work being unsold, which dramatically harms the value of the work when next offered. The world of the Irrevocable Bid has been a fruitful one for many collectors (with the help of advisors in particular) and it is a brilliant method to buy works at a set price, or else make money.
Sotheby’s led the charge with a series of high-profile auctions at York Avenue. The Miller sale was headlined by Claude Monet’s ‘Nymphéas’ (1914-1915), which sold for $66m after an intense bidding war. This was an astonishing price for a work without a signature (it was stamped ‘Claude Monet’ after the artist’s death) but highlights the rarity of the large-scale waterlilies. Another standout was Wassily Kandinsky’s stupefyingly marvellous abstract: ‘White Oval’, which sold for 22m USD but really deserved more given its date. The 1930s paintings, though larger, have often made bigger sums.
In the contemporary arena, Maurizio Cattelan’s conceptual piece Comedian, featuring a banana taped to a wall, fetched $6.2m after much fanfare. It was a brilliant, awful, fabulous, infuriating and hysterical result: much like the artwork itself. I was lucky enough to bump into the lovely fruit vendor, Malakam, outside the Sotheby’s building and laughed with him as it appeared he had been selling his banana bunches to staff for mere cents – what an uplift! The sale overall highlighted the market’s appetite for great pieces from blue chip artists over the cutting edge work executed since 2010. Richard Prince, Willem De Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein and Ed Ruscha all saw strong results. Perhaps signalling the popping of a bubble-like 2010s market: the Jeff Koons work, ‘Woman in a tub’ failed to sell at 10m USD. I would be careful with the superstar ‘90s artists in the Koons and Hirst mould: much too much on the market and the prices have been, like a Balloon dog, over inflated.
Christie’s also reported impressive results during their 20th/21st Century Art week, achieving a total of $689m across the board. The auctions were led by record-breaking sales of works by René Magritte and Ed Ruscha. Mica Ertegun’s René Magritte painting, ‘L’empire des lumières’, saw a stunning result in selling for over $121m (with fees). It was a very rare large format canvas and had been offered as the headline event of the entire season – the price did not disappoint. I saw the piece at the fabulous Di Donna show, years ago, when Emmanuel had his gallery above the Carlyle and noted the brilliance of the artist in varying the idea of light (the cloudy sky) and dark (the porch) in the mind of the viewer. The two stunning Joan Mitchells were the finest of the Abex works on offer and made a suitably striking 25m USD. However, it was the Ed Ruscha painting, ‘Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western being torn in half’, (1964) that was the star of the show with a result of nearly 70m USD. This painting is an icon of the post-war, pre-Warhol, American moment and the sale was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire such a milestone in Western art.
The following evening the 21st Century Evening Sale at Christie’s was deemed by all to be a success, achieving $106.5m and setting multiple new records. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Untitled’ (1982) sold for $23m, setting a new record for a work on paper. It was unarguably his very finest picture of that type – a truly majestic self-portrait. The Cecily Brown painting of 2013, The Butcher and the Policeman, fetched nearly $6m and underlines her longevity as a force in the market. I found that Christie’s had not pushed estimates at all this term and that was borne out in the strong sales over and above the estimate range. One must never trust saleroom estimates as they are merely a tool to garner the highest final price and to gather the most opportunistic bidding: more bids = higher prices. Always use an advisor on bidding recommendations otherwise it is easy to get carried away in the auction process.
Phillip’s saw a strong result (probably pre-sold) for their lovely 1948 Jackson Pollock collage, which fetched $15m and was the highest price by a $10m distance for a work on paper by the artist. The late Matthew Wong’s wonderful 2017 piece made $1.7m, which for a work of only 50 by 40 cm. was telling for an artist whose prices seem secure. Also, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye fetched $1.7m for her work, Watcher, a great picture but a surprisingly good price, especially with the market being flooded over the past few years. However, there were two telling failures in the sale – a mixed media piece by Basquiat that passed at 10m USD and Warhol’s ‘Gun’ which failed to sell at $4m. It is far too early to suggest a market panic regarding Warhol’s market, but the last few years have seen his prices wane somewhat. I would take great care when acquiring a Warhol – especially a late work from the late 1970s/1980s.
Overall, the week saw the market rebound in sterling fashion after a funny old Autumn in which there was a vacuum of transactions caused by the impending US election. Last week there were great prices for great works (Magritte, Monet, Picasso and Ruscha) that were fresh to market and well estimated. Although there were some gaps, particularly in the days sales, they were mainly for lots that had been sourced in the panic of pre-election business getting. The understandable need to fill a sale makes for the odd bad decision and one cannot blame the houses for pushing the boat out on some pictures.
Overall, as never before, it is vital to use an advisor and please do get in touch if you need any help in putting together a collection. OSFA takes away the headaches (over-paying, authenticity, condition, export paperwork etc.) of putting together a collection and makes the process really fun and enjoyable. Do get in touch!