Auction Update

Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Sale is going on as I blog.

Lucian Freud’s small painting of “Girl Reading” just about reached its estimates, selling for $3.8million.  And his iconic portrait of “Francis Bacon” barely crept over the lower estimates to fetch $9.4 million.  A third work, “Susie” didn’t sell.  Francis Bacon’s own “Portrait of Henrietta Moraes“, with pre-sales estimates between $9.5 million and $13 million, also appears not to have sold.

A number of Warhols are  being left on the shelf; presumably they didn’t meet their required minimums, and two Gerhard Richter’s also failed to sell.

The three new Chinese artists who were on display had mixed fortunes.  Yang Pei Ming failed to sell his “Autoportrait“, and a work by Yue Minjun sold for a few points less than the anticipated minimum.  However, Zeng Fanzhi almost doubled his estimate, selling an untitled work for $500,000.

To set my teeth on edge, it seems that Lucio Fontana is going to be the star of this show.   One of his la fine de Dio series just sold for an astonishing $15.6 million!   I really must be missing something.  The Inflated Phrases for this one include:

“Lucio Fontana’s Fine di Dio are a series of thirty-eight oval-shaped oil paintings made between March 1963 and February 1964 for three different exhibitions of his work held in Zurich, Milan and Paris. The supreme encapsulation of the ‘Spatialist’ art that he pioneered in the 1950s and ’60s, these works now stand as mystical icons that since their creation have proved themselves to be strangely prophetic of much about the way that modern physicists now view the cosmos.  Strange, mysterious and imposing, these punctured monochrome canvases in the shape of an egg are more than mere paintings. They are ‘Spatial concepts’ that invoke the fundamental mystery of the cosmos…”

On the other hand, I love Richard Prince’s “Dude Ranch Nurse #2” and I’m glad to see it reach $5.5 million.  I wonder if that is a record for him?

Almost at the end, a Damien Hirst medicine chest called “Untitled AAAAAAA” was left unsold after pre-sale estimates of around $400,000.

In all, the show had a value of around $50million.  But 19 of the 45 lots were left unsold, and I am sure that must be a disappointment.  Was it just the quality of the auction? Or is this a sign that money is tighter than it has been?  Hard to say yet.

Lucian The Small

The next auction that I have an interest in is at Christies, London, on October 19th.  It is a sale of “Post-War and Contemporary Art“.

The first thing that struck me from the catalog were the Notes attached to Jeff Koon’s “Jim Beam Log Car” (estimate up to $1.6m).  They are the epitome of the Inflated Phrases we have discussed before.

But the real treat comes as early as Lot 9:  “Girl Reading“, Lucian Freud’s portait of Lady Caroline Blackwood.

We are used to Freud’s massive images, but this is a tiny 8″ x 6″.

It still took an age to paint.  Blackwood has described sitting for Freud:  “Not only it is slow, but after six months you can be back to where you started. He not only paints the anguish of your age but he also paints the anguish of his sitters” (C. Blackwood, quoted in S. Aronson, Sophisticated Lady, p. 146).

And the pre-sale estimates for this almost-miniature run from $3.5 million to $5.2 million.

A little larger, at 14″ x 14″, is Freud’s portrait of the other giant, Francis Bacon from 1956/7.  The pre-sale estimate for this historic image goes up to $12.3 million.

The catalog also includes a number of works from young Chinese artists, some basic Warhols, along with works by Gerhard Richter, Lucio Fontana, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami and others.  It will be interesting to see if the “financial meltdown” has any effect on this end of the market.   I don’t expect it to.

Bacon In Moscow

I have written before about the Moscow art scene, dominated by two women attached to multi-billionaire Russian moguls.  Now, Dhasha Zukhova, girlfriend-partner to Roman Abramovich, has announced the first major international show at her CCC Moscow mega-gallery.

Entitled “Death Shadowing Life: Francis Bacon: The Late Paintings, 1971-92”, [the show] will be curated by Martin Harrison, author of the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné and will travel to the Hermitage in St Petersburg.

Good for her.  It helps that her boyfriend bought a tryptich by Francis Bacon in May for $86m, the highest price ever paid for a post-war work.  It will no doubt be a centrepiece of the exhibition.

Art For Sale

It used to be that direct sales of paintings by artists conjured up either the tawdry image of TV ads shouting “Canvases from $12!  Genuine oils!” or the quaint amateur airs of the county fair, eager watercolors in a small tent.  It used to be, but Damien Hirst is about to change all that.

In a move designed to shake the very foundations of the artist – agent/gallery connection that has driven the business for so long, Damien Hirst’s factory-like enterprise has assigned an entire suite of new works to Sotheby’s in London for exhibition and sale.

Hirst is said to regard the step of offering new material at auction as a logical development in his career but the broader implications of his decision are profound. It is widely known that auction houses have courted the emerging markets of China and India. Leading names without a firm gallery representation in London or New York have been encouraged to consign works to its catalogues. Furthermore, artists such as Jeff Koons and David Hammons have, in exceptional circumstances, placed new or historic work in auctions in order to maximise value or circumvent a dealer obligation.

But Hirst has crossed the market’s Rubicon with a gambit which opens a new front for an admittedly very special situation: an artist with brand name recognition and a factory enterprise capable of producing a completely new series of seasonal variations to order. At a stroke, the judicious management of an artist’s career by an agent who identifies which favoured collectors will be permitted to acquire material in conditions of secrecy gives way to the triumph of the highest bidder on the public stage. Now that Damien has demolished the moral barrier of using auctions for distribution and profit, other artists will follow suit.

The centerpiece of the show — entitled “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever — in September will be “The Golden Calf” which is estimated at $16m to $25m.

I’ve written before of my serious distaste for Hirst and his works, but he has certainly done remarkably well for himself.  Well enough that he could pay $33m for a Francis Bacon self portrait last November, and follow it up with a $3m Koons doodad this February.  All purchases again through Sothebys, who have become in effect his gallery.

Christies’ Sale

This evening’s sale at Christies in London brought a total of $175 million.   As I mentioned in an earlier post, the market for art seems only to strengthen as other financial instruments get weaker.

Unfortunately, whatever serious critics and I might say, Jeff Koons continues to prosper mightily.  His absurdly juvenile “Balloon Flower (Magenta)” was sold for $25.6 million, which is I believe a record for the artist. Christies calls it a “masterpiece”!

The fact that one of Damien Hirst’s pieces failed to meet its over-extended minimum supplies only partial consolation.

On the other hand Francis Bacon’s “3 Studies For A Self-Portrait” from 1975, sold for a very impressive $34.3 million.  Lucian Freud’s “Naked Portrait With Reflection” was perhaps a little disappointing at $23.4 million (the estimate was up to $30m).

Who’s Got The Big Money

Last week, I spent some time following the big Sothebys and Christies Post War Art auctions. As you may recall, the big items of interest were the Francis Bacon triptych that sold for $86million and Lucian Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” that fetched $33.6 million. Now, we know the buyer of both.

Listed as the 15th richest man in the world, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich (who also owns Chelsea Football Club) purchased both lots, shelling out more than $140m (including buyers’ premiums). Abramovich isn’t known as a major art collector. It is assumed these pieces are for display in his not-yet-completed $300 million home in one of London’s prime squares.

His money has done a power of good for Chelsea football; perhaps he’ll now do the same for the art market.

Sale Ahoy!

Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art sale is underway as I type. Seven or eight lots have sold so far, including a Warhol self-portrait at $3,513,000 (slightly above the upper estimate) and a work by Richard Prince that sold for $1,497,000, about 20% above the upper estimate.

What we are waiting for, of course the Lucian Freud sale and a couple of major works by Francis Bacon.

Things move fast! As I typed the last line, Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies For Self Portrait” went for $28,041,000, in line with estimates from $25m to $35m, and another Warhol, a monochrome edition of “Last Supper” pulled in $8,777,000, near the top end of pre-sale expectations.

Wow! Warhol’s “Double Marlon” screen print just went for $32,521,000 — above estimate! I think that we are looking good for a record with Lucian Freud. The high estimate mood has been set.

Gerhard Richter’s massive abstract “Abstraktes Bild” was sold for an incredible $14,601,000 — way above the pre-sale estimate 0f $7m to $10m. That makes over $100m of sales in the first 30-40 minutes of the sale. Christie’s must be pleased.

Peter Halley should also be feeling pretty good. His “Dream Game” (a rather off piece, I think) was estimated to fetch $90,000 to $120,000 but actually sold for $457,000. He has another piece in a later auction, the estimate for which will no doubt be raised after this evening. Adolphe Gottlieb’s “Cool Blast” (1960) has gone for double the high estimate at $6,537,000.

OK, now we are talking real money. Mark Rothko’s “Number 15″ (see right) just made $50,441,000. The pre-sale estimate was private, but I suspect this was way above hopes.

De Koonig’s “Untitled IV” went for $12 million (within estimates) but Clyfford Still’s “1946 (PH-142)” broke through to $14,041,000, two million dollars above expectations.

Getting close to the Freud and another Bacon …

A Warhol soup can (“Pepperpot”) sold for $7,097,000, above estimate. I guess these old cans are like Old Masters in this market.

Roy Lichtenstein’s “Ball of Twine” was estimated at $14 million to $18 million. It is currently under the hammer, and seems not to have reached reserve.

Now, this is the one… Lucian Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” was snapped up at the high end of estimates for $33,641,000. This is almost exactly $10m higher than the previous price paid for a living artist (Jeff Koons, November 2007). Must make Freud’s in-the-wilderness days of the 1960s and 1970s seem so long ago.

Blogging a live auction was fun. I’ll see if I can do that again.

Update: Last night (Wednesday), Sothebys had a sale of contemporary art, with many of the same artists represented, and much the same high priced results.   The highlight was a massive triptych by Francis Bacon that sold for an incredible $86 million.  The grave disappointment (especially after #15 at Christies) was the withdrawal of Rothko’s “Orange, Red, Yellow” without a bid.