Christie’s Twentieth Century Night Sale nets $413 million

The New York night auctions got here to a detailed on Thursday night time with Christie’s Twentieth Century Night Sale, which introduced in a complete of $413 million, squarely inside its pre-sale estimate of $342 million to $497 million. The brisk, 64-lot sale was led by a David Hockney portray as soon as owned by the famed tv producer Norman Lear that bought for $28.6 million and a Vincent van Gogh that bought for $33.2 million.

Of the 64 heaps, three have been withdrawn earlier than the public sale started. Simply over 37 % of the heaps got here with a assure, an indication that there was no less than some collectors have been within the works on provide at Christie’s. Regardless of being full of items by tried-and-true, blue-chip artists like Pablo Picasso, Gerhard Richter, Claude Monet, and Andy Warhol, quite a few artwork advisers instructed ARTnews that the sale felt cobbled collectively. 

As auctioneer Adrien Meyer rattled off the protracted record of assured heaps earlier than the sale commenced, the gross sales ground burst right into a restrained laughter. “Don’t fear, it’s signal,” he stated, with a raised eyebrow and wry smile. Curiously, solely a type of 24 heaps, Frank Stella’s Untitled (Concentric Squares), was assured by the home. Regardless of the artist’s loss of life earlier this month, the work hammered after little or no fanfare for $5 million ($6.1 million, with charges) in opposition to an estimate of $6 million to $8 million, going to a bidder within the gross sales room. (All costs are reported with purchaser’s premium until in any other case famous.)

The sale, which lasted about two hours, was full of highs and lows. A file was set for André Kertész after a print of his {photograph} Satiric Dancer (1926) hammered for $450,000, or $567,000 with charges; that was simply above its pre-sale estimate of $500,000–$700,000. The success of that image, of an beautiful Nineteen Twenties magnificence contorting herself on a small couch subsequent to a equally twisted sculpture, offers additional proof that early Twentieth-century images has assumed its place within the marquee night gross sales. That development arguably started two years in the past when Christie’s bought Man Ray’s image of Kiki de Montparnasse for a record-breaking $12.4 million in 2022. 

One other file was set for a piece by Alexander Archipenko after his sculpture Girl Comber Her Hair (conceived in 1915, forged in 1965) hammered for a surprising $4.2 million ($5.1 million with charges), greater than double its $2 million excessive estimate.

As for the lows, solely three heaps have been handed on: Isamu Noguchi’s jasper stone sculpture Untitled (1980), Richard Diebenkorn’s 1968 image Ocean Park #12, and Joan Mitchell’s Crow Hill (1966). The night’s thirteenth lot, Joseph Cornell’s Untitled (Medici Prince Variant), painted round 1952, was additionally handed on regardless of a bid of $480,000 on an estimate of $700,000 to $1 million. By the top of the sale, nevertheless, the consignor should have had a change of coronary heart. The lot was introduced again to the display and swiftly went to a bidder on the telephone with Emily Kaplan, the home’s co-head of the Twentieth-century night sale, for $320,000 ($403,200 with charges). Attention-grabbing what just a little time and post-sale perspective can do.

One of many first heaps to obtain bidding in depth (and a spherical of applause after it bought) was Georgia O’Keeffe’s Crimson Poppy (1928), which carried an estimate of $10 million–$15 million. Meyer famous that the work was the biggest of O’Keeffe’s poppy work nonetheless in personal arms. He began the bidding at $8 million. The low estimate was reached in lower than 15 seconds and, after a forwards and backwards bids between specialists Paige Kestenman and Katharine Arnold, went to Kestenman’s telephone bidder for $14 million ($16.5 million with charges).

Hockney’s A Garden Being Sprinkled (1967) was the primary of the night’s high-value heaps to be supplied up. With an estimate of $25 million–$35 million it was among the many costliest works within the sale, matched solely by van Gogh’s Coin de Jardin avec papillons (1887). Contemplating that it had by no means earlier than come to public sale and had been given the primo cowl of the sale’s public sale catalogue, one would have thought that the image would have drawn extra consideration, particularly given its provenance within the Lear assortment. 

However bidding lasted simply over a minute with solely two or three events . The work bought to a bidder on the telephone with Arnold for a hammer worth of $24.5 million ($28.6 million with charges), simply scraping by its low estimate.

The van Gogh work had an identical destiny: a good displaying however one drained of the joy that has develop into anticipated at a night sale. (Each the van Gogh and the Hockney have been among the many night’s assured heaps.) Meyer opened the bidding at $20 million then jumped to $22 million, after which he stalled for a second, repeating the determine thrice to an unresponsive room. The primary telephone bid got here in at $24 million and once more, for just a few seconds the room was silent sufficient to be empty. After two extra bids, to $28 million, a bidder on the telephone with Alex Rotter, chairman of the home’s Twentieth- and Twenty first-century artwork division, supplied not one other $2 million however somewhat solely $500,000. Surprisingly that was sufficient to scare off the opposite events, and Rotter’s purchaser took the image for a hammer worth of $28.8 million ($33.2 million with charges), simply sliding previous the low estimate of $28 million.

The well being of the market has been known as into query for almost all of the previous yr, and rightly so. Economically talking the artwork market, and the nation, exists in a unique world that it did in 2021 or 2022. “Persons are spending cash, maybe not within the quantities they used to a couple years in the past, however cash is being spent,” adviser Elizabeth Fiore instructed ARTnews. 

“There’s simply no sense of urgency,” adviser Maria Brito stated in a telephone interview earlier than the sale. “There are cute issues, and exquisite issues, however not many works that actually give a collector that sense of urgency that makes you throw your hand up at an public sale. Bidders will probably be searching for a cut price as a result of, let’s face it, there’s not Carrington–stage work at this sale,” she added, referring to the recording-breaking Leonora Carrington image that bought for $28.5 million at Sotheby’s the earlier night.

And offers there have been on Thursday. Picasso’s 1971 Femme au chapeau assise by Pablo Picasso was scooped up for a hammer worth of $17 million ($19.9 million with charges) in opposition to an estimate of $20 million to $30 million. The image is just not one in every of his best portraits, nevertheless it’s dynamic and punchy, particularly contemplating Picasso was 90 years outdated when he painted it.

“This season, the posture of all of the public sale homes has been extra defensive than offensive,” Alex Glauber, president of the Affiliation of Skilled Artwork Advisors, instructed ARTnews earlier than Christie’s Thursday night sale. “If they’ll’t present power, they’ll no less than present that the market is wholesome and useful.”