November Night Gross sales Embody Basquiat Portrait Estimated at $20M.


After this month’s constructive outcomes at Frieze London and Artwork Basel Paris—and upfront of a tense US presidential election quickly to be within the rear-view mirror—market watchers are little question hopeful that the upcoming marquee November auctions will mark the start of the tip of this yr’s weak artwork market. After all, that is dependent upon the fabric, the true figuring out issue of a very good or dangerous public sale season. Up to now, the public sale homes have been dribbling out data on-line.

By way of estates, Christie’s has the benefit with the key property of designer, philanthropist, and collector Mica Ertegun. Along with a night sale that includes René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières (estimated to promote for greater than $95 million), in addition to works by David Hockney, Joan Miró, and Ed Ruscha on November 19, Christie’s will maintain a day sale of things from Ertegun’s assortment on November 20. 

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Picture of a man in blue suit.

Sotheby’s may even promote three works by Alberto Giacometti, Franz Marc, and Paul Gauguin from the Harry F. Guggenheim Assortment as a part of its Fashionable Night Sale on November 18. Giacometti’s Buste (Tête tranchante) (Diego) is the highest lot, with an estimate of $10 million to $15 million. The night sale may even function The Danner Memorial Window by Louis Consolation Tiffany and Agnes Northrop, from the gathering of American billionaire Alan Gerry, with an estimate of $5 million to $7 million.

It’s price mentioning that on November 11, Mark Rothko’s Untitled (Yellow and Blue) can also be happening the block at Sotheby’s Hong Kong with an estimate of $29 million to $35 million. Previously owned by US banker Paul Mellon and French luxurious government François Pinault, the portray—beforehand bought at public sale for $46.5 million in 2015, earlier than coming into the possession of disgraced 1MDB financier Jho Low—has each a assure and irrevocable bids. 

Whereas all of the consignors above have been identified, ARTnews dug by means of the listings to disclose some others.

Brant’s Basquiat and a Philbrick-linked Kusama

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (1982), estimated to promote for between $20 million and $30 million, seems to have been consigned to Christie’s by the Brant Basis, the personal basis of collector Peter Brant. The massive oilstick portrait, which hits the block at Christie’s twenty first Century Night Sale on November 21, was exhibited in a Basquiat retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2018 that was a collaboration between the inspiration and the Brant Basis. In January of this yr, the Brant Basis additionally loaned the untitled portrait for the exhibition “In Dialogue with Picasso” at Skarstedt Gallery, in line with social media posts on Instagram, X, and Fb.

(The Brant Basis didn’t reply to a request for remark by press time.)

Yayoi Kusama’s 2018 portray Infinity-Nets (RDUEL). Courtesy of Christie’s.

In the identical sale is Yayoi Kusama’s vibrant pink 2018 portray Infinity-Nets (RDUEL), a bit that has connections to disgraced seller Inigo Philbrick. The portray was talked about in court docket paperwork filed in 2019 between Belgian actual property company Parfinim and the storage firm UOVO over possession. A judgment issued final month acknowledged that the Kusama portray was collectively vested by Parfinim’s successor-in-interest and Aiden Nice Artwork LLC, the corporate for artwork collector Andre Sakhai, who was reportedly the godfather of Philbrick’s little one. The estimate is $2 million to $3 million.

The Twentieth Century Night sale may even function Ellsworth Kelly’s Blue Pill from the gathering of ARTnews High 200 collectors Bettina and Donald L. Bryant Jr. The estimate for the big double-panel oil portray is $4 million to $6 million. Final yr, a special portray from the Bryants’ assortment, Picasso’s Nu devant la glace from 1932, bought at Sotheby’s for $11 million.

Additionally consigned to Christie’s is Morris Louis’s Pillar of Celebration (1961), estimated to promote for $1.2 million to $1.8 million through the Submit-Battle and Modern Artwork Day sale on November 22. The portray had been within the assortment of Chicago industrialist Richard Stern, who purchased it at Sotheby’s in 1983 for $242,000; on the time, it was being bought by Vincent Melzac, a former president of the Corcoran Gallery of Artwork. 

A Christie’s spokesperson declined to touch upon the consignors.

Sotheby’s has been consigned to promote Canadian realist painter Alex Colville’s Canine and Priest in its Now and Modern Night Public sale on November 20. 

The official web site for Alex Colville says the 1978 portray belongs to the Nationwide Gallery of Canada, however the museum advised ARTnews it by no means owned it. In accordance with Le Devoir, the homeowners in 2015 have been philanthropist Jean Teron and actual property government Invoice Teron. Invoice handed away in 2018. The estimate for Canine and Priest is $1 million to $1.5 million.

A Sotheby’s spokesperson advised ARTnews it couldn’t touch upon consignors.

Two O’Keeffes

A hanging Georgia O’Keeffe panorama in Christie’s Twentieth Century Night sale on November 19, Lake George Autumn, comes from the Vilcek Basis, which works to help and lift consciousness of immigrants within the arts and sciences. The estimate is $3 million to $5 million, and a Christie’s spokesperson advised ARTnews that proceeds from the sale are “supposed to broaden the Basis’s assortment of regional modernism—with a give attention to artists that have been important to the American Modernist artwork motion, who haven’t been as extensively celebrated.” 

Georgia O’Keeffe, Lake George Autumn, 1927. The painting is owned by the Vilcek Foundation and has been consigned to Christie's auction house for the 20th Century Evening sale on November 19.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Lake George Autumn, 1927. Courtesy of Christie’s.

Over at Bonhams is O’Keeffe’s White Primrose, estimated to promote on the home’s November 20 night sale for $4 million to $6 million. It’s from the Diane and Sam Stewart artwork assortment, and was loaned to the Brigham Younger College Museum of Artwork for an exhibition in 2009. The public sale home held a single-owner sale of greater than 100 works of Western artwork from the couple’s assortment in August 2021. Sam Stewart handed away later that yr, in November. The Stewart Household Basis has additionally donated funds to the Utah Museum of Nice Artwork, Springville Museum of Artwork, and Utah Museum of Modern Artwork. A consultant from the inspiration confirmed to ARTnews that the portray belongs to Diane Stewart.

Bonhams can also be promoting Camille Pissarro’s Le Pont-Royal, temps gris lumineux from the gathering of Simone and Alan Hartman. The work was final bought in 1978, and a 2005 catalog of the artist’s work lists the Hartmans because the homeowners. Bonhams additionally held a giant sale of Impressionism and Asian artwork from the Hartman assortment final December. The Bonhams estimate for Le Pont-Royal, temps gris lumineux is $800,000 to $1.2 million.

A Bonhams spokesperson advised ARTnews that they’d not shared the consignor of White Primrose and weren’t in a position to verify possession beneath the corporate’s coverage. Nonetheless, the spokesperson did verify the Pissarro is from the Hartman assortment.

From One Phillips to One other

Phillips has been consigned to promote Grace Hartigan’s Pond Reminiscence (1963) with an estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. The portray was beforehand a promised present from Madeline and Stephen Anbinder to the Phillips Assortment in Washington, D.C. The couple additionally beforehand donated a “main group of mid-Twentieth century work and works on paper” to the Norton Museum of Artwork.

Phillips Assortment publicist Lauryn Cantrell confirmed to ARTnews that the Anbinders pledged present of Pond Reminiscence (1963) had been retracted. “This isn’t a case of deaccessioning,” Cantrell stated in an e mail.

An image of Grace Hartigan’s painting Pond Memory (1963). A promised gift to the Phillips Collection that was retracted by Madeline and Stephen Anbinder, who have consigned it to Phillips auction house.

Grace Hartigan, Pond Reminiscence (1963). Courtesy of Phillips.

Bonnie H Morrison

Promised presents have appeared at public sale earlier than: In 2018, 65 works from the gathering of Barney A. Ebsworth went on the block at Christie’s as an alternative of going to the Seattle Artwork Museum. The Ebsworth sale included David Hockney’s double-portrait Henry Geldzahler and Christopher Scot that music government David Geffen had promised to the Museum of Fashionable Artwork in 1993. Ebsworth acquired the portray in 1997.

A Phillips spokesperson advised ARTnews the public sale home’s coverage meant it couldn’t touch upon the identification of its shoppers.

With reporting from Harrison Jacobs and Sarah Douglas.



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