Artinfo has some early sales from ArtBasel in Miami (all bullet points after the gallery name are direct quotes from the article):
- Acquavella: late Picasso drawing of a bullfighter, ripped from a notepad in 1970, which sold near the asking price of $1.2 million, Giacometti’s imposing 1954 tabletop sculpture “Diego au manteau,” and a black-and-white Calder from 1952, “Moel for Rosenhof.”
- Hauser & Wirth: Three editions of Paul McCarthy’s “White Snow Dwarf (Bashful)” sold to European collectors for $900,000
- Metro Pictures, then, sold a 2010 Cindy Sherman self-portrait as a silver-haired dowager for $350,000.
- Luhring Augustine, Christopher Wool’s patterned abstraction, “Untitled” from 1993, in enamel on aluminum, sold in the region of the $3 million asking price.
- White Cube: A stainless steel vitrine filled with glistening surgical instruments sold for £1.5 million, while a Hirst spot painting was sold from the gallery’s back-office stash for €500,000
- Zach Feuer: A number of works by Nathalie Djurberg, including two videos for $35,000 each
- Blum & Poe, a painting of a Tuskegee jumper against a bright blue background by Henry Taylor, who has forthcoming show at MoMA PS1 in January, sold for $35,000 to a New York City collector.
- Lisson Gallery: four Kapoors sold for sky-high prices: £750,000, £575,000, £500,000, and £250,000, respectively. Two Ai Weiwei watermelon sculptures went for €60,000 apiece.
- Galerie Thomas: Two small Gerhard Richters kept in the back, one 1994 work-on-paper for $95,000 and a tidy 1996 “Fuji” painting for $300,000.
- Waddington Custot Galleries: Magritte — a fine 1960 gouache on paper, “La recherche de l’absolu,” depicting a moon rising behind a tree Surreally shaped like a leaf — $650,000.
- Peter Blum: a $200,000 Ken Price sculpture, a $15,000 John Altoon, a $26,000John McLaughlin, and an $8,000 Peter Alexander drawing.
- a Tracey Emin wall sculpture from Lehmann Maupin for $45,000
Diddy and Eli Broad Buy Sophisticated Fare at a Workmanlike Art Basel Miami Beach VIP Vernissage (ArtInfo.com)