Christie’s - Art Market Monitor

Marion Maneker0April 10, 2013

Christie’s Wants to Break Basquiat Record

Christie’s announces that a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting will go for the gold on May 15th:

Painted with a combustive palette, Dustheads becomes an intuitive, gestural whirlwind made during the pinnacle of the artist’s practice. With an estimate of $25-35 million, Dustheads will likely break Basquiat’s record of $26.4 million, which was just achieved last November in New York. […]

An acknowledged masterpiece from a pivotal year in the artist’s career, this 1982 painting demonstrates Basquiat’s unique ability to combine raw, unabashed expressive emotion whilst displaying a draughtmanship that was unrivalled in modern painting. Housed in the same private collection for almost 20 years,Dustheads was included in the seminal exhibition of the artist’s work organized by the Fondation Beyeler, Basel in 2010 (and which later travelled to the Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris) and is widely referenced in the artist’s monographs, including the cover of the catalogue to the 2006 Basquiat retrospective organized by the Fondazione La Triennale di Milano.

Josh Baer reminds us that he broke the news of this sale three months ago:

The Basquiat market seems to be continuing on its upwards trajectory. We hear that Christie’s will auction “Dustheads” from the collection of Tiqui Atencio in May with a guarantee of around $30 million. Other paintings have had offers even higher turned down. Now that the Nahmads seem to be in this market (bidding, guarantees maybe, see above) the momentum seems to strong .

General

Marion Maneker0March 22, 2013

Derain’s Matisse Leads Christie’s May NY Sale

Carol Vogel got some early Spring auction announcements today with this work starring Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Sale:

Christie’s Impressionist and modern art auction on May 8 will feature another historically significant canvas: “Madame Matisse au Kimono,” a 1905 portrait by André Derain, the Fauve painter. Better known for his sun-dappled landscapes than his portraits, he made this work during the first of two summers he spent with Henri Matisse in Collioure, a French Mediterranean fishing village near Spain where they painted side by side. That was the mythical summer right before the Salon d’Automne of 1905, when the public was outraged by these artists’ seemingly violent palettes — when colors, as Derain later said, became “like sticks of dynamite.”

A Fascination with Japan (Inside Art/New York Times)

Auction Results

Marion Maneker0March 09, 2013

Christie’s First Open = $12.3m

Gerhard Richter, Fuji ($180-250k) $350

Auction Results

Marion Maneker0March 08, 2013

Christie’s First Open Breakouts

: Yinka Shonibare, Girl on a Globe

: Gerhard Richter, Felsenlandschaft ($70-100k) $278,500

: Robert Rauschenberg, PortHoles (copperhead) ($50-70k) $116,500

: Richard Serra, After ($70-100k) $218,500

: George Condo, Untitled ($40-60k) $116,500

: Alfred Jensen, The Acroatic Rectangle, per Seven ($40-60k) $110,500

Auction Results

Marion Maneker1November 22, 2012

Christie’s Lat Am Eve = $13.6m

Auction Results

Marion Maneker6November 15, 2012

Beneath Christie’s Dominant Sale, a Battle Brews in the Market

To rewrite Tolstoy: Happy auctions are all alike; every unhappy lot is unhappy in its own way. Last night at Christie’s, there were precious few unhappy lots. Though there seemed to be many who were unhappy with the idea of Contemporary art prices continuing to soar.

Either channeling his clients’ frustration or worrying that he might not be able to buy stock, Andrew Fabricant had a panicky moment with Judd Tully:

Caught on the stairway leading down to Christie’s exit, Fabricant let loose his take on the sale. “This is nuts,” said the seasoned dealer. “It’s some kind of weird anomaly to what’s happening in the world and I find it sickeningly disturbing. These prices set the bar higher and higher for everyone and it completely confounds the whole model.”

That was from one of the night’s winners. But those who didn’t play—and many prospective buyers sat in the audience with paddles at the ready but finding no point of entry into the frenzied bidding—like art critic Blake Gopnik, were filled with consternation. The critic resorted to high dudgeon on twitter: “As dozens of people spend millions on art at Christies, all I can think of is the Rockaways. Makes me see red … October.”

Gopnik continued to confuse the art market with art history by trying to argue with the prices: “Koons Tulips at 30M sets his record. Fancy garden ornament. His floating basketballs matter more.”

Kelly Crow spoke to others who had less complicated views:

After the sale, Warhol dealer Jose Mugrabi shook his head in awe and said, “This market is fantastic right now—if I’ve seen a sale do better than this, I can’t remember it.”

It seemed as if the the Contemporary art market at Christie’s is somehow different from the art market around it where sellers have too high expectations and buyers are mingy and guarded, unwilling to spend a penny more than necessary. At Christie’s, the bidders roared—quite literally a few times—jostled and pleaded to get in. More than once, Jussi Pylkannen ignored a colleague frantically calling out a bid with a dry, “I’ll get to you,” his eyes locked on bidders in the room.

More often than not, those bidders in the room were central figures—like Mugrabi—in the smooth functioning of the art market who were clearly being given preference. The art market is manipulated but, in its defense, the manipulation takes place out in the open as many of the deep pockets flashed their money on artists like Calder, Kline, Basquiat, Rothko, Keifer and, especially, Warhol.

In perhaps the most unexpected and significant turn of the evening, Donald Bryant’s Warhol portrait of Marlon Brando was bought by the Nahmad family. After the sale, several members of the family talked up the purchase raising the question of whether they too are now active in the Warhol market.

Here’s what Katya Kazakina got:

“I was prepared to go to $40 million,” said art dealer David Nahmad, the patriarch of the family, who won the bidding. “For me, it was the best buy of the sale.”

This quote is significant because the work was on offer at ArtBasel for $45m. Nahmad clearly saw it then and didn’t buy it. Does he think he’ll be able to get that price in a few years time effectively doubling his money? How many other Warhols will the family bid on or buy to get it there?

Clearly the art buying and selling community is taking sides. Here’s Carol Vogel’s contribution to the panorama:

Robert McClain, an art adviser, when asked what he thought of the big numbers paid for the evening’s Pop Art, replied, “Never overestimate people’s willingness to pay a premium for the obvious.”

And the answer to the question may simply be that the art market continues to expand with new buyers from around the world coming in to drive demand. This could easily be what Nahmad sees in Warhol. Vogel added this observation too:

“There’s a lot of foreign money coming in,” said Joanne Heyler, a director and chief curator of the Broad Foundation in Los Angeles. “More than ever before.”

“This Is Nuts”: Christie’s $412-Million Postwar and Contemporary Auction Stuns (Artinfo.com)
Relentless Bidding and Record Prices for Contemporary Art at Christie’s (NYTimes)
Warhol, Koons Defy Fiscal Cliff at Christie’s Record Sale (Bloomberg)
Art Prices Balloon at Christie’s $412m Sale (Wall Street Journal)

Auction Results

Marion Maneker0November 08, 2012

Christie’s NY Imp-Mod Eve = $204m

General

Marion Maneker0July 17, 2012

At Christie’s in H1 2012, $1m Works Fall by 10% but $10m+ Works Rise by 50%

Here are some highlights from Christie’s release of its H1 figures not covered in the press last night. Remember that new CEO Steven Murphy has staked his ambitions on shifting more volume to private sales and increasing internet sales. Hence you get the emphasis on visitors to the website and a jump in bidding on Christie’s LIVE.

Nonetheless, it is worth noting that the Christie’s own numbers confirm the shift away from the middle market as the number of $1m works sold dropped by 10% but the $10m+ category rose by 50%:

13% INCREASE ON CORRESPONDING PERIOD LAST YEAR (IN £)

NEW CLIENTS REPRESENT 19% OF ALL REGISTERED BIDS

31% INCREASE IN ASIAN CLIENTS REGISTERING TO BID IN NY AND LONDON

20% INCREASE IN VISITORS TO WWW.CHRISTIES.COM

15% INCREASE IN NUMBER OF CLIENTS BIDDING VIA CHRISTIE’S LIVE™

In the first six months of 2012, Christie’s sold 340 works at auction for over $1 million (376 in the same period 2011) and 26 for over $10 million (18 in the same period 2011). Average sold rates (by lot) stayed at 79%, on a par with the previous 2 years. The market at more accessible price levels also performed strongly; Christie’s South Kensington saleroom, which offers works of art from under £1,000, built on two consecutive years of record sales, recording its highest ever total for a corresponding period.

Looking forward, Christie’s will launch the first in a series of online-only auctions for a global collecting category in August with a sale of fine and rare wines.

Christie’s Half Year Figures_2012

Economic Trends

Marion Maneker0July 16, 2012

Christie’s Releases Record First Half at £2.2bn ($3.5m); Private Sales Jump 53%; Contemporary Art Up 34%; Old Masters, 50%

Reuters has Christie’s release of 2012′s H1 sales and the numbers—total sales and the increase in private sales—are very strong. But, with the prevalence of third-party guarantees and the costs of running a large global operation, the question is whether the famously thin margins at Christie’s have finally fattened:

Christie’s announced record first-half art sales of 2.2 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) on Tuesday, a rise of 13 percent over the same period of 2011 and further evidence of the strength of the high end of the market.

Kelly Crow counters with an early look at Sotheby’s results:

Rival Sotheby’s BID -5.88% said it auctioned off $2.44 billion of art during the same period, down 15.8% from a year earlier

Crow also gives us the more significant numbers on Asian vs. European and American buyers:

During the first half of the year at Christie’s, collectors from Europe bought $1.4 billion of art, up 11% from a year ago, while American bidders bought $1 billion in art, up 12%.

Meanwhile, Reuters gives us a few of the details:

The world’s largest auctioneer reported auction sales of 1.8 billion in the first six months of 2012, seven percent up on a year ago, while private art sales soared 53 percent to 413 million pounds. All figures include buyer’s premium.

However, there was a steep drop in Asian and Middle Eastern auction revenues to 234 million pounds, 23 percent down on the first half of 2011 as rampant Chinese buying cooled.

In terms of auction categories, the post-war and contemporary sector rose by 34 percent to 576 million pounds, jewellery jumped 28 percent to 190 million and old masters and 19th century art was up 50 percent to 72 million.

Christie’s Posts Record $3.5bn First Half Art Sales (Reuters)

Art Sales: A Study in Contrasts (WSJ)