AO Art Observed™

Willem de Kooning’s ‘Woman’ via Christie’s sold for $3.7 million, more than doubling its high estimate of $1.8 million.

Again, Christie’s bested Sotheby’s in this week’s Post-War and Contemporary Art auctions after Sotheby’s failed to meet its low estimate, covered here by AO.  Last night’s sale in New York resulted in a total of $93.7 million, falling within the higher end of the pre-sale estimates of $71-104 million. Only 5 of the 54 lots went unsold, with 30 selling for more than $1 million.  After a night of lively bidding, Christie’s co-head of post-war and contemporary art, Amy Cappellazzo joked that, “It felt like a year ago.” Last year’s sale brought in $348.2 million, with a number of works selling in the double digits. This year, estimates were far more conservative for the chastened market, with the highest-selling lot, David Hockney’s ‘Beverly Hills Housewife,’ going for $7.9 million, setting a new record for the artist. The portrait of the late Betty Freeman was one of 20 in the sale coming out of the Betty Freeman Collection, another factor contributing to last night’s success.

David Hockney’s ‘Beverly Hills Housewife’ via Christie’s sold for $7.9 million, falling within estimates of $6-10 million and setting a new record at auction for the artist.

New World Auction Records set for Hockney, Oldenburg, Wheeler, and Smith at Christie’s [Artdaily]
At an Upbeat Christie’s Auction, Some Record Prices [NY Times]
NY auctions end with solid contemporary art result [Reuters]
Christie’s Auction Beats Estimate, Boosts Confidence [Bloomberg]
Betty Freeman Portrait Fetches $7.9 Million in N.Y. Auction [Bloomberg]
Christie’s Contemporary “Gets It Right” [Artinfo]
Christie’s Auction Rekindles Art Optimism [WSJ]

Roy Lichtenstein’s ‘Frolic’ via Christie’s sold for $6 million, reaching its high estimate, a record at auction for the artist.

A number of works exceeded their estimates, including Peter Doig’s ‘Night Fishing,’ an ‘Achrome’ by Piero Manzoni, Richard Diebenkorn’s ‘Ocean Park No. 117,’ and Claes Oldenburg’s ‘Typewriter Eraser,’ which set a new record at auction for Oldenburg. Willem de Kooning’s ‘Woman,’ coming out of his seminal body of work from the early 1950s, more than doubled its high estimate of $1.8 million, selling for $3.7 million.

Peter Doig’s ‘Night Fishing’ via Christie’s sold for $4.7 million, well over its high estimate of $4 million.

Among the works that did not sell were a Mark Rothko painting valued at $3-5 million, a Franz Kline painting valued at $5-7 million, and a Roy Lichtenstein take on abstraction, ‘Brushstroke.’ However, Lichtenstein’s riff on Cubist-era Picasso, ‘Frolic,’ sold for slightly more than $6 million, just above its high estimate and setting a new record for the artist.

Tonight, Phillips de Pury & Company’s New York Contemporary Art Part I Sale wraps up the major spring auctions.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Mater,’ via Christie’s sold for $5.9 million, falling within estimates of $5-7 million.

Richard Diebenkorn’s ‘Ocean Park No. 117′ via Christie’s sold for $6.6 million, beating it’s high estimate of $6 million.

Piero Manzoni’s ‘Achrome’ via Christie’s sold for $2.6 million, beating its high estimate of $2.2 million.

Claes Oldenburg’s ‘Typewriter Eraser’ via Christie’s sold for $2.2 million, beating the high estimate of $1.8 million and setting a new record at auction for the artist.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 9:13 am and is filed under Auction Results. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.