Andy Warhol, Race Riot (1964), via Christie’

With the clamor of Frieze Week subsiding, the last big sales for New York’s spring art calendar are set to take place this week, as the major auction houses gear up for their Contemporary and Post-War Auctions.  True to form, the combination of ample buyers and a thriving market has brought forth a series of strong works at all houses, with a number of impressive works on-sale that could challenge some long-held auction records. (more…)

Mark Tansey, The Raw and the Framed (1995), via Christie’s

The last major auction of Frieze Week in London concluded this evening at Christie’s, a strong sale that saw nearly all of the 55 lots on sale finding a buyer, bringing the total sales for the evening up to £27,788,900, placing the auction house as the clear leader in a week of busy auctions and impressive sales figures.

Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Nets (T.W.A.) (2000), via Christie’s (more…)

Pollock’s Number 19 Sells to Applause at Christie’s, via Charles Shoener for Art Observed

Christie’s contemporary evening sale made history last night in grand style, storming through its 72 lots to realize a world record $495 Million sales total that included new auction records for Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and 13 other artists, aided auction house’s impressively assembled catalog.  Hailing a “new era in the art market,” according to auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen, the show achieved an almost unheard of sell-through rate of 94%, with only four works failing to find buyers.  The sale also continues Christie’s growing dominance in the auction market, eclipsing the previous night’s sale at Sotheby’s with little difficulty.

The top selling lot of the night, Jackson Pollock’s Number 19, 1948 (1948), via Christie’s

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