Gerhard Richter (b. 1932), 5 Türen II (5 Doors II) via Christie’s
Sold for: £2,169,250 ($3,466,462)
Estimate: £1,500,000 – £2,000,000 ($2,397,000 – $3,196,000)

Postwar & Contemporary Evening Sale
Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction on October 11th realized a sale total, including buyer’s premium, of  £23,177,900 ($37,158,809) with 47 of 64 lots sold. The Evening Auction featured three artists whose work has not previously been included in an evening sale: Idris Khan, Rebecca Warren and Jonathan Wateridge.  It also included a group of important self-portraits by Martin Kippenberger that include his seminal work on canvas Untitled (from the series Hand-Painted Pictures), twelve self-portraits on paper and his sculpture Immer an der Wand Beißen bei Susan.  Also notable was Gerhard Richter’s 5 Türen II (above), a masterwork from 1967 which has never been at auction or offered privately. 5 Türen II is related in theme to 5 Türen I (1967), which is at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne.  The auction also highlighted figurative sculpture from the early 80s onward.

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The First Annual Art Awards via Guggenheim.org

Last night, October 29, marked the inauguration of a new annual art event: Rob Pruitt presented The First Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New Yorkin association with the city’s oldest alternative art space, White Columns.

The awards were conceived by artist, Rob Pruitt, as a performance-based artwork; for the occasion he recruited the characters of Index Magazine’s wry satirical web series, Delusional Downtown Divas. The New York Times have reported that “…the Divas schemed to infiltrate the art establishment by any means possible. In one segment they pitched a tent in the Guggenheim, doing their laundry in the lobby fountain.”

Jeffrey Deitch and Kembra Pfahler at The First Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum via style.com

More images, text and related links after the jump….

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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.

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

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Piero Manzoni behind one of his ‘Achromes’ via Gagosian

Currently at Gagosian Gallery is the first major US retrospective of Italian Conceptual artist Piero Manzoni. Manzoni, who died of a heart attack at the age of 29 in 1963, is most notorious for his ‘Merda d’artista,’ 90 sealed cans purportedly containing his feces and sold for the market-value of gold at the time of purchase. The exhibition is curated by Germano Celant, who named the movement Manzoni belonged to, Arte Povera.

Manzoni: A Retrospective [Gagosian]
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To Bump Off Art as He Knew It [NY Times]
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Italian Conceptualist Piero Manzoni: More Than the Guy Who Canned His
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Caca [Village Voice]
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Piero Manzoni: A Retrospective [Time Out NY]
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Piero Manzoni Retrospective @ Gagosian Gallery [Whitehot Magazine]

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