Christopher Wool, Untitled (1990), via Phillips

Last night, Phillips wrapped its Contemporary Evening Sale in London, corresponding with the opening days of Frieze London, and setting the stage for the fall season of auctions in both the British capital and New York. Phillips kicked the week off with a moderate sale, featuring a few impressive achievers alongside a number of more subdued sales marks, achieving a final sales total of £14.9 million for the 47 lot sale. (more…)

Jeff Koons, Popeye (2009-2011), via Sotheby’s

The Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Sale wrapped this evening, with a number of impressive sales that did little to match the fireworks of Christie’s record-setting outing last night, but still managed to bring forth a number of impressive and noteworthy sales, as well as several new world records for artists at auction.  The auction capped a final sales tally of  $364,379,000 over 81 lots, with 12 of those works remaining unsold. (more…)

Andy Warhol sells at Christie’s, via Art Observed

The results are in on an auction that exceeded any and all expectations tonight at Christie’s, and a new world auction record has been set for auctions overall.  Despite early calls that the auction would be marked by excessive guarantors and limited betting, all expectations were broken.  Christie’s surged past the previous high it set late last year, arriving at a final sales record of $744 million for the 68 lot auction, with only four works going unsold, bringing down a number of world auction records with it on the way.  The sale was also defined by an impressively deep level of wealth over the highest priced works.  63 of the lots managed to sell for over $1 million, and 4 surged past the $50 million mark, eliciting astonishment by many on hand.

Barnett Newman, Black Fire I (1961) which sold for a record $84.165 million, via Christie’s

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Camille Pissarro, Le Boulevard Montmartre, Matinée De Printemps (1897), via Sotheby’s

With the closing hammer at Sotheby’s last night, another set of impressive evening sales for Impressionist and Modernist Art, with a number of longstanding auction records falling in a flurry of bids.  The continued strength of the market could be felt across the board, but the week was particularly auspicious for Christie’s, which secured an astounding $288.13 million sale for its 48 lots, the highest sale for an auction ever in London, while Sotheby’s achieved $104.4 million for its 90 lot offering.   (more…)

Alexander Gilkes takes the Podium at Phillips to Begin the Auction

Last evening, Philips held its contemporary art sale at its Park Avenue headquarters, offering a total of 37 lots. The sale concludes a very successful run of strong contemporary art auctions in New York during the past week, and the saleroom was high in energy and anticipation as a result, a clear carryover of enthusiasm from the ground-breaking sale held at Christie’s the previous evening. (more…)