Image: Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1994 via Sotheby’s
Estimate: £9,000,000 – 12,000,000
Sold for: £21,321,250

Sotheby’s just concluded its evening Postwar & Contemporary sale in London on October 12th with a sale total of £44,146,350 ($70,793,087),  the highest total of the three auction houses this week.

Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild, 1994 from the collection of Eric Clapton set a record price at £21,321,250 ($34,297,363). Alongside this work, the second cover lot of the sale was Yves Klein’s RE 9-I from the artist’s most sought-after series: the Relief éponge, which sold for  £3,737,250 with premium.

Image: Yves Klein, RE 9-I, 1961 via Sotheby’s
Estimate: £2,000,000 – 3,000,000
Sold for: £3,737,250

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Christie’s will offer a seminal Yves Klein Sponge Relief from 1958, unseen on the market since 1960. The work is consigned by The Brooklyn Museum for the November 14th New York sale and will be used to fund the purchase of work by contemporary artists. Accord Bleu (Sponge Relief) is one of the first of the artist’s reliefs using sponges, a metaphorical medium in his work. The presale estimate is $7,000,000-10,000,000.  (more…)

Jackson Pollock, “Ocean Greyness” (1953), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

This summer, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrates a groundbreaking period in its history with “Art of Another Kind,” an installation featuring works collected primarily from 1949-1960. This era began with Solomon R. Guggenheim’s passing. The movement caught fire under new director James Johnson Sweeney’s affinity for the explorative and abstract work of artists he referred to as “tastebreakers,” and ended soon after the museum’s 1959 relocation to Frank Lloyd Wright‘s iconic white structure docked in the Upper East Side.

Judit Reigl, “Outburst” (1956), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

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Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Olympics (1984) which sold for a record-breaking price of £6 million

This evening in London, Phillips de Pury‘s Contemporary Art Evening exceeded pre-sale estimates of £15.1- £21.1 million, with sales totaling £23.4 million. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s Olympics (1984) at £6 million broke the record for a Warhol-Basquiat collaboration. With three pieces in the auction selling for over a million pounds, the take was over twice the amount received just a year ago for the auction house. Of 30 original lots, 2 were withdrawn (including a Cindy Sherman piece) and 4 were passed on. Although the total sum was not as large as the sales of either Christie’s or Sotheby’s, it was the only auction house to surpass pre-sale estimates for this week.

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Yves Klein,  Le Rose du bleu (1960) which sold for £23.5 million (£3.5 million over its high estimate)

Last night in London, Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction experienced a stellar sale. Totaling £132.8 million against an expected excess of  £120 million, it was the highest grossing contemporary art sale in Europe. Achieving sales with an 87% sell-through rate and 98% sold by value – Christie’s sold all but 9 on it’s 71 lots – save for the 2 withdrawn. Four of the lots sold above £10 million, and five lots boosted over $10 million. Christie’s Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Europe, Francis Outred, was quoted in a post-sale press release: “Following the record result achieved at Christie’s New York in May, we are delighted with tonight results which established a new record for an auction of Post-War & Contemporary Art in Europe… Overall we brought together consignments from four continents, reached buyers on four continents and benefitted from a depth and strength of bidding from across the room and on the phone.”

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Yves Klein, Le Rose du bleu (RE 22) (1960)

This week in London, the focus will shift towards Contemporary Art, for the second consecutive week of  summer auctions. According to the Telegraph, these contemporary sales hold the highest pre-sale estimates ever offered by the London houses. Total sales expected from Sotheby’s range from £57.51 – 82.48 million, while Christie’s are in excess of £120 million. Last week’s Impressionist and Modern Sales were more subdued than the record breaking auctions held in New York this past May. Based upon these record pre-sale estimates, there may be similar hopes for this week’s round of sales.

Yves Klein, Rélief éponge bleu (RE 51) (1959)

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Two Yves Klein pieces to be presented at Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London on June 27.  Christie’s New York last May sold Klein’s FC 1 (Fire-Color 1), for $36,482,500 (£22,619,150), setting a new world record for the artist at auction.

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Andy Warhol,  Double Elvis [Feris Type] (1963)

On the heels of a tireless and groundbreaking week in the New York art world, the fervor continues with the major auction houses hosting their Contemporary Art Sales—beginning tonight at Christie’s. Last week’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sales saw unforeseen prices and several world records set, namely the near $120 million paid for Edvard Munch‘s The Scream. In tandem with both the Frieze Art Fair and NADA Art Fairs’ inaugural New York editions—both held this past weekend—the Contemporary Sales possess an auspicious platform this season. The strength of last week’s sales proves the collectors’ attention to the trophy market, with many big ticket and highly recognizable works on the block this week.

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‪‬Director of Swedish Moderna Museet Daniel Birnbaum gives an archive tour with works by Yves Klein, Robert Rauschenberg, and others; with hopes to introduce “less standard narratives” within museums. [AO Newslink]

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Yves Klein all photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed

This year marked the 2nd iteration of the House of the Nobleman, a privately sponsored exhibition which took place at the Boswall House, 15,000sqft  mansion at 2 Cornwall Terrace, overlooking Regent’s Park and the Frieze 2011 Art Fair.  Art Observed was on site for the private viewing.  On view were works by Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin, Peter Paul Rubens, Edgar Degas, Max Ernst,  Damien Hirst, Marlene Dumas, Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Sigmar Polke, Christian Boltanski, Anish Kapoor, Nick Hornby, Matthew Day Jackson, Cecily Brown, Lucian Freud, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Yayoi Kusama, Robert Longo, Alexander Calder, Eugenia Emets, Francesco Clemente, Salvador Dali,  Peter Doig,  Olafur Eliasson, George Condo, Takashi Murakami,  Hiroshi Sugimoto and Gerhard Richter.

Monet, Claude “ Chemin dans le brouillard”, (1879)

more images after the jump…

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La Couleur en Avant at MAMAC, Nice. Martial Raysse, Nissa Bella (1964)  All pictures by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

The Museum of  Modern and Contemporary Art—MAMAC—in Nice, France is showing Arret sur image (which translates to ‘stop on image’) through October 23rd, and La Couleur en Avant (‘the color before’) through November 27th. Both exhibitions represent modern and contemporary artists, with an emphasis on the colors and fluidity within the contemporary. In Le Couleur en Avant, sculptures by Yves Klein and paintings by Henri Matisse, among others, are juxtaposed to show their influence on the pop art of Martial Raysse. Arret sur image, held in Ponchettes Gallery, displays work by living artists such as Gilbert and George, Robert Longo, and Barbara Kruger, expanding on the thematic influence of color in a contemporary context. The work in Ponchettes Gallery remains in MAMAC’s permanent collection.

Arret sur image by MAMAC at Galerie des Ponchettes, Nice.

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Ben Vautier, Jeter Dieu à la mer (1962), featured at Exhibition: Le Temps de L’action/Acte 1 at Villa Arson Nice

Saturday, June 25th welcomed thousands of viewers to the French Riviera, where the work of local artists was unveiled for the long-awaited opening of L’Art Contemporain et la Côte d’Azur: Un territoire pour l’expérimentation, 1951-2011.  Artists “whose work was built or continues to flourish significantly” on the French Riviera are featured in the region’s major summer event, which features 1,000 works by over 200 painters, sculptors and media artists who have flocked to work in the French Riviera since 1951, including notables such as Yves Klein, Hans Hartung and Ellsworth Kelly.

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Sotheby’s Evening Contemporary Art Auction in Progress, via Sothebys.com

With the audience being described as “dazed” and “fatigued,” excitement was sparse at yesterday evening’s Contemporary Art auction at Sotheby’s in London. The sale realized a total of £41,091,800, well within the £32-52 million estimate (total realized includes buyer’s premium, estimates do not).  The sale had a sell-through rate of 83% by lot and 87.3% by value, while 45.4% of lots sold above their high estimates.

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Yves Klein, MG 42, 1960 (estimate £200,000-300,000, realized £481,250), via Sothebys.com

The headlining work, Yves Klein’s RE 49, sold for just over £6 million (estimate £4.5-6.5 million) after three minutes of bidding from four interested buyers.  The other Klein canvas for sale yesterday evening, MG 42, realized a price of £481,250, above its pre-sale estimate of £200,000-300,000. Though the works performed reasonably well, there is still concern that the market might be tiring of them. “There are too many Kleins and Fontanas in these auctions,” Dusseldorf-based art adviser Jorg-Michael Bertz said, in conversation with Bloomberg reporter Scott Reyburn. “We need a rest from them.”

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Yves Klein, Re 49, 1961 via Sothebys.com

Expectations are high for this week’s Contemporary Art auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London.  The auctions, which will take place between June 28^th and July 1st, will feature sought after works by several important artists, including Yves Klein, Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Lucio Fontana, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.  The strength of the works being sold is the result of buoyed seller confidence following a recent series of record-breaking auction results, such as the sale of a Picasso for $106.5 million in May at Christie’s in New York and 43.2 million euros for a Modigliani sculpture this month at Christie’s in Paris.  Sotheby’s evening auction carries a low estimate of £38.3 million for 53 works, while the Christie’s Post War and Contemporary evening sale carries a low estimate of £40.9 million for 63 lots.  Last summer’s Contemporary Art sale at Sotheby’s, which was expected to bring between £19.8-27.4 million, brought in £25.5 million for 40 lots. The comparable Christie’s auction last year brought just over £19 million for 40 lots with a low estimate of £17.4 million.

At Sotheby’s, all eyes will be on an Yves Klein sponge painting from 1961 titled Re 49 and dedicated to the artist Charles Wilp.  This large-scale work comes from the collection of the Munich-based HypoVereinsbank and is estimated to bring £4.5-6.5 million.

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Jasper Johns’ Flag from the estate of author Michael Crichton fetched a record $28.6 million

Last night Christie’s delivered a top result of $231,907,000 in its New York contemporary-art evening sale, easily hurdling the pre-sale estimate of $142.9 – 207.4 million and making it Christie’s biggest New York contemporary sale since May 2008, which totaled $331.4 million. This remarkable total was powered by a trove of 31 choice works from the estate of Michael Crichton, the author of bestselling science-fiction thrillers like Jurassic Park, who died of throat cancer in 2008. In total the Crichton sale fetched a handsome $93.3 million – exceeding pre-sale expectations by $23.7 million, making it one of the most successful single-owner sales ever. The group’s top performer was Jasper Johns Flag (est. $10 – 15 million) which sold to New York dealer Michael Altman for $23.7 million.Fifty-one of the evening’s 79 works offered sold for over one million dollars, and of those, 5 cracked the 10 million dollar mark. Remarkably, only five lots went unsold, or six percent by lot and a tiny two percent by value; 5 artist records were set.The geographic breakdown of buyers according to lots sold saw the United States take the lead with 74% of works going to Americans – unsurprising giving the depth of bidding witnessed in the sales room. Europe accounted for 21 percent of the sales and 0% went to Asian buyers – in complete contrast to last week’s sales of Impressionist and Modern art which were dominated by the Asian market.

Bidders squeezed into a packed salesroom last night at Christie’s – many being forced to stand.

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Relief éponge or (RE 47 II),  Yves Klein Estimate: £5 – £7 million. Price Realized: £5,865,250. Image via Christie’s

Last night, Christie’s evening sale of post-war and Contemporary art in London totaled £39,149,500, exceeding the pre-sale estimate of £26,290,000 to £38,260,000. More than half of the lots offered sold above estimate, and in selling 9 works over  £1 million (16 over $1 million), the auction house easily surpassed the equivalent figure for all three of their auctions of Post-War and Contemporary art in London last year.  The evenings auction confirmed that not only has confidence returned to the art market but also that there is a real hunger from international collectors in this market – Europeans dominated the bidding, eventually accounting for 41% of the sales, 22% of works sold to Americans, 31 percent went to Britain. Four percent went to Asia. Particularly strong prices were realized for classic European artists including Yves Klein as well as Joana Vasconcelos and Alighiero Boetti, both of whose work established world record prices.The strong results at our international auctions during the second half of last year encouraged vendors who were previously resistant to consign works of art, and the increased supply of quality works fed a strong demand and led to competitive bidding.

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Self-Portrait with a Black Eye, Lucian Freud. Estimate: Image via Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s auction house will kick off this week’s major round of contemporary sales in New York with an 80 lot sale that is expected to realize in excess of £32 million on Wednesday, February 10. Christie’s expect to fetch at least £26,290,000 from 52 lots at their evening sale on Thursday, February 11. In November, Sotheby’s Postwar and Contemporary Sale in New York marked a major turning point in art market history when Andy Warhol’s 200 One Dollar Bills, sold for $43,762,500 over an estimate of $8-12million. The coming week could therefore be seen as an important one in establishing price-levels in a still relatively undetermined contemporary art market – the area most heavily effected by the global recession.  The many heavyweight pieces on offer this week undoubtedly reflect a confidence in sellers resulting from November’s impressive sale – the sales are spearheaded by important and rare works by Peter Doig, Yves Klein, Lucian Freud, Gerhard Richter, Chris Ofili, Neo Rauch and Martin Kippenberger. Contemporary week also falls in the wake of the incredible $104.3 million sale of Giacometti’s “L’homme qui marche I” (The Striding Man I) at Sotheby’s that set a new world record by becoming the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. This week overall, Sotheby’s and Christie’s expect to bring in at least $365.3 million combined, $144.6 million in 2009, up from $332.5 million in February 2008.

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The entrance to Art Basel Miami Beach 2009

“There’s a lot less ornament and a lot more substance,” declared Micky Wolfson Jr., founder of Miami Beach’s Wolfsonian Museum – this phrase sums-up many reflections on the eighth edition of Art Basel Miami Beach closed on Sunday, December 6 where smaller parties dominated and collectors purchased cautiously. In keeping with tradition edgy Contemporary pieces were bestsellers at Art Basel Miami Beach with larger, museum-targeted pieces dominating the booths along with traditional works by Popular Latin American artists such as the Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco. Interestingly, while many Asian and European buyers skipped the fair, additional Portuguese speakers were hired to aid Latin American buyers who were out in force.

Santigold performs at the Raleigh Hotel

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Yves Klein, “Peinture feu couleur sans titre” (1962). Via Museo D’Arte Moderna Di Lugano.

On view now, the Museo D’Arte Moderna Di Lugano is displaying works by Yves Klein, a prominent artist from the sixties. The exhibit focuses on his collaboration with Rotraut Uecker, both Klein’s wife and an artist who shared his use of imagery and poetics.  This exhibition is curated by Bruno Corà and Daniel Moquay who worked in partnership with the Archives Yves Klein of Paris. Klein’s work will be displayed alongside twenty-two of Rotraut’s metallic sculptures which can be located around the city in parks and squares.

Yves Klein, “Portrait relief d’Arman” (1962). Via Museo D’Arte Moderna Di Lugano.

Related Links:
Museo D’Arte Moderna Di Lugano Exhibition
Yves Klein Archives

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Currently on view at Sotheby’s New York for the first time and for a short time only is a selection of works from the collection of Steven and Alexandra Cohen.  The exhibition consists of twenty pieces by masters of the modern period, such as Picasso, de Kooning and Warhol, and leading contemporary artists, dealing with women as subject matter.   Other artists represented in Women are: Edvard Munch, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani. Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil, Yves Klein, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Lucian Freud, Richard Prince, Marlene Dumas and Lisa Yuskavage.

Sotheby’s New York
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Women: A Loan Exhibition from the Collection of Steven and Alexandra Cohen
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1334 York Ave, New York,
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10th floor
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April 2 – April 14, 2009

RELATED LINKS

Exhibition Page and Press Release [Sotheby’s]
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NY Times Carol Vogel Previews the Exhibition [New York Times]
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Steven Cohen’s Rise as a Collector [The Independent]
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MAO Critiquing Cohen’s Motives [MAO]
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NY Mag Examines Cohen’s Motives [New York Magazine]
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The Exhibition in the Light of the Art Market [Wealth Bulletin]
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Speculations on the Exhibition [ArtForum]
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Speculations on the Exhibition II [ArtInfo]
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Speculations on Cohen’s Motives [Bloomberg]
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Exploring Cohen’s Motives [Luxist]
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Preview of the Exhibition [Bloomberg]

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Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York, Tuesday, November 11th
Total Lots Offered: 63
Total Lots Sold: 43 (68.2%)
Total Sales Value: $125.1 million
Total Sales Pre-Auction Estimate: $202.4 million

On the heels of its Impressionist and Modern Art sale that brought in $223 million, well below its low estimate of $339 million, with only 45 of 70 lots sold as previously covered by Art Observed here, Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York, held on Tuesday, November 11th, brought in $125 million against a $202 million estimate. The sale was 68.2% sold by lot, with 43 of 63 works finding buyers, marking the lowest selling rate for a multiple-owner evening sale of contemporary art held at Sotheby’s since November 1994. A third of the lots failed to sell, and most of the works that did sell went for less than their presale low estimate. The top lot of the sale was Yves Klein’s Archisponge (RE 11), seen below, which brought $21,362,500. Artist records were set tonight for Philip Guston Beggar’s Joys, which achieved $10,162,500; John Currin, Nice ‘N Easy (see above), which realized $5,458,500 (see above) and Richard Serra, 12-4-8, which fetched $1,650,000.

A Dreary Night for Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s [NYTimes]
Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Sale defies worst fears [Reuters]
Sotheby’s New York Evening Sale of Contemporary Art Brings $125,131,500 [ArtDaily]
$125 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary [ArtNet]
The art market: Contemporary art gets hammered [FinancialTimes]
Bare Market [ArtForum]
Eli Broad Goes Shopping as Sotheby’s Art Auction Falls Short [Bloomberg]
Currin Nudes Set $5.46 Million Record at Spotty Sotheby’s Sale [Bloomberg]

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Lee Bontecou, Composition (1965) via Hauser & Wirth Gallery

The collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs, one of Europe’s most important private collections of 20th century post war art, will be on exhibit at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Zürich through July 26. The focus of the Lauff’s collection was new and ground breaking contemporary art.  Their collection contains key American and European artistic currents in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Selections from the Collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs [ArtNet]
Selections from the Collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs [re-title.com]
VIDEO: Selections from the Collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs/Hauser&Wirth, Zurich [Vernissage]

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