The Banksy painting donated to benefit Housing Works several weeks ago has caused a small storm of disagreements and controversy over its sale.  The winning bid, which took the painting for $615,000, has already defaulted on his payment, and a number of top bidders are complaining over the way the sale was handled.  Even so, the painting has found a buyer.  “We were happy with the sale,” says Matthew Bernardo, chief operating officer of Housing Works, “we were happy with the process which we closed with, and it’s at a very good home.” (more…)

The proceedings at Phillips with Alexander Gilkes at the rostrum, via Aubrey Roemer for Art Observed

Last night, Phillips auction house held their Contemporary Art Evening Sale art, in a packed salesroom. The sale exhibited a strong lead into the week of Contemporary art auctions, with 84% of lots selling by value, and 88% selling by lot. The 40 lots sold for a combined total of $68 million, including premiums, against an estimate of $65 – 97 million.

Kazuo Shiraga, Keishizoku (1961), via Ben Richards for Art Observed (more…)

Francis Bacon, Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), Image via Christie’s

Tonight, the week of Post War & Contemporary Art Evening Sales commence with Phillips kicking off the week long auctions. After last week’s mixed results in sales, with Christie’s and Sotheby’s hosting their respective Impressionist & Modern Art Sales, the contemporary art offerings will provide a more definitive litmus test of the international art market’s power and predilections. A great deal of press and attention has been drawn to the forthcoming sales, both nationally and internationally, attributed to exceptional offerings in all three houses, and a multitude of enormous price tags to accompany the museum-quality works.

Andy Warhol, Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) (1963), Image via Sotheby’s (more…)

The founders of the Dia Art Foundation have filed a lawsuit against the organization, as well as auction house Sotheby’s, in order to keep the arts organization from selling parts of its collection this month.  The sales, set to take place this week in New York, include works by Barnett Newman, Cy Twombly and John Chamberlain, and are contested by the founders’s claims that the works were intended to remain publicly accessible.  “Dia’s proposed auction of the subject works would remove the works from public access and viewing in direct contravention of Dia’s entire intent and purpose and of plaintiffs’ arrangements and understandings with Dia,” founders Fariha and Heiner Friedrichs say in the complaint. (more…)

Tobias Meyer Opens the Sale, via Aubrey Roemer for Art Observed

“So, the market is alive, right?”  This was the closing statement from Sotheby’s auctioneer Tobias Meyer last night at the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale. The sale totaled $290 million – the second highest ever achieved at Sotheby’s for an Impressionist and Modern Art Sale, and its fourth consecutive Evening Sale of Impressionist and Modern Art that had a sell-through rate of 80%.

Pablo Picasso, Tête de Femme (1935), via Sotheby’s (more…)

Pablo PIcasso, Tête de Femme (1935), via Sotheby’s

The fall New York auction season is set to commence this evening with Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, followed by Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Sale on Wednesday evening.  The following is a preview of sales of the week.

Fernand Léger, Élément Méchanique (1920), via Sotheby’s (more…)

The Skarstedt Gallery is expanding in New York, opening a new gallery space in the former headquarters of Christie’s Haunch of Venison Gallery at 550 West 21^st Street.  Haunch of Venison had closed its doors in March of 2013. (more…)

Concluding his October residency on the streets of New York, street artist Banksy has unveiled his last work, the donation of a painted canvas to the Housing Works thrift store in Gramercy Park.  Titled The Banality of the Banality of Evil, the canvas features a man in a Nazi uniform viewing a classically rendered mountain vista, and is being auctioned off to benefit the Housing Works organization.  So far, bids have already reached over $200,000.  “Most New Yorkers have been watching pretty closely what he’s been doing for the past 30 days,” said Housing Works director of PR Rebecca Edmondson. “There has been controversy. But it’s great to end on such a high note by giving back to the New York community.” (more…)

Sotheby’s director Philip Hook has unveiled a new guide, welcoming the uninitiated into the often “meaningless” terminology embraced by the institutional art world.  Exploring the meaning of overused words like “important” (“historically significant but hard to sell”), Breakfast at Sotheby’s: An A-Z of the Art World offers a look into the language of the commercial art world.  “They are words the meaning of which has become twisted by the desire to energize banality, to elevate mediocrity, or simply to make a sale.” (more…)

A broad selection of works from the late collector Jan Krugier’s enormous art collection is set to go to the auction block on Nov. 4th and 5th at Christie’s in New York.  Consisting of 156 works, the selection of works includes an incredible 29 Picassos, as well as works from Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Georgia O’Keeffe and Robert Rauschenberg, with a total estimated value of $170 million.  “Krugier saw himself as but a temporary possessor of these works. I think he’d rather like it.”  Said Christie’s deputy chair Conor Jordan. (more…)

All photos by Caroline Claisse for ArtObserved.

The last visitors have filtered out, the gallerists have begun packing up and preparing sold works for buyers, and another year of the Frieze London Art Fair  has concluded, following another action-packed week of new works, special commissions, sales, auctions and openings that once again placed London at the center of the contemporary art world’s cross hairs.

Work by Pierre Huyghe at Esther Schipper (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…)

Glenn Brown, Ornamental Despair (painting For Ian Curtis) Copied From ‘the Stars Like Dust’, 1986 By Chris Foss (1994), via Sotheby’s

Another session of competitive auctions wrapped up this evening in London, with Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sale providing an uneven, yet overall successful auction of contemporary works during the ongoing events of Frieze week, bringing forth a total sale amount of £21,459,000, with 7 of the 49 works remaining unsold. (more…)

Oscar Murillo, Untitled (2012), via Phillips

The Phillips Contemporary Art Evening Sale wrapped tonight in London, kicking off another edition of Frieze week auctions in the British capital. Running efficiently through the 38 lot auction, the first in the week’s three nights of sales achieved strong, if not expectable results.  With the events of Frieze week as a major draw for collectors around the world, Phillips had little problem finding new buyers for all but 6 of the works on sale, with 10 lots selling well above their maximum estimates.

Tauba Auerbach, Untitled (Fold) (2011), via Phillips (more…)

Gerhard Richter, White, (1988), via Phillips

Frieze London opened its doors to VIP’s and the press today, beginning another hectic week of exhibitions, sales and, as is to be expected, major auctions from Phillips, Sotheby’s and Christie’s.  Beginning tonight, the three auction houses will look to capitalize on the atmosphere of frenzied competition that so often marks the major art weeks, with each bringing forth a strong collection of works from across the contemporary art landscape.

Peter Doig, Red Canoe (2000), via Christie’s (more…)

Jeff Koons, Sacred Heart (Blue/Magenta) (1994-2007), Courtesy Gagosian

As the month of October reaches its halfway mark, the annual Frieze Art Fair in London’s Regent’s Park prepares for its 11th edition, welcoming back a selection of 152 galleries from around the world, all vying for prominent sales and broader market exposure.  With a broad program of exhibitions, special commissions, installations and discussions, the fair will look to once again capture the attention of the art world for the next week, bringing over $2 billion in art to market over the next five days.  Art Observed is on site in London for the happenings.

William Kentridge, In Nervoser-Erwartung (2013), Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (more…)

A rare Andy Warhol portrait of Hall of Fame Hockey great Wayne Gretzky will be up for sale at Sotheby’s this Friday in London.  The portrait, made in 1983, is part of a series of works Warhol did exploring the world of professional sports, and is expected to command a price of $200,000.  “This project was very dear to me,” said dealer Frans Wynans, who introduced Warhol to Gretzky, and who has his eye on the piece  “So I’m very keen on the one that has come up for sale.” (more…)

Alberto Giaccometti’s iconic Diego en chemise écossaise will be on sale at Christie’s November 5th auction of modernist and impressionist art in New York. A classic portrait of the artist’s brother, it is anticipated to sell for $30-$50 million.  “With this masterpiece, Alberto Giacometti establishes himself as one of the greatest portrait painters of the 20th Century, paving the way for the likes of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.” Andreas Rumbler, Deputy Chair of the Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s says. (more…)

On November 12th in New York, Christie’s will offer a classic triptych by Francis Bacon of fellow artist Lucien Freud, estimated to sell for an artist record of $95 million.  The piece comes from an unidentified European collection, and is one of only two Bacon triptychs of Freud.  It has never been on the auction block before. (more…)

An auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong location has set a new record for the highest selling Asian contemporary artwork, after painter Zeng Fanzhi’s The Last Supper achieved a $23.3 million final price, more than doubling its estimate.  It sold as part of an evening contemporary art auction that achieved an impressive total of $145 million in sales. (more…)

As auction houses clamor to enter the Chinese art market, a number of independent auction houses have already sprung up in Hong Kong.  Focusing on narrow, more focused thematic sales, companies like Spink Phila China, China Guardian and Bonhams have sought to capture a larger size of the already thriving market for art and antiques.  “Once I was in London visiting Sotheby’s, and I was told they are jealous of China Guardian since some of their international markets are narrowing while our market is expanding,” said Kou Qin, director and vice president of China Guardian. “China’s economy is booming while other countries have been depressed over many years.” (more…)

Following the open letter written to Sotheby’s by Daniel Loeb, the auction house has responded to its shareholders, detailing a “poison pill” strategy to ward off any attempts at a hostile takeover of the company.  The plan, which initiates a dividend offer for any share of outstanding stock, is triggered if any shareholder takes over 10% of the company’s stock. “The board had to respond to the attack and it is unsurprising they took this type of stance. But observers will be much more concerned after the events of this week. They are not out of the woods yet,” said Michael Plummer, a principal at ArtVest Partners. (more…)

A New York man is claiming that a Basquiat drawing sold recently at auction was stolen from him in 2000.  Francesco Pellizzi is claiming that he had not seen the work since it was stolen from a drawer in his apartment, until this year, when he saw the work in a Christie’s auction.  The work was sold by dealer Jennifer Vorbach and lawyer David Ruttenberg, who had purchased the work after researching the work’s history.  “It changed hands a number of times, but Vorbach and Ruttenberg are not able to trace it back to anyone who obtained it from Mr. Pellizzi,” Lawyer Peter Stern said. (more…)

Sotheby’s has announced the cover lot for its fall auction of contemporary art in New York this November 13: a rare work from Andy Warhol’s Death and Disaster series featuring a gory car crash.  With the rest of the editions from this work already in museum collections, the auction house anticipates that the work could sell for $60 to $80 million.  “It’s the monumentality of the image that is so powerful,” said Tobias Meyer, director of Sotheby’s contemporary-art department worldwide. “It’s as if life and death come straight at you, especially the way Warhol juxtaposes the cascading images of mortality with the void of an empty right panel.” (more…)