The Francis Bacon triptych Three Studies for a Self-Portrait is expected to sell for $24 million at auction next month.  The work will join paintings by Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat in a 56-lot auction by Sotheby’s with a minimum valuation of $101 million, based on hammer prices. (more…)
Sean Kelly Gallery, Los Carpinteros, Kosmaj Toy (2012).
All images by A.M. Ekstrand for ArtObserved, on location at Art Basel Miami Beach Fair.
Art Basel returned once again in Miami Beach this past week for the 11th annual Art Basel Miami Beach Fair. Featuring over 300 galleries representing 36 countries around the world, the show has exhibited marked growth from last year’s event, with well over 2,000 artists flocking to exhibit at what has become the internationally-renowned closing party for the world art market each year.  It is of course always an irony that tens of thousands will fly down for the events and parties, with many of them never visiting the vast aggregation of what it said to be roughly $1.5 billion worth of art in one (large) room, a collection that few museums in the world could compete with.  Below is a selection of some of the works we thought to be notable from the fair.
Helly Nahmad Gallery, Mark Rothko No. 1 (1957) and Alexander Calder, installation view
Phillips de Pury saleroom photo by ArtObserved
On Thursday night, boutique auction house Phillips de Pury & Co. hosted the final Contemporary Art Evening Sale in a blockbuster week for the art market. Tallying $79.9 million against its projected estimate of $73 to $110 million, Phillips de Pury’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael McGinnis, stated “we’re happy with the competition and prices,” especially after the third consecutive night of Contemporary Art sales. McGinnis reflected on the evening saying ” it was a small and deliberate sale, with works specifically chosen to compliment the week.”
Andy Warhol Mao courtesy Phillips de Pury & Co.
Despite achieving just over its low estimates for the sale, Phillips de Pury had a sell by value of 98% and a sell by lot of 83%. With a very carefully selected 35 lots offered, only six artworks failed to find a buyer. However, all of the lots had third party guarantees, of which there were five guarantors.
Christie’s saleroom photo by ArtObserved
Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale broke the record for the highest ever grossing Contemporary Art auction in history, totaling over $412 million in sales. The auction came on the heels of Sotheby’s Postwar & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, which broke its own record for highest-grossing auction in Sotheby’s long history ($375 million). Christie’s achieved an astounding 92% sell by lot and 93% sell by value – of the 73 lots offered only 6 failed to sell.
Records at auction were broken for Richard Diebenkorn, Jeff Koons, Richard Serra, Franz Kline, George Condo, Jean- Michel Basquiat, and Mark Grotjahn. Additionally, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly and Jean-Michel Basquiat set new records for their artworks on paper. A record was set for an Alexander Calder wire sculpture at auction with Policeman, which sold for $4.2 million.
Image: Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1977
oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 118 1/8 in
ESTIMATE £2,500,000 – 3,500,000
SOLD AT £2,449,250
Phillips de Pury & Co. realized £12,223,600 ($19,565,094) in its Contemporary Evening sale in London on October 10th, with 24 of 37 lots sold. Notable sales were a Basquiat entitled Big Joy from 1984, sold just above its low estimate at £2,617,250 including premium ($4,189,170), and a Gerhard Richter Abstraktes Bild from 1977, which sold for £2,449,250 ($3,920,269), with a presale estimate of £2,500,000-3,500,000 ($4,001,500 – $5,602,100). (more…)
Peter Brant is recapitalizing his newsprint business, according to state regulatory filings, by pledging 56 artworks to the lending arm of Sotheby’s (BID), including pieces by Warhol, Richard Prince and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Other filings show a pledge by Brandt of pieces to a unit of Deutsche Bank AG, including a 1963 Warhol that could be worth as much as $35 million. (more…)
A 1981 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting is expected to set a record for the artist’s work at the Christie’s New York auction on Nov. 14th. The privately-held painting of a fisherman with his catch has been exhibited in every major retrospective. The work will be publicly exhibited in London, Paris and New York prior to the sale. Although the presale estimate is $20 million, Christie’s expects the final price to exceed that due to a strong market for Basquiat. (more…)
Linda Yablonsky discusses art curation on the set of Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon’s new movie, Arbitrage, in which works by several contemporary artists including Ryan McGinley, Donald Baechler, Marilyn Minter, Adam McEwen and Huma Bhaba, make an appearance.  Gere plays a hedge-fund mogul art collector. The filmmakers focused on believability: in addition to choosing the building which was a former home of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the film borrowed work from Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn of Salon 94 Gallery and others. (more…)
Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Olympic Rings (1985)
During the 1980’s, the personnages of both Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat loomed large in the New York art world. Â Warhol as one of its most visible older guard, and Basquiat as one of its prominent, up-and-coming stars. Â But the two were also friends, and it was in this context that Basquiat and Warhol collaborated on a number of paintings that would end up being some of the last of their lives. Â Blending Basquiat’s striking, often visceral approach with Warhol’s measured explorations of pop culture iconography, these pieces offered a marked commentary on both the style and subjects exhibited.
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.
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.”
Shot of the Contemporary Art Evening Auction. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Last night in London, Sotheby’s demonstrated a sound Contemporary Art Evening Sale, with sales totaling £69 million, against an estimate of £57-82 million. They possessed a good sell-through rate at 87.3% by lot and 93.4% by value. In a press release, Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe, was quoted: “The auction this evening was led by blue-chip artists, such as Bacon, Basquiat, Richter and Lichtenstein… With buyers from 15 different countries, the global demand for this area of the market continues to be underlined.†Despite the overall formidable sales of last night, Sotheby’s did not receive quite the same reception as it did in its evening auction in New York in the Spring.
Glenn Brown, The Tragic Conversion of Salvador Dalà (After John Martin) (1998), which sold for £5.2 million with an estimate of £2.2-2.8 million
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.
‬Edward Spencer-Churchill in ownership dispute with the Mugrabi family over sale of Jean Michel Basquiat painting, currently held by Christie’s until the issue is resolved.
A self-portrait by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat is expected to fetch $20 million in the June 27 Christie’s International sale of postwar and contemporary art in London. “The vivid acrylic, oilstick and spray-paint canvas will be offered after another untitled 1981 work sold for an artist-record $16.3 million at Phillips de Pury & Co. in New York, on May 10.”
‪‬Amalia Dayan of Luxembourg & Dayan and wife of collector Adam Lindemann profiled in her Manhattan town house decorated with works by Basquiat, Chamberlain, and Calder
‪‬Glenn O’Brien discusses art, music, TV, politics, Andy Warhol and Basquiat in an interview with Open Ceremony; on his show TV PARTY, “I was rebellious but not angry”
‪‬Long Island dealer Glafira Rosales and companion Jose Carlos Bergantiños Diaz involved in FBI investigations regarding authenticity of several paintings by artists including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Jean-Michel Basquiat [AO Newslink]
‪‬MTV’s “Art Breaks” series from 1985 is set to air again this year. Once featuring Jean-Michel Basqiuat, Keith Haring, Richard Prince, and Kenny Scharf, it will now debut 30 up-and-coming artists, as curated in part by MoMA PS1. [AO Newslink]
All photos by Art Observed by Aubrey Roemer
The “Third and a half” Brucennial opened last night in New York City, the 2012 edition titled, “Harderer. Betterer. Fasterer. Strongerer.” At 159 Bleecker Street, the high-ceilinged art-filled space reached its capacity of 15,000—with a line around the block—shortly after opening its doors at 6 PM. Organized by the anonymous Bruce High Quality Foundation and Vito Schnabel, a large main room, balcony, and basement, were covered with paintings, sculptures, video-works, and other installations by artists both established and less so. Running the gamut from friends of the Bruces to a Damien Hirst spot painting, exhibiting artists of note include Mike Kelley, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Sigmar Polke, Julian Schnabel, Anselm Reyle, Francesco Clemente, Aurel Schmidt, Dan Colen, David Salle, George Condo, Rashid Johnson, Dash Snow,  Terence Koh,  Richard Prince, Joseph Beuys, Scott Campbell, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tom Sachs, Andy Warhol (collaboration), and Dustin Yellin.
Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat, Thin Lips, 1984-85 (est. $1.1-1.6 million, bought in), via Phillipsdepury.com
The week’s Contemporary art sales in London got off to a lukewarm start on Wednesday at Phillips de Pury. The evening sale realized $12.9 million against estimates of $15.6-22.7 million, and 12 of the 35 lots offered failed to find buyers. The auction’s featured lot – Jeff Koons‘s rendition of stacked trash cans punctuated by inflatable toys – sold for $3.3 million against a low estimate of $3.1 million (prices realized include the buyer’s premium, estimates do not). A collaborative work by Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat that was expected to fetch at least $1.1 million was bought in, as were works by George Condo, Lucio Fontana, Cindy Sherman, and Paula Rego.
Lucian Freud, Boy’s Head, 1952 (est. $4.6-6.2 million), via Sothebys.com
Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips de Pury are hosting Contemporary art sales this week in conjunction with the Frieze Art Fair, which officially begins on Thursday in London. Capitalizing on the flood of art afficionados in town for the fair, Â the auction houses are hoping to move about $88 million worth of art during their evening sales. Dealers and buyers have been reassured of the art market’s strength following huge boom-like sums achieved during the past few auction cycles, but this round of sales comes at a moment of increased anxiety about the global economy. These sales may set the tone of the major auctions next month in New York, when Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips will offer several hundred million dollars worth of Impressionist, Modern, and Contemporary art.
Jeff Koons, Seal Walrus Trashcans, 2003-09 (est. $3.1-4.6 million), via Phillipsdepury.com
