Archive for the 'Auction' Category
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
Results in for Yves St. Lareunt Art Auction
In the weeks leading up to the landmark sale, Chrisite’s has conducted private viewings of auction lots in their original setting, the Parisian home of Yves St. Laurent and Pierre Berge.
Image: New York Times.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the highly anticipated three-day auction of the collection of the late Yves St. Laurent and lifelong partner, Pierre Berge. Christie’s spared no expense of the extravaganza, having spent over $1 million to rent and refurbish Paris’ famed Grand Palais, with seating for more than 1,000 potential buyers, 100 phone lines, and eight auctioneers working in shifts. In an event nothing short of spectacular, the sale of 733 lots representing fifty years of collecting, ranging from modern and impressionist masters, to decorative arts and even rare archaeological gems. The largest ever single sale of privately owned art was tactfully estimated to fetch a modest $250 – $380 million (significantly less than the pre-financial meltdown estimate of $600 million).
Results are in for the first two days of sales. Of particular interest are the final figures for the Feb. 23rd Impressionist and Modern Art sale, which realized a total of $266 million. The list of represented artists was unarguably astounding – Goya, Munch, Matisse, Gaugin, Degas, Mondrain, Cezanne, Brancusi, Leger and Duchamp were all here. While the most notable lot, a 1914-15 Picasso, entitled Musical Instruments on a Table (estimated at $31 -$38 million) failed to find a buyer, several other works seemingly fared quite well, outshining initial auction estimates. Matisse hit an all time auction record, when Cowslips, blue and pink carpet sold for $46.4 million, despite its original estimate of $15.5 – $23.2 million, and a prime example of Mondrian’s abstract paintings went for $27 million, with an initial estimate of only $9 – 13 million. However, it must be mentioned that in such a deflated market, intentionally low auction house estimates may have set the stage to guaranteed surface level success.
Read on for auction highlights. All sale prices include buyer’s premium. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
Artists11 @ Bonhams
D*Face
The Bonhams offering of Urban Art on February 24 will have 78 lots, but 11 of them are set to be auctioned as part of the Artists11 project that supports the Prostrate Cancer Charity. The artists participating are D*Face, Nick Walker, Eine, Blek le Rat, Mr. Jago, Pure Evil, Pete Fowler, Xenz, Andrew McAttee, Dan Baldwin and Gerald Laing.
Photos courtesy of Romanywg, who caught the preview in London.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
LONDON :: Phillips de Pury Saturday Sale
AUCTION March 14th 12pm / VIEWING March 10th – 12th / RECEPTION March 10th 6-8pm
In a most generous move, Phillips will be brokering charitable sales. German artists, Herakut, will be creating unique work to benefit the charity War Child.
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Survey Says? – Contemporary Market Bottoming Out
The contemporary art market is officially in a depression and, like the global economy at large, will not recover for several years – three to five to be exact, according to a recent ArtTactic study (also cited in a Jan. 20 Bloomberg report).
Conducted once every two years, Art Tactic’s biennial study suggests that confidence levels in the contemporary art market have fallen from an indicator level of 56 to just 10.8, declining 81% since May of last year. The latest study is based on a survey of 145 European collectors, dealers, and auction house specialists, as well as auction results from both Christies and Sotheby’s latest New York evening contemporary art sales – both of which failed to meet low estimates, with approximately one third of all lots remaining unsold. The combined revenue (including fees) from these tell-tale sales reached a mere $238.7 million, 37% below their 2007 total of $640.9 million.
Over half of all respondents believe it will take more than three years for the contemporary art market to recover (with more than 50 percent of that sub-group feeling the market will take over five years to bounce back). 47 percent of those surveyed believe auction prices will continue to fall and bottom out between 30-50% from their May 2008 totals.
In addition to their Art Market Confidence Survey (conducted since 2005), Art Tactic has launch their new Art Market Survival Rating, which assesses the impact of the market on specific artist’s careers over the next decade. The new indicator is divided into two categories – contemporary artists (including Andreas Gursky, Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Elisabeth Peyton, Jeff Koons, Jeff Wall, Luc Tuymans, Marlene Dumas, Matthew Barney, Paul McCarthy, Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, and Gerhard Richter), and contemporary blue-chip artists (including Sol Le Witt, Dan Flavin, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Joseph Buys, George Segal, and Robert Indiana). An overall downward trend is evident even when considering a group of artists that many believed could be insulated from the financial shock suffered by the market at large. This should come as no surprise, especially in in the wake of recent talk surrounding the slump in Damien Hirst’s market.
We’re expecting to see these dismal predictions further substantiated as results emerge from the upcoming round of London contemporary art auctions. Follow the troubling action here:
Feb 5 – Sotheby’s – Contemporary Evening Sale
Feb 6 – Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Sale
Feb 11 – Christies – Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Feb 12 – Christies – Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale
Feb 12 – Phillips de Pury – Contemporary Art Evening Sale
Feb 13 – Phillips de Pury – Contemporary Art Day Sale
Friday, December 19th, 2008
Sotheby’s Claims Contemporary Market Remains Strong
In an effort to instill confidence, Sotheby‘s has posted a video concerning the state of the contemporary art market during bleak financial, times. Speaking candidy about the current economic climate. Tobias Meyer (Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art), Alexander Rotter (New York Head of Contemporary Art), and Leslie Prouty (Senior Vice of Contemporary Art) still manage to express overall optimism in the market. A few main messages are conveyed:
•This is a buyers market with many oportunities
•Good works will always have a strong market
•The current economic climate has led to a shift in auction strategy – During the boom of the past several years, works were estimated aggressively, with the goal of finding collectors to meet those expectations. To continue matching buyer’s with seller’s, new strategy finds the auctioneer focusing on buyer’s expectations and bringing works to auction with more moderate pricing.
•The contemporary market has a firm foundation, backed by the support of a committed collector base
Watch the video here
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Christies Punk/Rock Rundown
Sex Pistols Promotional Poster, 1977.
Estimate: $2000-3,000, Price Realized: $6,250
Results are in for Christies Nov. 24th Rock/Punk auction. While the majority of lots consisted of music memorabilia, including show flyers, photographs, records and clothing, a somewhat random selection of art toys were thrown into the mix, perhaps in an attempt to introduce the genre to a wider audience. Here, we present you with a (biased) selection of some of our favorite lots. Read the rest of this entry »
Monday, November 17th, 2008
Christies Sued Over Forged Basquiat
A lawsuit filed against auction giant, Christies, for consciously selling a fake Basquiat may proceed, concluded a ruling handed down by NY State Court. In 2001 Guido Orsi purchased the bogus painting from Tony Shafrazi Gallery for $185,000, after the gallery had acquired it for $242,000 from a 1990 Christie’s auction. The suite claims Christies passed off the painting as genuine, despite Basquiat’s estate identifying it as counterfit and requesting it be withdrawn from the auction.
As stated in the suit: “If as plaintiffs alleged, Christie’s fraudulently misrepresented the Painting’s provenance, and published that misrepresentation in its catalogue, which Christie’s could reasonably anticipate would be relied upon by bidders at its auction, as well as subsequent purchasers, it may be liable to those who relied upon its misrepresentation.”
Orsi had initially filed suit against Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Milan, but opted to withdraw and joined Tony Shafrazi in suing Christies in the United States. Representation for Shafrazi and Orsi remarked on the significance of the decision, which “allows third-parties who did not bid at an auction … to rely on the catalogues sold and distributed by [an] auction house as representations of authenticity,” permitting such parties to recover
If successful, Shafrazi and Orsi will be awarded a total of $7 million – $2 million in damages based on the increase of Basquiat’s market value since the original 1990 sale, and an additional $5 million in “exemplary” damages.
Christies denies any wrong doing and “considers that the suit is without merit.”
Source: law.com
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Dismal Results at Sotheby’s + Christies
Image: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
The latest returns from this season’s contemporary art auctions are in, and the less than stellar results reinforce the notion that this is a buyer’s market, with overall gains receding back to 2006 levels. The November 10th contemporary auction at Sotheby’s struggled to raise $125.1 million, far beneath the low estimate of $202.4 million. Out of 63 lots, 20 (32%) failed to find buyer, with Sotheby’s taking a hit and losing millions on several lots it had guaranteed to sellers.
The November 12th sale at Christie’s did not fare much better, bringing in a total of $113.6 million, far below the low estimate of $227 million. Again, nearly one-third of the lots on the block failed to sell. Even the famed Basquiat, Untitled (Boxer), 1982 (a highlight of the auction due to its owner, Lars Ulrich of heavy metal band, Metallica, and inclusion in the Brooklyn Museum 2005 retrospective) only found two bidders. Ultimately, the piece sold for 13.5 million (including auction house commission), with an estimate of $12-16 million. Perhaps the most disappointing result was a self portrait by Francis Bacon. What was expected to be a focal point of the sale, estimated at $40 million, failed to find even one bidder.
With these results, one thing has become abundantly clear – the art market has not escaped the financial crisis. “It was a half-price sale, said one Sotheby’s buyer, ”who, In under 90 minutes, dropped more than $8 million (including fees) on works by Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg and Donald Judd.
Source: The New York Times, Mixed Results for Contemporary Art Sale at Christies / A Dreary Night for Contemporary Art at Sothebys
Friday, October 24th, 2008
Market Watch::Saturday @ Phillips
The Art Collectors will be keeping a close eye on tomorrow’s Saturday at Phillips auction lots. Here is a selection of interesting pieces on the block. We’ll report back with results and let you know how the sale fared in the wake of the anticipated art market slowdown and mixed results of the international auctions of the past week. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
Homecoming for Mark Dean Veca
With his recent relocation from New York to California, Mark Dean Veca has wasted no time getting back to work. The artist is currently prepping Phantasmagoria, an ambitious installation at his alma mater (Veca is a 1985 alum), Otis College of Art and Design. The exhibit coincides with Veca’s residency at Otis and the college’s 90th anniversary. From the looks of these images, some exciting new artist references are emerging in Veca’s imagery, including nods to Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and KAWS. Exhibit runs Oct. 11- Dec. 6 at Otis’ Ben Maltz Gallery.
Mark Dean Veca – Phantasmagoria
Oct. 11 – Dec. 6
Opening Reception: Oct. 11, 5-7pm
Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College
9045 Lincoln Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Read the rest of this entry »