the art collectors

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Results

Dan Colen’s Untitled (Blow Me), 2005, was a strong performers at Sotheby’s May 2009 Contemporary Art Evening Sale, selling for $386,500, above its initial high estimate of $150,000.

Sotheby’s kicked off the latest round of Spring Contemporary Art auctions last night, with Christie’s and Phillips set to follow over the next two days.  The sale in indicative of the overall shift in auction house strategy, with far fewer lots offered (48 compared to last May’s 85), many with inticingly modest estimates. The total realized (including buyer’s premiums) amounted of $47,033,500, compared to the $362,037,000 raised at last year’s May Contemporary Art Evening Sale.

Read on for our full analysis.

With a $4-6 million estimate, Robert Rauschenberg’s Transom (1963) failed to find a buyer.

40 out of the 48 lots (aprox. 83%) comprising last night’s auction sold, with ten (25% of sold lots) selling beneath their low estimates.  Amongst the unsold were one of Robert Rauschenberg’s seminal Silkscreen Paintings (1963), estimated at $4-6 million, an extremely rare and early Cy Twombly canvas dated 1951, a Dan Flavin flourescent light sculpture estimated at $300-400k (another Flavin sold at the May 08 sale for aprox. $1.5 million), and two Frank Stella paintings, including Double Mitered Maze (1967), which failed to reach its $1.2 million low estimate.

Frank Stella, Double Mitered Maze (1967), Estimate: $1.2-1.8 million, Unsold.

Successes include a Richard Prince text painting (1989) which outperformed its initial estimate of $600,000-800,000, fetching a total of $1,370,500, a large Kara Walker installation of paper silhouettes, which rose slightly above its $200k estimate, and a Dan Colen oil painting that closed at $386,500, soaring 250% beyond its $150,000 high estimate. 

Richard Prince, Can You Imagine (1989), Estimate: $600,000-800,000. Sold: $1,370,500.

More to come as results trickle in from the remaining sales.

May 13 – Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Sale, 
May 13 – Christies Postwar + Contemporary Art Evening Sale
May 14 – Christies   Postwar + Contemporary Art Morning and Afternoon Sessions
May 14 – Phillips Contemporary Art Part I 
May 15 – Phillips Contemporary Art Part II

All Images: Sotheby’s