PARIS, May 16, 2023
/PRNewswire/ -- With no 'absolute masterpieces' on offer, there
were no 'mega' results in Christie's first major prestige
New York sale of 2023. Lots of
works fetched over $10 million on
May 11, but none crossed the
threshold of $50 million. Indeed last
year's peak at the same sale when Andy
Warhol's Shot Sage Blue
Marilyn (1964) reached $195
million now seems quite remote.
"The Art Market is a pyramid, observes thierry Ehrmann,
CEO of Artmarket.com and founder of Artprice. "Its base remains
very solid, thanks to countless exchanges recorded in all four
corners of the globe, in all price ranges. But each year this
pyramid is usually crowned with at least one big result for a major
masterpiece; a kind of apex that is missing so far this
year".
The market holds its breath
It could be argued that this breaks somewhat with a tradition
established by Christie's. In recent years François Pinault's
auction house has accustomed the art market to a very major result
in its New York May sales:
- In May 2019, Jeff Koons became the world's most expensive
living artist with his sculpture Rabbit (1986) selling for
$91.1 million.
- In May 2020, the sales were
postponed due to the health crisis.
- In May 2021, Pablo Picasso's Woman seated near a window
(Marie-Thérèse) (1932) crossed the symbolic threshold of
$100 million for the first time in
two years when it fetched $103
million.
- In May 2022, Andy Warhol's, Shot sage blue Marilyn
(1964), from the Thomas Ammann
Collection, fetched the second highest-ever auction result for a
work of art when it was acquired by Larry
Gagosian for $195
million.
At its major 20th Century Art sale on May
11, 2023, Christie's best result was just $43.5 million, hammered for a canvas by
Henri Rousseau (aka Le
Douanier) painted the year of his death. It's a resounding new
auction record for this artist who was particularly fond of
Picasso, but as a peak for this prestigious sale, it seems almost
too modest.
Does this indicate a loss of momentum after the flurry of
astonishing records hammered last fall during the sale of the
Paul G. Allen Collection when
Christie's sold five lots above the $100
million threshold in a single evening?…
The most spectacular results of the evening were hammered for two
works from the Paul G. Allen
Collection that were not included in last fall's sale. The first
was Georgia O'Keeffe's Black Iris
VI (1936), estimated at $5 - 7
million and which fetched $21.1
million (including fees). When it last went to auction in
1998, it sold for $1.1 million,
almost twenty times less. The other was David Hockney's early work Blossom,
Woldgate (2009), also estimated at $5 - 7 million, which climbed to $19.4 million.
Guarantees… but not of performance
Of the 70 lots offered by Christie's New York on May 11,
2023, only 33 were not guaranteed. Increasingly common in
major art sales these days, all the works in the S. I. Newhouse
Collection and the Paul G. Allen
Collection, (as well as many others from prestigious collections
including the Alan and Dorothy Press Collection) benefited from
sale guarantees.
For these lots Christie's issues the following notice: "On
occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome
of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually
be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome
of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for
the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is such
a lot."
In the spring of 2022, 30% of the lots in Christie's 20th
Century Art session were subject to guarantees (17 out of the 56
offered, including two in the sale of the Anne H. Bass Collection).
This year, the same auction house guaranteed 52% of the lots.
However, the multiplication of such sale guarantees does not
necessarily ensure a better performance. In total, in its
May 11, 2023 sale, Christie's took a
total of $506.6 million compared with
$832.2 million in the same session
last year.
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