Modern Art Captures Growing Interest as New York's Auction Season Begins

Pablo Picasso Alberto Giacometti Constantin Brancusi Wassily Kandinsky Jeff Koons Jackson Pollock Edouard Vuillard Edgar Degas

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Prices for contemporary art have soared in recent years, in large part because of a dearth of works by sought-after perennial Impressionist favorites such as van Gogh and Cezanne, forcing would-be art buyers to branch out to consider more recent artists, including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Willem De Kooning.

"An issue that we do face in the Impressionist and modern field is that there are few works available," said Nicholas Maclean, co-head of Impressionist and modern art at Christie's auction house.

Almost no one expects to top the world record breaking $104 million fetched last year by Picasso's 1905 masterpiece, Boy with a Pipe.

But experts expect to sell more contemporary works this year, at prices that would have been unheard of just a short time ago.

"Contemporary sales just seem to get bigger and richer," said Matthew Carey-Williams, Vice President, of Sotheby's Contemporary Art department.

"Impressionist sales continue to do extremely well and are the premium sales, but there is a finite amount of material for them, just as there is for Old Masters."

By contrast, "for contemporary, it's expansive," Carey-Williams added. "The client base seems to grow, and the interest seems to grow."

Sotheby's holds its first auction of the two-week long Spring season on May 3, while Christie's opener will be held on May 4. The following week, both houses plan to sell many premier contemporary and post-war art pieces in this year's catalogue.

Brett Gorvy, Christie's international co-head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, agreed with the assessment that "the market overall is extremely strong at the moment" for contemporary works.

"A major Pollock today would make more than a $100 million," he said. "The truly best of the best of De Kooning could do also the 100-million mark."

Charles Moffett, Sotheby's co-chairman worldwide of impressionist, modern and contemporary art worldwide said the high prices are being fueled by "extraordinary demand."

"There is much more demand than there is supply," he said.

"The hot market is contemporary, so you get an enormous amount of material, an enormous amount of interest specially from younger collectors in the contemporary field," Moffett said.

"It depends on what becomes available," he continued, adding that in particular "younger collectors tend to gravitate towards contemporary art."

While much of the focus this year is on contemporary pieces, a handful of artworks from the Impressionist and post-Impressionists will also be on sale this week.

Well-heeled art lovers have their eye on Picasso's neoclassical 1921 Head of a Woman that is expected to fetch between $13-15 million.

Christie's also is putting on the auction block a recently-discovered sculpture from Constantin Brancusi's famed Bird in Space series, which is expected to fetch between $8-12 million. The work was unknown until it was recently discovered in an attic in France.

Auction goers will also be eyeing a work by Alberto Giacometti, Standing Woman (Leoni) which could draw as much as $10 million, as well as paintings by Impressionists Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Edouard Vuillard.

Sotheby's plans to sell a Picasso from his famed "Women of Algiers" series, which is likely to net between $15-20 million.

A 1936 self-portrait by German Max Beckmann is anticipated to bring a winning bid of up to $15 million, while Russian artist Vasily Kandinsky's Two riders and reclining figure, is expected to sell for between $15-25 million.

By Alfons Luna, Copyright AFP, 2005