Spirited Phillips Sales Cap Contemporary Week

NEW YORK—Last night’s raucous action at Phillips de Pury & Company capped a remarkable week of contemporary sales. As records continued to crumble, the increasing ranks of nay-sayers were put firmly in their place, and the strength of the art market, questioned because of a falling Dow and a subprime mortgage crisis, was confirmed. So it’s hardly surprising that the Phillips sale had the air of party, with Simon de Pury doing his best “Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome” routine and people swanning in late and, more obviously, stalking off early. The event was conducted against a constant hubbub that forced de Pury to repeatedly “Shush!” the crowd so that bidders could actually hear what was going on.

Part of the chaotic mood stemmed from the fact that there were in fact two separate sales last night, with the New Museum of Contemporary Art Benefit Auction (49 lots) preceding the Part 1 Contemporary Art Auction proper (a further 81 lots). (The second part is today in two sessions at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.)

Though this made for a grueling evening, it worked out extremely well for the New Museum. Phillips had originally planned to stage the benefit auction at the beginning of this week, but Christie’s decision to schedule the Allan Stone Collection sale on Monday meant that Phillips had to squeeze it in here as a B-feature to its main sale. The New Museum was probably fine with the schedule change. Rather than lead off an uncertain week that had yet to establish its character, the museum benefited from some remarkable generosity on the part of contributing artists and their dealers, as well as from the evening’s euphoric mood, encouraged by the demonic energy that de Pury brings to his hammer as he seeks to whip up acquisitive enthusiasm. Nor was the museum hurt by the fact that their exempt status meant that there was no New York sales tax levied on the auction, and that Phillips, to their credit, waived buyers’ premiums, allowing works to sell for the precise hammer price. In the end New Museum director Lisa Phillips and her board went away all smiles. Their sale made $8,216,000 against a high estimate of $6 million, a nice housewarming gift on the eve of the opening of the museum’s new Bowery location.

Still, there was palpable urgency in the room when, at a couple of minutes after 8 p.m., we came to the first lots of the Contemporary Sale itself. Despite the party atmosphere, the real players clearly had their business heads on. Jay Jopling of London’s White Cube, who had sauntered in at about 7, bid discreetly (though way beyond its estimate) for the Richard Prince he’d clearly come for – Untitled (Protest Painting) (1994). Having spent his $385,000, he pulled on his coat and left.

Auction records were established for a number of artists, including Rudolf Stingel (at $1,945,000), Mark Grotjahn ($937,000), and Carroll Dunham ($433,000). Top prices went for the catalog cover lot de Kooning, Richard Prince (who can seemingly do no wrong these days), Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, and the aforementioned Stingel. The sale overall made $42,316,000, which was within its estimate, and—as befits a somewhat wild party—there was an air of exhaustion well before the end of the evening. Once we reached lot numbers in the 60s and 70s, only about a tenth of the original crowd was left in the room, Phillips staffers were laughing and joking among themselves, and not a few lots were quietly bought in.

Still, once the whole thing was over at about 10, the Phillips team told us what a wonderful evening it had been, champagne corks popped, and de Pury announced that we’d witnessed another evening in what would be a “spectacular year” for his company.

Check back soon for analysis of the sale's top five lots.