November Auction Lots

NEW YORK—Sub-prime mortgage crisis and other economic jitters aside, the two weeks of Impressionist/Modern and Post-War/Contemporary auctions in New York harvested $1.74 billion in sales, a remarkable figure that certainly mutes any lingering talk about the demise of the market.

As in any competition, however, there were winners and losers.

Looking over this wide-ranging, decidedly thoroughbred roster of top-tier works, there’s no doubt that the Post-War/Contemporary stable holds a leading edge over its older brother. Whatever performance-enhancing drug that segment of the market is on, it seems to be working wonders.

Click on the photo gallery at left to continue reading "November Auction Lots."

Judd Tully is editor-at-large for Art & Auction magazine.

Editor’s Note: The original version of this article contained a significant error. We showed an image of Pablo Picasso’s Tete de femme (Dora Maar), a sculpture from the mid-1950s, offered at Sotheby’s on November 7. However, the work referred to was Picasso’s Tete de femme (Dora Maar), a painting from 1941, offered at Christie’s on November 6. The correct image is now in place.