Contemporary Proves Its Mettle

Andy Warhol John Chamberlain Willem de Kooning Mark Rothko Lucian Freud Robert Ryman Wayne Thiebaud Fred Tomaselli

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Christie’s jump-started the week on November 12 with Selections from the Allan Stone Collection. The cherry-picked trove from the storied New York dealer set 12 artist records, including for Wayne Thiebaud, whose 1970 Pop art confection Seven Suckers (est. $1.4–1.8 million) shot to $4,521,000.

Stone’s celebrated eye certainly boosted buyer confidence, even for tough and aggressively estimated works. John Chamberlain’s crushed, painted and chromium-plated steel-and-iron Hatband, from 1960 (est. $2.5–3.5 million), sold for an artist high of $2,841,000 to Mary Hoeveler, of the Citi Art Advisory Service. That record would last only 48 hours.

The art market machine shifted into even higher gear the next night at the firm’s various-owner bonanza, with 16 artist records set and 51 of the 62 lots sold fetching more than $1 million dollars. Auctioneer Christopher Burge describes the two-hour bidding fest as “probably one of the most exciting sales I’ve ever taken. The market is obviously flourishing.”

In all but a few instances, the works that soared past their high estimates were exceptional ones by younger living artists, such as Fred Tomaselli’s Gravity in Four Directions (est. $350–450,000). The 2001 composition, crafted from pills and leaves, rose to a record $937,000, almost three times the artist’s previous record, set in May 2007 at Phillips de Pury & Company.

Buyers also went wild for iconic images by first-tier artists, as evidenced by the bidding battle for Richard Prince’s Piney Woods Nurse, from 2002 (est. $1.8–2.2 million). It eventually sold to Jay Jopling, of London’s White Cube, for an artist high of $6,089,000, crushing Prince’s previous record, $2,840,000, set at the same house in May for Cowboy, a large 2001 Ektachrome print.

All 10 Warhols offered sold, once again affirming the artist’s unrivaled stature in the market, although Liz, from 1963 (est. $25–35 million), weighed down by a pricey guarantee for seller Hugh Grant, made only $23,561,000. A phone bidder beat out New York art trader Alberto Mugrabi to win the painting.

Christie’s substantial risk taking—to the tune of $170 million in guarantees, according to a source inside the company—paid off for the house on a hit-and-miss basis. Donald Judd’s wall piece of stacked iron and red Plexiglas squares, Untitled, 1979 (79-40 Bernstein), was the only casualty with a guarantee, flopping at $6.5 million (est. $7–9 million). Guaranteed lots that performed below par included Jeff Koons’s SUV-size stainless-steel ring, Diamond (Blue), 1994–2005 (est. on request; up to $20 million), from his “Celebrations” series, consigned by German publishing magnate Benedikt Taschen. It sold to Larry Gagosian, the artist’s dealer, for an anticlimactic though record $11,801,000, eclipsing the artist’s previous high of $5,615,750, achieved in May 2001 at Sotheby’s New York for Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988. Again, the record was short-lived.

The evening’s top lot, Mark Rothko’s radiant Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange), from 1955 (est. $25–30 million), another guaranteed entry, turned out to be a good bet for the house, thanks to a gaggle of phone bidders who drove the price up to $34,201,000. Although it was the second-highest sum ever achieved by a Rothko, it came nowhere near the record $72.8 million paid for White Center (Yellow, Pink, and Lavender on Rose), from 1950, at Sotheby’s New York in May 2007.

Among the starring British entries was Lucian Freud’s uncharacteristically warm and fuzzy Ib and Her Husband, from 1992 (est. on request; about $20 million), showing the snoozing couple spooning on a bed, which sold for a record $19,361,000.