A Tale of Two Markets

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso Alberto Giacometti Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Henri Matisse Egon Schiele Auguste Rodin

Send a letter to the Editor

Save to Del.icio.us Digg this

Christie’s November 6 sale began on a high note, as Pablo Picasso’s page-size 1918 still life Pomme (est. $200–300,000) sold for $825,000 to New York art adviser Thea Westreich. Also among the dozen Picasso offerings were the hedonistic Homme à la pipe, from 1968 (est. $12–16 million), which dealer Larry Gagosian bought for $16,841,000, and Femme accroupie au costume turc (Jacqueline), from 1955 (est. on request). This reinterpretation of Delacroix’s famed Femmes d’Alger, consigned by the powerful Nahmad art-trading clan, fetched $30,841,000, well above the $2,587,500 it made when it last came up at auction, in May 1995 at Sotheby’s New York. Of the two Picassos that failed to find new homes, the more expensive, Nu debout (étude pour les trois femmes), from 1908 (est. $9–12 million), flamed out after a phantom bid of $8.5 million.

Multiple bidders vied for several of the entries, including Alberto Giacometti’s superb 1950 easel-scale Atelier (est. $1.4–2.5 million), featuring a bust of his brother Diego. Andrew Fabricant, of New York’s Richard Gray Gallery, nabbed it for $4,185,000, the highest amount ever paid for a painting by the artist. That record was trounced later in the evening, however, as Annette au manteau, from 1964 (est. $5–7 million), a stark and isolated image of Giacometti’s young wife (and secretary), shot to $11,241,000.

Any unwillingness to spend, given the deteriorating dollar and continuing turmoil in the financial markets, vanished at the appearance of first-rate property. Paul Signac’s stunning Mediterranean seascape Cassis. Cap Canaille, from 1889 (est. $8–12 million), sailed to a record $14,041,000. Among the handful of other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works that elicited keen interest was Camille Pissarro’s 1872–73 suite of paintings, “Les quatre saisons.” They made a record $14,601,000 (est. $12–18 million), soaring past the $8,967,500 they fetched at Christie’s New York in November 2004.

Works on paper also shone. Fernand Léger’s Dessin pour contraste de formes (composition 11), from 1913 (est. $1.8–2.5 million), was purchased for $4,745,000 by Dominique Lévy, of New York’s L&M Arts, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s bravura 1893 depiction of a debauched Montmartre evening, Au bal de l’opéra (est. $6–8 million), sold to New York– and London-based private dealer Daniela Luxembourg for $10,121,000, a record for the artist in that medium and one of 14 lots that exceeded $10 million.

Remarkably, Americans accounted for 50 percent of buyers, followed by Europeans, including Russians, at 25 percent. It was either the so-called Russian taste or just two relentless bidders that drove up the price for Amedeo Modigliani’s colorful Portrait du sculpteur Oscar Miestchaninoff, from 1916 (est. $18–25 million), another Nahmad consignment. The painting fetched $30,841,000, making it the second highest-grossing lot of the sale. The last time it appeared at auction, at the same house in November 1995, it made $9,352,500.

Buyers also fell hard for Henri Matisse’s beautifully composed L’Odalisque, harmonie bleue, from 1937 (est. $15–20 million), although it is not considered one of the artist’s strongest works. It sold to a telephone bidder for a record $33,641,000, driven by underbids from New York private dealer Franck Giraud.

“I think the market is selective for great things,” says Guy Bennett, Christie’s head of Impressionist and modern art, “and if you’ve got the right balance—that is, fresh property with the right estimates—you will see strong results.”