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

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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.”

That formula for success was lacking at Sotheby’s November 8 sale, which was also clouded by a 360-point slide in the Dow Jones Industrial Average that day. The evening got off to a promising start, with the first five lots—Egon Schiele works on paper from noted collector Christian Nebehay—attracting lofty prices. The most expensive was Self-portrait with Checkered Shirt, a riveting 1917 display of draftsmanship in gouache, watercolor and black crayon (est. $4.5–6.5 million). It sold to New York private dealer Philippe Ségalot for $11,353,000, a record for a work on paper by the artist. A few lots later, another strong price, $3,065,000, was realized by Auguste Rodin’s bronze Le penseur, conceived circa 1880 and posthumously cast in the early 1920s (est. $800,000–1.2 million). New York dealer Jeffrey Deitch was the underbidder.

All that momentum hit the equivalent of a brick wall moments later when Vincent van Gogh’s important but chronically shopped The Fields (Wheat Fields), from 1890 (est. $28–35 million), carrying an undisclosed financial guarantee, failed to draw any offers and was bought in at a phantom bid. “Are we all done at $25 million?” queried auctioneer Tobias Meyer in chilly tones that met with only stony silence.

The sun-drenched Auvers-sur-Oise landscape, completed just weeks before van Gogh shot himself in that same field, is one of the few remaining works from the period still in private hands and deserved a high price, but Sotheby’s and the owner, believed to be London dealer Desmond Corcoran, overreached. Buyers were put off by the fact that New York’s Acquavella Galleries, like countless other dealers over the past decade, had been trying to sell it.

It’s hard to pin blame on a single picture or its fantasylike guarantee, but the van Gogh buy-in pretty much killed the evening. The debacle, however, wasn’t close to the bloodbaths that occurred in the early 1990s, when the previous art bubble burst. In this case, “only” 20 of the 76 lots offered failed to sell.

Besides the van Gogh, pricey casualties included Georges Braque’s large 1953–56 depiction of his atelier, L’Écho (est. $15–20 million), which bombed at $13 million, and Picasso’s La lampe, from 1931 (est. $25–35 million), which burned out at $21 million. The Braque, consigned by the Nahmads, was guaranteed.

“Our estimates were not accepted by the market,” said a chastened and blunt-spoken David Norman, Sotheby’s head of Impressionist and modern art, after the sale. Still, 10 works sold for more than $10 million, and 35 percent of the lots exceeded their high estimates. Among the latter was Signac’s 1907 La Corne d’Or, le pont (est. $2–3 million), a luminous seascape with the distinctive skyline of Constantinople in the background, which earned $4,745,000. Another high performer was Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s exquisite and sensual portrait Juive d’Alger (L’Italienne), painted circa 1870 (est. $2.5–3.5 million). When it last sold at auction, at the same house in May 1983, it made $650,000; this time it fetched a record $4,745,000.

Bidders fought for the few exceptional works, even ones harboring guarantees. Picasso’s rare and monumental bronze Tête de femme (Dora Maar), cast in the 1950s from a 1941 plaster, sold to Giraud for $29,161,000, a record price for any sculpture at auction, achieved with help from the underbidders, dealers Helly Nahmad, of London, and Daniel Malingue, of Paris.

Less eagerly sought-after entries included Paul Gauguin’s 1892 Tahitian composition Te Poipoi (le matin), hailing from the Joan Whitney Payson collection (est. $40–60 million). It sold to Hong Kong real estate magnate Joseph Lau—who last November bought Andy Warhol’s 1972 portrait Mao for $17.3 million at Christie’s New York—after just one phone bid of $39,241,000, making it the sale’s top lot. Franz Marc’s Blue Rider masterpiece The Waterfall (Women Under a Waterfall), from 1912 (est. $20–30 million), made a record $20,201,000. The last time it appeared at auction, at Sotheby’s London in October 1999, it fetched £5,061,500 ($8.4 million).

At the end of the rocky evening, another Sotheby’s specialist told Art+Auction, “We were unlucky tonight, and the others were very lucky last night.” That might be, but Wall Street gave the company a beating the next day, sending Sotheby’s stock plummeting 28 percent.

It’s still too early to say with any certainty if this sale marks the end of the art market’s skyward climb, but it serves as a warning sign of what may come if the houses do not proceed with prudence. 

"A Tale of Two Markets" originally appeared in the January 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's January 2008 Table of Contents.