An Anxious, Abbreviated Week of London Auctions

Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso Alberto Giacometti Francis Bacon Egon Schiele Investors Indulge Appetite for Luxury Dealer Holly Solomon’s Papers Headed to Smithsonian Phillips de Pury Makes Its (Small) Mark

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With pundits already predicting a recession for the U.S. and possibly the globe, and with analysts such as the London-based ArtTactic group reporting that art-market confidence dropped 40 percent between May and November 2007, the outcome of the trio of evening sales, in which £262–367 million ($518–725 million) of property is on offer, has ringside nail-biting possibilities.

It’s a somewhat abbreviated week in London. Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s are holding their usual Impressionist and Modern evenings sales, but unlike in past seasons, Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary auction (on February 6) is the only contemporary offering; Sotheby’s and Phillips de Pury & Company have moved their sales to February 27–29. Sotheby’s cited the “strengthening of the market” as the reason for the date change, but sources say the auction house’s real motive was to avoid the expense of pitching a large tent at nearby Hanover Square to display its day-sale wares.

Go figure.

Click on the photo gallery at left to read about five lots to watch.

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.