Spectacular Results at Christie’s Contemporary Sale

Photo by David Gursky

The auction floor at last night's spectacular Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Courtesy Christie's Images Ltd.

Lucian Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” (1995) (est. $25–35 million) sold for $33,641,000, making it the most expensive work ever by a living artist.

Adolph Gottlieb Andy Warhol Sam Francis Mark Rothko Lucian Freud Roy Lichtenstein Francis Bacon Jeff Koons

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Only three works failed to find buyers, amounting to an amazing 95 percent sold rate both by lot and dollar value.

More incredible, perhaps, especially in light of the infamously weak dollar, 70 percent of the buyers were Americans, followed by Europeans (including Russians) at 26 percent and Asians at 4 percent.

The sale is the firm’s second highest-ever contemporary auction, topped only by last May’s huge $384,654,400 result. But in retrospect, even that mark seems tame considering it took 74 lots to make last year's tally, with one picture, Andy Warhol’s Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) from 1963 accounting for $71,720,000 of the total.

Last night’s performance also quashed endless speculation that the art market was in trouble, at least in this blue-chip arena. Safely meeting expectations, the auction total fell comfortably within the pre-sale estimate of $282–398.6 million.

More remarkable, 46 of the 54 sold lots fetched more than a million dollars apiece, and 8 artist records were set, including for Lucian Freud’s monsterishly fleshy, fully reclining nude portrait Benefits Supervisor Sleeping from 1995 (est. $25–35 million), which went to an anonymous telephone bidder for $33,641,000, elevating the heavily impastoed painting of Freud’s model “Big Sue” to the rank of most expensive work by a living artist ever sold. The price crushed Freud’s previous high-water mark of $19,361,000, set at Christie’s New York last November for IB and Her Husband (1992).

Another Brit also made a hit as Francis Bacon’s small-scale but power-packed triptych Three Studies for Self-Portrait from 1976 (est. $25–35 million) sold to another telephone bidder for $28,041,000. The work last sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 2005 for $5,168,000.

Top examples of Abstract Expressionism, increasingly rare to this market, made strong showings, topped by Mark Rothko’s serene and captivating red-on-yellow canvas No. 15 from 1952 (estimate on request; in the region of $40 million), which sold to an anonymous telephone bidder for $50,441,000, the second highest price for a Rothko at auction and the 15th highest price for any work (from any category) selling at auction. The painting last sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 1999 for $11,002,500, and again demonstrates the staggering investment potential for first-class art.

Other Ab Ex home runs were hit by Clyfford Still’s stately composition 1946 (PH-182) from 1946 (est. $8–12 million), which sold for $14,041,000, and Sam Francis’s signature masterwork Black from 1955 (est. $4–6 million), which went to New York dealer John van Doren of Greenberg van Doren for a record $5,193,000.

Other Ab Exers achieving new price levels included Adolph Gottlieb and Barnett Newman. Gottlieb leaped to higher ground with Cool Blast from 1960 (est. $2–3 million), which sold to an order bid delivered by auctioneer Christopher Burge for a record-setting $6,537,000. The artist’s previous high was set at Doyle New York last May when Blast III (1958) made $1,384,000. Newman’s austerely minimal 1969 ink on paper Untitled (est. $4.5–6.5 million), painted a year before his death, sold for a record $5,193,000 to private dealer Philippe Segalot of Giraud Pissarro Segalot.

Like Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, apart from one pricey casualty, was also red hot. Andy Warhol’s rare and riveting Double Marlon from 1966 (estimate on request; in the region of $30 million) sold to a yet another anonymous telephone bidder for $32,521,000. It was one of many lots guaranteed by Christie’s and for the most part, their high-stakes gambling paid off nicely.

The night’s big disappointment and money-losing bet for the house was Roy Lichtenstein’s sublime, single-object still life Ball of Twine from 1963 (est. $14–18 million), which was bought in at $12 million. “I think it was very overpriced, and Christie’s gave it a massive guarantee,” said New York dealer David Nash of Mitchell-Innes & Nash, which represents the Lichtenstein estate.

The painting last sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 2001 to ubercollector Peter Brant for $4,075,750 (est. $1.5–2 million). This round, Brant made out like a bandit.

But there was some consolation to sooth the disappointment. Ball of Twine remains a great picture, and Lichtenstein’s market reputation was buoyed when his late and luscious Reflection on a Prom from 1990 (est. $3–5 million) sold to a telephone bidder for $8,777,000. Private dealer Daniella Luxembourg was the underbidder.

Works from New York artists of the 1980s also triumphed, led by Jeff Koons’s fluorescent-lit and immaculately entombed double-decker sculpture, New Hoover Convertibles, New Shelton Wet/Drys 5-gallon, Double-Decker from 1981–86 (estimate on request; in the region of $10 million), which sold to a telephone bidder for $11,801,000. The work's consignor, Michael Schwartz, acquired the work brand new some two decades ago from the now long-shuttered East Village avant-garde gallery International with Monument for a mere $15,000.

Another Koons, the stainless-steel-and-Bourbon-enclosed Jim Beam-Box Car from 1986 (est. $1–1.5 million), sold to Harry Blaine of New York/London gallery Haunch of Venison, a wholly owned subsidiary of Christie’s, for $1,945,000.

Richard Prince’s wildly successful nursing career continued to sizzle with Man-Crazy Nurse #2 from 2002, which sold for a record $7,433,000 (est. $6–8 million) to New York dealer Christophe van de Weghe, who was bidding on behalf of an American client. “He was willing to go much higher,” van de Weghe said of his client moments after the sale. Jose Mugrabi was one of the underbidders. The work came from the collection of former television mogul Douglas Cramer.

The biggest lot of the evening, at least in terms of square footage, was a modernist piece of architecture, Richard Neutra’s iconic "The Kaufmann House, Palm Springs," designed in 1945 and built in 1946–47 (est. $15–25 million). The five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath objet sold to a telephone bidder for $16,841,000.

“All the collectors I know, and advisers and dealers, are all very active,” said Robert Manley, Christie’s Post-War & Contemporary department head, moments after the sale ended. “This sale was a reflection of that. If we have great pictures, they’ll do very well.”

The action resumes tonight at Sotheby’s.

Judd Tully is Editor at Large for Art+Auction magazine. For more on the May sales, read his A+A Sales Preview and his pre-sale Overvalued/Undervalued column.