After a trio of evening sales, the contemporary art market emerged slightly bruised but remarkably resilient, proving once again its impressive mettle despite the persistent looming sense of an economic downturn.

The week got off to a bumpy start at Phillips de Pury and Company with a rash of pricey buy-ins that deflated expectations. Many of those lots carried financial guarantees, and as a whole, the line-up was poorly choreographed with many entries burdened by high estimates and unremarkablequality. In total, 31 of the 91 lots offered failed to find buyers for a buy-in rate, by lot, of 34 percent and 31 percent by value. The house tallied ₤24,483,000 ($48,770,260), below the pre-sale estimated range of ₤29,250,000–41,630,000.

Though Phillips is known for presenting cutting-edge younger artists, the evening’s top lot was Willem de Koonings late and mostly minimal abstraction Untitled from 1984 (est. ₤1.5–2.5 million), which sold to London private dealer Ivor Braka for ₤3,513,250. Braka also nabbed Albert Oehlens Bereits Katzen warden an die Spitze getrieben, a large-scale abstract oil from 1999, for ₤157,250 (est. ₤70–90,000).

Other front-runners included Andy Warhols Nine Multi-colored Marilyns (Reversal Series) from 1979–86, which sold to a telephone bidder for ₤2,505,250 (est. ₤2.2–2.8 million). The work’s date range has to do with the fact that the assembled panels come from different periods.

Though works from several of his fellow Chinese artists, including Yan Pei Ming and Zhang Xiaogang, were bought in due to over-reaching estimates and their being over-shopped in the private market before heading to Phillips,Zeng Fanzhis rare, early, and powerful composition Chairman Mao II (1993),depicting the storied leader smoking in an armchair and surrounded by RedBook–toting partisans, squeaked past its low estimate of ₤2 million, sellingfor ₤2,169,250.

A huge Damien Hirst, resembling a stained glass window but comprised ofbutterflies and household gloss paint, The Importance of Elsewhere — TheKingdom of Heaven from 2006, sold to another telephone bidder for ₤1,609,250(est. ₤1.5–2.5 million).

Another guaranteed work, Jean-Michel Basquiats fierce and early untitledpainting from 1982 (est. ₤1–1.5 million) sold to New York, uber-art traderJose Mugrabi for ₤1,385,250.

No other works broke the £1 million mark, though a number of fresh artistrecords were set, including for Banks Violettes striking image of twohorses in negative, Burnout (Fade Away) Vol. 1 from 2003, which sold for asizzling ₤205,250 (est. ₤50–70,000).

Despite these successes, a rash of buy-ins for major lots, including worksby Franz Gertsh, Paul McCarthy, Hirst, and Warhol, dampened the festiveatmosphere.

"My expectations were much higher," said Michael McGinnis, head ofcontemporary art for Phillips, speaking moments after the sale in the firm'sstunning new quarters on Howick Place, "and I have no reason to give you. Itwas a total curveball."

Christie's
It seemed like another world the next day at Christie’s evening sale ofPost-War and Contemporary art, where a trio of works by Francis Bacon, JeffKoons, and Lucian Freud made ₤42 million, boosting the overall tally to£86,241,600 ($171,879,508).

All but ten of the 58 works offered sold, delivering a 17 percent buy-inrate by lot and 16 percent buy-in rate by value. The evening’s total fellmidway between the £80–115 million pre-sale estimate, yet it stands as thehighest figure for any Christie’s Post-war sale held in Europe. Eighteenworks hurdled the £1 million mark, and 30 of the 48 that sold made over $1million.

Nine records were set, including for Jeff Koons’s 9-½-ton Balloon Flower(Magenta) from 1995–2000 (est. on request; in the region of ₤12 million),though this sale could still count as a disappointment for the house.Despite a good deal of pre-sale hoopla — Christie’s had guaranteed the workfor a secret sum believed to be close to the estimate and spent a smallfortune transporting the gleaming behemoth from Dallas, where it wasinstalled at collector/philanthropist Howard Rachofskys home, to atemporary site in St. James Square, a stone’s throw from the auction house —the pristine, stainless steel trophy didn’t ignite the expected bidding war,selling to a lone telephone bidder for ₤12,921,250. It’s unclear if thehouse made any money on the deal.

The bidding war Christie’s had hoped for came a bit later when FrancisBacon’s brilliantly distorted Three Studies for Self Portrait from 1975(est. on request; in the region of ₤10 million) elicited a firestorm ofbids, driving the petit objet to a whopping ₤17,289,250. The work finallysold to a telephone bidder, though there were several determined contenders,including London jewel magnate Laurence Graf.

"Prices are going to heaven," said Graf as he exited the salesroom alongsidean entourage of friends. He happily confirmed that he had successfullynabbed Andy Warhol’s eerie Skull from 1976 for ₤657,250 (est.₤400–600,000), adding: "I’m putting together a group of [skulls] andhave bought several during the last few auction seasons."

The heavy firepower didn’t materialize, or so it seemed, for the evening’scover lot, Lucian Freud’s full-length Naked Portrait with Reflection from1980, featuring a reclining model on a torn and much-used sofa, with theartist’s feet strangely visible in the mirrored background. The work sold tothe telephone for ₤11,801,250 (est. ₤10–15 million), which made it thesecond most expensive Freud to sell at auction.

There were, however, plenty of episodes of serial bidding for hotlysought-after property, including a battle for Gilbert and Georges To HerMajesty (1973), an early installation of black-and-white photographs, whichsold to an anonymous telephone bidder for a record ₤1,889,250 (est.₤400–600,000), proving the market’s capacity to stretch high for importantwork. The result crushed the duo’s previous mark set last February atSotheby’s London when Bad Thoughts no.2 from 1975 made ₤636,500.

Christie’s, or perhaps its over-greedy consignor, miscalculated the interestin Lucio Fontanas fantastic and multi-punctured celestial egg from 1964,Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio (est. on request; in excess of ₤8million), which was bought in after a chandelier bid of ₤8 million. The worklast sold at Christie’s London in December 1996 for ₤397,500.

“The best thing about this market,” said Brett Gorvy, international co-headof Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary department in a post-sale interview,“is that people are making the right choices.”

Sotheby's
Sotheby’s capped the week of evening sales on July 1, turning in the week’shighest result, a buoyant £94,701,550 ($188,741,196), just missing the pre-sale highestimate of ₤96.6 million.

The sale featured a total of 75 lots, a noticeably larger lineup thanChristie’s, and of those, only four lots failed to find buyers, a remarkablefeat for a 2-½ hour marathon sale, which visibly fatigued star auctioneerTobias Meyer. Twenty-seven lots made over £1 million, and 48 topped $1million. More impressive yet, the average lot value was a whopping£1.33/$2.66 million, the highest contemporary average for the firm inEurope.

Once again, Francis Bacon shined. His small-scale 14-by-12-inch Study forHead of George Dyer from 1967 (est. on request; in excess of ₤8 million) wasthe evening’s top lot, selling for £13,761,550. The seller bought thepainting from Marlborough Fine Art in London back in March 1967 for £2,000,according to Marlborough head Gilbert Lloyd.

Of the ten artist records set, Richard Prince, the subject of severalcurrent exhibitions in London, including a survey at the Serpentine Gallery,saw another of his seemingly endless "Nurse" paintings, Overseas Nurse from2002-03, sell to fashion giant Valentino for ₤4,241,250 (est. ₤4–6 million).Jose Mugrabi was the underbidder.

Mugrabi also came in second for Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (1982-83),which sold for £5,081,250 (est. £4–6 million) to a commission bid executed bythe auctioneer.

Prices for women artists also hit the roof as Marlene Dumass toughstreetwalker composition, The Visitor from 1995, shot to a record ₤3,177,250(est. ₤800,000–1.2 million), making it the most expensive work by a livingwoman artist at auction. Bridget Rileys wavy optical abstraction Chant 2from 1967 also hit a record, selling for ₤2,561,250 (est. ₤2–3 million). NewYork private dealer Nancy Whyte was the underbidder on the record Dumas.

Whyte got lucky later in the long evening, winning Gerhard Richterspowerful and color-charged abstraction Ypsilon from 1984 for ₤2,729,250(est. ₤2.5–3.5 million).

A chunk of Sotheby’s success came from a trove of guaranteed property fromthe Helga and Walther Lauffs collection, which earned ₤18,983,000, doubleits high estimate of ₤8.9 million.

Of those 12 standout lots, Yves Kleins sensational abstraction ANT 131 from1961 led the pack, selling to a telephone bidder for ₤4,185,250 (est.₤700–900,000).

"Many bidders exceeded their own limitations," said an exhausted TobiasMeyer after the sale. "This is a market driven by art lovers."