Contemporary Market Bruised but Resilient After London Sales

Courtesy Sotheby's

Marlene Dumas’s "The Visitor" (1995) sold for £3,177,250 ($6,336,072; est. £800,000–1.2 million), making it the most expensive work by a living woman artist to sell at auction.

Courtesy Christie's

Jeff Koons’s 9 1/2-ton "Balloon Flower (Magenta)" (1995–2000) set a record, selling for £12,921,250,00 ($25,752,051; est. on request, in the region of £12 million).

Albert Oehlen Damien Hirst Paul McCarthy Bridget Riley Andy Warhol Willem de Kooning Lucian Freud Gerhard Richter

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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 unremarkable quality. 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 Kooning’s 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 Oehlen’s 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 Warhol’s 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 Fanzhi’s rare, early, and powerful composition Chairman Mao II (1993), depicting the storied leader smoking in an armchair and surrounded by Red Book–toting partisans, squeaked past its low estimate of ₤2 million, selling for ₤2,169,250.

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

Another guaranteed work, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s fierce and early untitled painting from 1982 (est. ₤1–1.5 million) sold to New York, uber-art trader Jose Mugrabi for ₤1,385,250.

No other works broke the £1 million mark, though a number of fresh artist records were set, including for Banks Violette’s striking image of two horses in negative, Burnout (Fade Away) Vol. 1 from 2003, which sold for a sizzling ₤205,250 (est. ₤50–70,000).

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

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

Christie's
It seemed like another world the next day at Christie’s evening sale of Post-War and Contemporary art, where a trio of works by Francis Bacon, Jeff Koons, 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-in rate by lot and 16 percent buy-in rate by value. The evening’s total fell midway between the £80–115 million pre-sale estimate, yet it stands as the highest figure for any Christie’s Post-war sale held in Europe. Eighteen works hurdled the £1 million mark, and 30 of the 48 that sold made over $1 million.

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 work for a secret sum believed to be close to the estimate and spent a small fortune transporting the gleaming behemoth from Dallas, where it was installed at collector/philanthropist Howard Rachofsky’s home, to a temporary 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 the house made any money on the deal.

The bidding war Christie’s had hoped for came a bit later when Francis Bacon’s brilliantly distorted Three Studies for Self Portrait from 1975 (est. on request; in the region of ₤10 million) elicited a firestorm of bids, driving the petit objet to a whopping ₤17,289,250. The work finally sold 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 alongside an entourage of friends. He happily confirmed that he had successfully nabbed Andy Warhol’s eerie Skull from 1976 for ₤657,250 (est. ₤400–600,000), adding: "I’m putting together a group of [skulls] and have bought several during the last few auction seasons."

The heavy firepower didn’t materialize, or so it seemed, for the evening’s cover lot, Lucian Freud’s full-length Naked Portrait with Reflection from 1980, featuring a reclining model on a torn and much-used sofa, with the artist’s feet strangely visible in the mirrored background. The work sold to the telephone for ₤11,801,250 (est. ₤10–15 million), which made it the second most expensive Freud to sell at auction.

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

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

“The best thing about this market,” said Brett Gorvy, international co-head of 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’s highest result, a buoyant £94,701,550 ($188,741,196), just missing the pre-sale high estimate of ₤96.6 million.

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

Once again, Francis Bacon shined. His small-scale 14-by-12-inch Study for Head of George Dyer from 1967 (est. on request; in excess of ₤8 million) was the evening’s top lot, selling for £13,761,550. The seller bought the painting 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 several current exhibitions in London, including a survey at the Serpentine Gallery, saw another of his seemingly endless "Nurse" paintings, Overseas Nurse from 2002-03, 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 by the auctioneer.

Prices for women artists also hit the roof as Marlene Dumas’s tough streetwalker 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 living woman artist at auction. Bridget Riley’s wavy optical abstraction Chant 2 from 1967 also hit a record, selling for ₤2,561,250 (est. ₤2–3 million). New York private dealer Nancy Whyte was the underbidder on the record Dumas.

Whyte got lucky later in the long evening, winning Gerhard Richter’s powerful 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 from the Helga and Walther Lauffs’ collection, which earned ₤18,983,000, double its high estimate of ₤8.9 million.

Of those 12 standout lots, Yves Klein’s sensational abstraction ANT 131 from 1961 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 Tobias Meyer after the sale. "This is a market driven by art lovers."