AUCTION REVIEWS

20th-Century Design

By Judith Gura

Published: September 1, 2008

20th-Century Design

Christie's

A 1969 silver-and-lacquer bracelet by Lucio Fontana sold for $68,500 at Christie's.

Wright and Brian Franczyk Photography

At $276,000, a 15-foot-tall Sonambient sculpture (c. 1970) by Harry Bertoia was the top lot at Wright.

Wright
622 lots offered
$6,169,651 sold total
40 percent unsold by value
42 percent unsold by lot

Phillips
219 lots offered
$5,585,375 sold total
30 percent unsold by value
42 percent unsold by lot

Christie's
Important French Bronze and Ivory Figures
18 lots offered
$2,135,750 sold total
15 percent unsold by value
22 percent unsold by lot
Important 20th-Century Decorative Art & Design
277 lots offered
$4,974,125 sold total
23 percent unsold by value
36 percent unsold by lot

Sotheby's
148 lots offered
Total $7,408,250
27.6 percent unsold by value
37.2 percent unsold by lot

Ron Arad Lucio Fontana Gio Ponti George Nakashima Isamu Noguchi Harry Bertoia Marianne Brandt Wendell Castle

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Evan Snyderman, of the New York gallery R 20th Century, sees the ups and downs of the current market as part of a growth process. “Design is still the Wild West,” he says. John Sollo, of Sollo Rago Modern Auction, seems to agree. “People may be jittery, but it’s not over,” he says. “There’s still lots of great stuff out there, waiting to be discovered.”

"20th-Century Design" originally appeared in the September 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's September 2008 Table of Contents.