Courtesy Sotheby's

The evening's top lot, Yves Klein's "Archisponge (Re 11)" (1960) sold for $21,362,500 (estimate in the region of $25 million).

Robert Rauschenberg Andy Warhol Edward Ruscha Roy Lichtenstein Jean-Michel Basquiat Philip Guston Yves Klein Jeff Koons

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Twenty of the 63 lots offered failed to sell for buy-in rates of 32 percent by lot and 29 percent by value. And 38 of the 43 sold lots made hammer prices, before premium, under the low estimate.

Two lots sold for over $10 million, five over $5 million, and 33 over $1 million, and three artist records were set, including for Philip Guston, whose Ab Ex masterpiece from 1954–55, Beggar’s Joys, fetched $10,182,500 (est. $14–18 million), selling to San Francisco art consultant Mary Zlot. The work last sold at Christie’s New York in November 1996 for a then-record $1,707,500 (est. $900,000–1,200,000) to private collector Donald Bryant. Tonight’s result easily vaulted the standing record for Guston of $7,296,000, set at Christie’s in May 2005 for The Street (1956).

Despite the gaudy hammer price, the auction house lost millions on its bet that the picture, which carried a guarantee, would fetch a number close or beyond its sky-high estimate.

The Guston was one of 26 guaranteed lots in the sale. Last week, Sotheby’s released its third quarter earnings and projected a $17 million loss in guarantees for tonight’s auction. As the final hammer fell, the total earnings for those 26 lots were actually $30.4 million shy of the low-end of their $89.6–123 million estimate.

“It’s a bad night for Sotheby’s,” said Berlin dealer Heinrich zu Hohenlohe, "but a good night for the art market."

Six of the 26 guaranteed lots failed to find buyers, including the sale’s cover lot, Roy Lichtenstein’s Half Face with Collar from 1963, which died at $11 million (est. $15–20 million). “Are we all done?” asked auctioneer Tobias Meyer to the deadly quiet room. There was no response.

Another guaranteed casualty was Lucian Freud’s awful looking Naked Portrait Standing from 1999–2000, which was bought in at $6.75 million (est. $9–12 million).

Amid the evening’s casualties and steep price corrections there were some happy moments. Yves Klein’s rare, large-scale, and magnificent abstraction Archisponge (Re 11) from 1960 was the evening’s top lot, selling to an anonymous telephone bidder for $21,362,500 (unpublished estimate in the region of $25 million). The consignor acquired the sea sponge and pebble–festooned work from legendary collector François de Menil in 1984.

The result came close to breaking Klein’s record, which was set at Sotheby’s November 2007 sale when MG 9 in gold leaf on panel sold to François Pinault for $23,561,000.

This evening’s Klein was free of a financial guarantee.

One of the evening’s few high fliers was John Currin’s old master lookalike Nice 'N Easy (1999), which actually exceeded its estimate, selling to an anonymous bidder for $5,458,500 (est. $3.5–4.5 million).

American bidders were predominant, including L.A. mega-collector and philanthropist Eli Broad, who bought at least three works, including Ed Ruscha’s Desire from 1969 for a bargain $2,434,500 (est. $4–6 million); Jeff Koons’s gilded wood and mirror Wishing Well from 1988 for $2,154,500 (est. $2.5–3.5 million); and Robert Rasuchenberg’s 1955 combine painting Bantam for $2,602,500 (est.$3–4 million).

Fashion legend Valentino was another notable buyer. Among his trophies was Andy Warhol’s Portrait of an American Indian (Russel Means) from 1976 for $1,314,500 (est. $1.5–2 million).

New York collector Aby Rosen bought Jean-Michel Basquiat's huge oil painting on paper Ribs Ribs from 1982 for $626,500 (est. $1-1.5 million).

"When the price was right for great objects," said Meyer after the 70-minute sale, "the audience responded and bought it."

And in fact, despite the auction’s many disappointments, Sotheby’s did manage to pull off its sixth-highest evening result in the contemporary category, though the overall total seemed light years away from the $315.9 million earned last November or the record $362 million sale last May.

The contemporary evening sales resume Wednesday at Christie’s with 75 lots estimated to earn $227.1–327.5 million.

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.