Christie’s Kicks Off London Season With Modest Imp/Mod Sale

Pablo Picasso Joan Miro Claude Monet Franz Marc Pompidou Plans a Roving Museum Sotheby's Scores Bilbao, the Sequel? Season Opens Softly at Christie’s

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It was a sale dominated by European and U.K.-based bidders, who bought 84 percent of the lots offered, compared to just 14 percent U.S. participation and 2 percent Asian.

The results were solid but unexceptional: Of 44 lots offered, 30 sold, for a sold rate of 68 percent by lot and 84 percent by value. Nine works sold for more than a million pounds, 11 for more than a million dollars, and the final tally was £37,235,550 ($61,277,947), just within the pre-sale estimated range of £36.85 million to £50.15 million. That compares to a year ago, when 66 lots brought £144,440,500, Christie’s highest-ever auction total, and a 1919 Monet “Waterlillies” sold for a record £40.9 million.

Still, some individual works managed to garner excitement, if the sale as a whole was less than nail-biting. The evening’s top-selling, but not top-estimated lot, Monet’s Au Parc Monceau (1878) sailed past its pre-sale estimates of £3.5–4.5 million to sell to an anonymous phone bidder for £6,313,250. “It was a rare picture, and clearly there was a lot of demand for the best works in the sale,” said underbidder Jonathan Binstock, senior vice president of Citigroup’s Private Bank Art Advisory Service. “We had a price we wanted to pay, and ultimately a very big price won the painting.” The work last sold at Sotheby’s London in June 2001 for £3,743,500, meaning its owner managed to make a juicy little profit, even in this dreary economy.

A higher-estimated work, Picasso’s late Homme à l'épée (1969), also topped the £5 million mark, earning £5,753,250 on its estimate of £5–7 million by selling quickly to Nahmad dealing dynasty member Ezra. It last sold at Christie’s London in February 2005 for £2,696,000.

Ezra Nahmad also took the most hotly competed-for work of the evening, Joan Miró’s Peinture (Femme se poudrant) (1949), which went for £3,961,250 (est. £2.2–2.8 million) after bids from at least four enthusiasts, including New York dealer Eleanor Acquavella of Acquavella Galleries.

Another popular offering was Franz Marc’s 1910 Springende Pferde, which went to an anonymous bidder in the sales room for £3,737,250, comfortably within its presale estimate of £3–4 million, after some serious competition from Samir Traboulsi, a Lebanese financier, and Viola Raikhel of London’s 1858 Ltd. Art Advisory.

The sale even had a bit of controversy, over lot 7, a 1903 painting by Pissarro titled Le Quai Malaquais et l’Institut, which had been confiscated by Nazis in March 1938 and returned to Gisela Bermann-Fischer, an heir of the original owner, just last year. The work, estimated to sell for £900,000–1.5 million, was withdrawn shortly before the sale after the auction house learned of the possibility of another heir.

The night’s greatest challenge was the mid-market, however, which accounted for the most buy-ins, in particular the niche areas of Surrealism and German and Austrian art. Some mid-range works did manage to pull through, such as Matta’s Prince of Blood (Tragiptych) (1943), which bested its pre-sale estimate of £300–400,000 to earn £457,250, selling to New York art adviser Mary Hoeveler. “It’s a shame,” said the underbidder, London dealer Ray Waterhouse, “I had a client in America on it.”

Hoeveler had a near-miss herself, underbidding another Miró lot, Mont-roig, le pont (1917), which sold the the Nahmads for £541,250 (est. £400–600,000).

“Was it a fantastic sale? No,” said Thomas Seydoux, Christie’s worldwide head of Impressionist and modern art. “We have to be careful with the middle market. We’ve adjusted some reserves and the demand is there, but we still need to do more work.”

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.