The first auctions to kick-start the major May sales in New York revealed a mixed picture for the market’s strength during a time of higher interest rates and continued economic uncertainty.
Consider results for two major paintings by
Pablo Picasso
at Christie’s 20th-century evening auction.
Nature morte à la fenêtre, an early work of the artist’s lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter sold for US$36 million, nearly US$42 million with fees, while another painting of Marie-Thérèse from 1938, Femme assise au chapeau de paille (Marie-Thérèse), couldn’t catch a bid above US$18.5 million (below US$20 million low estimate) and so, wasn’t sold.
Neither painting had a presale guarantee from the auction house or a third party.
A third Picasso, L’Arlésienne (Lee Miller), painted in 1937, sold for nearly US$24.6 million, with fees, during a dedicated sale of 16 works (all guaranteed) from the collection of media scion S.I. Newhouse. The final result for the Picasso was within an estimate range between US$20 million and US$30 million. Presale estimates do not include fees.
Overall, the 20th-century sale was 86% sold by lot, with 10 works failing to find buyers. In all, the sale realized nearly US$329 million, Christie’s said.
The Newhouse auction, chock full of masterpieces, fared far better, with 100% of lots sold, led by Francis Bacon’s 1969 Self-Portrait, which sold for US$34.6 million, and Willem de Kooning’s Orestes, 1947, which realized nearly US$31 million. Both sales figures include fees. In all the sale brought in nearly US$178 million.
The 20th-century auction included some major sales, including the top lot of the night—Henri Rousseau’s Les Flamants, 1910, which shattered the artist’s three-decade record of US$4.4 million by selling above its high estimate for US$37.5 million after nearly eight minutes of intense bidding. The total with fees was US$43.5 million.
It also included some spirited bidding for paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Square de la Trinité, 1878-1879, sold for US$11.9 million, with fees, nearly double a high estimate of US$6 million, after more than six minutes of bidding, while La Seine à Argenteuil, 1888, sold for US$4.5 million, with fees, above a high estimate of US$1.5 million.
Square de la Trinité was from the estate of Sophie Danforth, a collection that throughout the evening achieved US$23.8 million. The total included the sale of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Au cirque: Éléphant en liberté, 1899, a drawing that achieved US$2.7 million, far above a US$600,000 high estimate, and Francisco de Goya y Lucientes’ A horse covering a she-donkey, while straddling a monk riding it, which achieved US$3.2 million, with fees, above a US$1.2 million high estimate.
The sale also proved the value of good provenance in results for works by David Hockney and Georgia O’Keeffe from the collection of the late Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen.
O’Keeffe’s Black Iris VI, 1936, sold for US$21.1 million, with fees, sailing past a US$7 million high estimate, while White Calico Rose, 1930, sold for US$13 million, above a US$8 million high estimate.
Hockney’s Early Blossom, Woldgate, 2009, sold for US$19.4 million, with fees, above a US$7 million high estimate, while The Gate, 2000, sold for US$14.7 million, with fees, above an US$8 million high estimate. Felled Trees, 2009, sold for US$10.8 million, with fees, above a US$6 million high estimate.
In all, the Allen collection achieved nearly US$89 million Thursday evening.
The estate of the late Chicago commodities trader Alan Press and his wife, Dorothy, which included nine works in the 20th-century sale, achieved nearly US$44.5 million. The collection included Ed Ruscha’s Burning Gas Station, 1966-69, which realized US$22.3 million, within a presale estimate range, and Henri Matisse’s Jeune fille accoudée, 1947, which fetched US$1.6 million, above a US$700,00 high estimate.
Other highlights of the Newhouse auction included Cy Twombly’s Untitled (Bolsena), which achieved nearly US$20 million, with fees, within presale expectations, and Picasso’s Cafetière, tasse et pipe, 1911, which sold for US$11.3 million, with fees, also within expectations.
Among works that failed to find buyers was Yves Klein’s Anthropométrie sans titre, (ANT 80), with an estimate range between US$8 million and US$12 million, Fernand Leger’s Femme portant une statuette, with an estimate between US$5 million and US$8 million, and Picasso’s Bougie et masque, with an estimate between US$1.5 million and US$2.5 million.
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