Last evening Christie's held its first day of the Impressionist/Modern sale. There was much concern and trepidation after the poor performance at Sotheby's on Monday, and at the Wednesday evening Christie's sale of the Hillman and Lawrence ollections.I am happy to report there is a sense of relief after last evenings sale. The Thursday sale totaled $146.7 million against a total low estimate of $240.7 million. Of 82 impressionist/modern lots offered of paintings and sculpture 36 were bought in, a rate of 44%, which is still rather high. The good news is 27 of the 46 items sold for $1 million or more. Records were said with sales by Juan Gris ($20.8 million) and Henri Laurens.
Judd Tully of ArtInfo reports Like its archrival Sotheby’s, Christie’s guaranteed some of the evening’s biggest lots, assuring a minimum price to owners of six valuable works, no matter what the outcome. The guaranteed trove had pre-sale expectations of $64.5-88.5 million, and all six works sold, realizing a profit-making $74,639,000.
Carol Vogel of the NY Times reported The bidders on Thursday were controlled and careful, but Christie’s executives seemed much relieved afterward, having sold the works in which they had large financial stakes. “There’s still a great deal of money left in the art market,” said an optimistic Christopher Burge, Christie’s honorary chairman in America and the evening’s auctioneer. “But we have to look at a new, reduced price level.”
To read the NY Times article, click HERE.
To read the ArtInfo article, click HERE.
The sale continues this evening, so even though last evenings sale was not a smashing success, given the current circumstances, it was not a huge disappointment. Keep in mind, the catalog and estimates were set months ago, prior to the economic market downturn. Also expectations are not high at the moment, so on paper the sale looks very weak with only a few exceptions, I think it turned out better than many expected.
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