Upcoming NY Art Auctions

Lindsey Pollock of Bloomberg's is reporting on the upcoming important auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's. Over the next couple of weeks the two premier auction houses will host their modern, impressionists and contemporary fine art sales.

Of course the latest rounds of high profile auctions and art fairs have shown very mixed results, with a few winners, yet probably far more losers. Most accounts blame the various world economic issues as greatly impacting these past sales, and many experts and market experts are still concerned with the upcoming sales. The expectations are sales to be in the $1.76 billion range.

Pollock states To prevent sales from tanking, Sotheby's and Christie's have tried to convince sellers to lower estimates and secret minimum reserves prices, following the weak October London auctions.

``After London, we contacted people and talked about adjustments,'' said Alex Rotter, head of Sotheby's contemporary art in New York. ``You will be paying 20 percent to 30 percent less than you would have a couple of months ago.''

``No one wants to feel they have overpaid,'' said Christie's Deputy Chairman Brett Gorvy.

Dealers think price adjustments are overdue.

The sale's top lot is Russian Kazimir Malevich's geometric 1916 ``Suprematist Composition,'' expected to fetch about $60 million. The painting, along with four others by the artist, were restituted to Malevich's heirs earlier this year after a court battle with the city of Amsterdam.

A Sotheby's spokeswoman said it was appointed the exclusive agent for the five pictures in July. Dealers said Sotheby's offered the group to Russian buyers for 250 million pounds ($411 million), but didn't strike a deal. Sotheby's declined to comment. The auction house said it has an ``irrevocable bid'' on ``Suprematist Composition,'' ensuring it will sell.

To read the Bloomberg post click HERE.

The AW Blog will be following and posting the results of the sales as they occur. Stay tuned!