Results: Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Sale

What a difference one day can make, as we move from the Christie's sale, which was not well received to the Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Sale which was. I thought the Christie's sale may have broken the momentum from the Frieze and Paris art sales, but the expectations and pace just pick up a day later at the Sotheby's evening sale. As reported yesterday, the Christie's sale was rather small, and with the exception of a few lots many of the pieces in the sale were not considered to be of the best quality.

Last evening Sotehby's had its turn at selling impressionist and modern art in New York. Pre sale estimates ranged from a low of $115 million to a high of $163.6 million for the 66 lots. The sale totaled easily rose above the high estimate to $181.76 million including buyers premiums. Of the 66 lots offered, 56 sold for nearly an 85% sell through rate. The top lot was Alberto Giacometti's, L'homme qui Chavire, conceived in 1950 and cast in 1951 selling for $19,35 million against an estimate of $8-$12 million (see image).

Sotheby's stated

"Tonight’s results were clear vote of confidence for the art market,” said Simon Shaw, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Department in New York. “We wanted to put together a sale with works that were not just of great quality but were also presented with attractive estimates. I think the great depth of bidding we saw this evening is a testament to that strategy. Tonight was the first time since May 2006 in New York that we exceeded our top estimate, proving what we have seen consistently this year, that there is an enormous appetite for works of art of great quality.

“Collectors are guided by quality and pricing,” said Emmanuel Di-Donna, Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department Worldwide. “When you have the right property, such as the iconic work by Giacometti which made $19.3 against a high estimate of $12 million, you get fireworks. 64% of the sold lots tonight exceeded their high estimates – a remarkable result. Demand continues for classic Impressionist works, as evidenced by the fantastic results achieved for seven paintings from the Durand-Ruel Family which brought $18.9 million, well above the high estimate.”

“This is market is very alive,” noted the evening’s auctioneer Tobias Meyer, Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art. “We saw an extraordinary depth of bidding at all levels tonight, from $350,000 all the way up to $12 million.
Sometimes I couldn’t keep up with all of the people who were consecutively and simultaneously bidding. There was participation from America, Europe and across Asia – it was an incredible thing to experience.”

Carol Vogel reporting for the NY Times stated

In an Impressionist and modern art sale that had all the right ingredients — quality, value and variety — Sotheby’s salesroom was teeming on Wednesday night with a United Nations of enthusiastic bidders from Latin America, China, the United States, Russia and elsewhere in Europe.

The results surprised even the auction house. In a little over two hours it sold $181.7 million worth of art, well above its high $163 million estimate. Of the 66 works offered, only 10 failed to sell.

The sale stood in stark contrast to the tepid one at Christie’s the night before that brought just $65.6 million. And where bidding was thin at Christie’s, the opposite was true on Wednesday night: often many collectors vied for a work, pushing prices far beyond their estimates in several cases.

To read Carol Vogel' NY Times article, click HERE.