Results: Sotheby's Contemporary

On Wednesday evening Sotheby's NY held its  evening contemporary sale.  The contemporary sector continues to show signs of traction and advancement after the declines of late 2008 and early 2009. The evening sale generated $189.9 million in sales, including buyers commissions.  This was against pre sale estimates of $114 million to $162 million. 53 lots were offered in the sale, with 50 selling, for a buy through rate of 94.3%. The top lot was a self portrait by Andy Warhol (see image), acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas, 1986, selling to a private collector for $32.56 million against a pre sale estimate of $10 to $15 million. 7 of the top ten selling items from the sale went to private collections, with the other 3 noted as anonymous.

The two Contemporary Art day sessions held on Thursday totaled $53.4 million, making the two days worth of sales total over $243 million.

Sotheby's reported

Five new artist records were set and the sale was 94.3% sold by lot. Highlights
of the sale were Andy Warhol’s Self Portrait from 1986, which more than doubled the high estimate to sell for $32,562,500 (est. $10/15 million), and an Untitled Mark Rothko painting from 1961, which soared over the high estimate to sell for $31,442,500 (est. $18/25 million).

“When you sail past a high estimate of $162 million* and achieve $189 million, that is a great result,” commented Tobias Meyer, Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art and the evening’s auctioneer. “We are delighted to have achieved the top two lots of the week, which were of course the Warhol and the Rothko. On both of those objects you saw global bidding from a global community that will seek out trophies, and once found, will go full throttle.”

“It was interesting to see that there was a lot of movement in classic material -- Pollock, de Kooning, Mitchell – but there was also a lot of activity and great results for younger artists such Cattelan and Wool,” noted Alex Rotter, Head of the Contemporary Art Department in New York. “We’re thrilled with the overall result we achieved this evening, which was our best since spring 2008.”

“Sculpture was an important story tonight,” said Anthony Grant, International Senior Specialist of Contemporary Art. “Strong prices were achieved for Serra, de Kooning, Bourgeois, Koons, Flavin, Judd, Kapoor and Muñoz, among others. We saw collectors stretch for great masterpieces, willing to double and triple the estimate as was the case with Tuttle’s Silver Picture and Martin’s Kyrie, both of which were absolute gems.”