Results: Sotheby's and Christie's Contemporary and Post War Sales

On Tuesday evening Christie's held its Post War and Contemporary art evening sale, which was followed on Wednesday with Sotheby's contemporary art evening sales.  The numbers are rather staggering and many records were set at the sales.  The ImpMod and contemporary art sectors continue to see dollars and collectors investing in fine art.

The Christie's sale saw 59 pieces of art offered for sale, with 56 selling for an impressive 95% buy through rate.  The sale totaled $388.49 million (including buyers premiums) which was 99% by value.  The top selling lot was a Mark Rothko oil which sold for $86.88 million including buyers premium (see image). The pre sale estimate on the Rothko was $35-$45 million. According to Christie's the Rothko set a new auction record for the artist as well as a new record for a Contemporary piece of art at auction.  Eight of the top ten sales were listed as anonymous buyers, one was an American private and another was listed as a European private buyer.  The top three sales were all above $20 million.

Sotheby's also had a strong sale but not as large as Christie's.  Sotheby's offered 57 lots, which 46 sold for an acceptable buy through rate of 80.7%.  The sale totaled $266.6 million including buyers premiums, which represented sale by value of 90.3%. The pre sale estimate totals for the sale was $215.6 million to $303.9 million. So the sale was right in the middle of pre sale expectations.  The top selling lot was by Francis Bacon, selling for $44.88 million including buyers premium against a pre sale estimate of $30 million to $40 million.  All top ten buyers were listed as anonymous.

The NY Times reported on the Sotheby's sale

It was the second of three consecutive evening contemporary art auctions in New York. And although the Sotheby’s sale was a more sober affair than the one at Christie’s on Tuesday, both showed that collectors from all over the world continue to be drawn to parking their cash in art they can enjoy, particularly when it is universally recognizable.

“Great icons make great prices,” Tobias Meyer, director of Sotheby’s contemporary art department worldwide and the evening’s auctioneer, said after the sale. He added, “The market is more global than ever before,” pointing out that the five bidders for Lichtenstein’s “Sleeping Girl,” from 1964, came from China, North and South America and Europe. The price paid by the winner — an unidentified telephone bidder — was a record for the artist, beating last year’s record of $43.2 million set at Christie’s in November.

While record prices were set for other artists, too, including Cy Twombly, Glenn Ligon and Ai Weiwei, the sale did not eclipse Christie’s Tuesday blockbuster, which set a record for the highest total for a contemporary art sale, $388.5 million. Sotheby’s auction totaled $266.6 million, in the middle of its estimate of $215.6 million to $303.9 million. Of the 57 works on offer, 11 failed to sell.

While the Christie’s auction was steeped in work by Abstract Expressionist painters like Rothko, whose 1961 canvas “Orange, Red, Yellow” sold for nearly $87 million — a record for any contemporary artwork at auction — the Sotheby’s sale had a different emphasis, with several top examples of Pop Art.

Source: The NY Times