Review: The NY Imp/Mod and Contemporary Sales

Colin Gleadell takes a quick look at the recent Impressionist, Modern, Contemporary and Post War sales held in NY.  Gleadell reports on the total sales of $1.42 billion and notes even though some have called the sales historic in proportion, the same auctions in 2007 and 2008 were better, peaking at $1.75 billion.  He notes the major sales were in the more speculative contemporary sector where 17 pieces sold for more than $10 million and 20 records were set.

The Telegraph reports

New York’s auction houses have just notched up $1.42 billion (£871 million) in a fortnight for a series of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art sales. A record price was set for any work of art at auction – $120 million for Edvard Munch’s The Scream – and for a contemporary work of art at auction – $87 million for Mark Rothko’s glowing abstract Orange, Red, Yellow of 1961.

Although these prices have been described as “historic”, the $1.42 billion binge is still short of three comparable series of auctions held in 2007 and 2008, which peaked at $1.75 billion. However, it was a remarkable $1 billion more than the $420 million trough into which these sales slumped in May 2009. For the world’s wealthiest people, art, and especially modern art, is now accepted as an asset-class investment, as well as being an object of desire and a symbol of social status – all of which insulate the top of the art market from the woes of the rest of the global economy.

Once again, it was the contemporary sales that amassed the highest total, with 17 works selling for more than $10 million each and more than 20 records broken. The largest percentage of these, though, was attributable to historic post-war art, rather than newer contemporary art, in which markets for the stars of the last boom, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince and Damien Hirst, have taken a few steps backwards.

At Christie’s, the emphasis was on the American Abstract Expressionists, prime examples of which are now rare at auction. The depth of demand even at the highest level was evident as at least three bidders were still in contention for the record-breaking Rothko as the price rose to $70 million. This was followed by a rare Barnett Newman “zip” painting, which sold for $22.5 million, and the first large Jackson Pollock drip painting at auction for over 20 years, which sold for $23 million – both records.

Source: The Telegraph