2009 Auction Sales at the Major Houses

Kelly Crow writing for the Wall Street Journal has a good article on the sales results for 2009 from Sotheby's and Christie's.  I have posted in the past on the poor overall results for 2009, and the Crow article reinforces the comments and statements on how the majors houses fared.

Crow mentions Sotheby's overall sales were down 53% for 2009 when compared to 2008 and Christie's was down 45.6%.  Anyway one looks at the numbers, the decline in sales is large and represents a substantial loss of commissions for the two houses.

Crow goes on to review 2009 and mentions the stability seen in the Old Master market sector, as well as the top sales of 2009 being the Rembrandt and Warhol, and also touches on the YSL sale.

Crow states

Some buyers who fled when the art market crashed in late 2008 have stepped back in recently, and a few paid record prices for masterworks. But the marketplace, from Miami to Moscow to Mumbai, remains pockmarked with shuttered galleries, smaller auctions and scaled-down art fairs. In the U.S., many museums have postponed pricey exhibits.

Sotheby's said it auctioned off about $2.3 billion of fine and decorative art last year, down 53% from 2008. The 2009 total included $441 million in contemporary art, down 68% from 2008; $471 million in Impressionist and modern art, down 57%; and $190 million in jewelry, down 13%.

Rival Christie's International PLC said it auctioned at least $2.5 billion of art, down 45.6% from $4.6 billion in 2008. Closely held Christie's said it would release complete sales figures later this month.

In a year of uncertain art values, some collectors sought stability in the Old Masters. Raphael's black-chalk drawing of a serene figure, "Head of a Muse," sold at Christie's in London last month for $48 million—the highest price paid for a work of art at auction all year. In the same sale, Christie's sold an earthen-hued oil by Rembrandt, "Portrait of a Man With Arms Akimbo," for $33.2 million.

Sotheby's, meanwhile, sold a rare, early silkscreen by Pop master Andy Warhol, "200 One Dollar Bills," for $43.8 million in November, more than tripling its high estimate. Sotheby's also got $19.3 million for an Alberto Giacometti sculpture of a toppling man, "L'Homme Qui Chavire," and $18.8 million for an Edgar Degas bronze ballerina, "Petite danseuse de quatorze ans."

To read the full WSJ article, click HERE.