Results:Christie's NY American Paintings

John Singer Sargent, Ricordi di Capri

This past week Christie's NY held its Important American Paintings sale. The sale totaled $21.2 million, with 148 lots offered and 96 selling.  This resulted in 65% of the lots selling, which is fair, but not great by any stretch of the imagination. The top selling lot was by Frank Weston Benson, entitled Two Little Girls, oil on canvas, 1903 which sold for $2.1 million against a pre sale estimate of $1.5 to $2.5 million. The #2 lot was by John Singer Sargent, entitled Ricordi di Capri, oil on panel, 1878, selling for $1.65 million against a pre sale estimate of $1.5 to $2.5 million (see image). The top ten lots all sold between their pre sale estimates but none broke out above the top estimate. Not very encouraging. If you recall the Art Research Technology post (click HERE to read the post), the pre sale report was not encouraging for the American art market sector.

Christie's reported on the sale

Eric Widing, Head of American Paintings, comments: Eric Widing, Head of American Paintings, comments: “Much like our major Evening Sales in New York last month, this sale was dominated by private collectors, who returned to the saleroom in force along with a crop of new buyers. American Art was broadly represented in the sale today, with strong prices achieved for the great masters of American Impressionism, Modernism, Western Art and portraiture. We were especially pleased to achieve a strong result for Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Canna Red and Orange”, which was consigned by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum to benefit its acquisitions fund.”