Results: Christie's ImpMod Sale - Ouuch!!

On Tuesday evening in New York Chiritie's held its Impressionist and Modern art sale, and the results were not good.  One of the prime lots of the evening sale, Degas’s bronze Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans,  estimated to sell between $25 million and $35 million failed to sell, and possibly added to the lack of buying activity for the remainder of the sale.

(I wonder if the failure of this Degas bronze will have an impact on the group of Degas bronzes now being produced from the newly found molds.  If what many consider a legitimate items fails to sell, it should have a greater impact on those with questionable backgrounds and authentications.)

Here are the details of the Christie's ImpMod sale, 82 lots were offered with only 51 selling for a 62% sell through rate.  The sale totaled $140.77 million including buyers premiums, against a pre sale estimate of $211.9 million to $304.3 million.  The sale sold only 55% by value.  Not a very strong sale, and it is difficult to put any sort of positive spin on the overall results and totals.  The Wall Street Journal noted the sale was "choppy".

The top selling lot was by Max Ernst, and was a world record at auction for the artist.  It sold for $16.32 million including buyers premium against a pre sale estimate of $4 - $6 million.  Of the top ten selling lots, 8 went to private collectors, only one was to the trade and one way anonymous.  Again, more data to show the closing of the gap between auction and retail markets.

It will be interesting to see if this particular sale starts a downward trend and the top end of the market, or if there may be a bounce back at the Sotheby's ImpMod sale on Wed evening.

The NY Times reported on the sale

Even the magic of Picasso could not tempt collectors. “Tête de Femme au Chapeau Mauve,” a 1939 painting of a wide-eyed Dora Maar, the artist’s mistress of the time, which had been expected to fetch $12 million to $18 million, failed to sell. So did a portrait of another of the artist’s lovers, “Femme Endormie” from 1935, depicting a sleeping Marie-Thérèse Walter. It had been estimated to fetch $12 million to $18 million. But a print, called “La Femme qui Pleure,” from 1938, was snapped up by a telephone bidder for $4.7 million or $5.1 million with fees, nearly twice its high $2.5 million estimate.

One rare bright spot in the evening came when Larry Gagosian, the Manhattan dealer, and Sandra Nedvetskaia, a Christie’s representative who deals with Russian clients and was bidding on behalf of a client on the telephone, competed for Brancusi’s 1917 polished bronze child’s head, “Le Premier Cri.” The sculpture was expected to bring $8 million to $10 million but went for $14.8 million, to the telephone bidder.

The evening’s results came as no surprise to seasoned dealers. “It was a big sale for the market to digest,” James Roundell, a London dealer, said. “The uncertain economy certainly had an effect.”

To read the NY Times artilce, click HERE.

I will post the results from the Sotheby's ImpMod sale when the figures are available.