Christie’s 20th and 21st century art auction tonight was a small affair of just two dozen lots, but it attracted big spenders and fetched nearly $100 million in total.
One of the 28 lots has been removed, a painting by Jeff Koons from his “Gazing Ball” series, Velázquez Infanta Maria Teresa, which had a low estimate of $800,000. And another painting, by Julien Nguyen Kill Bill: Volume 3, barely reached its low estimate of $100,000 – a surprise given the fierce competition the artist’s work usually faces.
Otherwise, strong sales brought the auction total to $98.8 million, just topping the high end of its overall estimate of $67.9-98 million (revised to account for Koons withdrawn) . And the evening was not short of good notes, including strong bids for Jean-Michel Basquiat’s seven-figure star lot, as well as nine new auction records, including five for surprisingly well-represented women artists for a sale. of the evening.
“It was a great night for Christie’s and a terrific start to the May sales,” Thomas Danziger, an attorney who frequently represents clients buying and selling at auction, told Artnet News. “Tonight’s Christie’s sale is important as it sets the tone for many sales to come over the next 10 days. This is a sale where the other two auction houses have put aside competition and any sense of schadenfreude and created a big win for the auction market itself.
In keeping with the post-pandemic trend, the sale saw intense competition from bidders on the auction house’s Christie’s LIVE online platform. All the action was ably overseen by auctioneer Georgina Hilton who skillfully kept the sale moving at a brisk pace.
Diane Arbus, A box of 10 photographs of New York scenes (1970). Image courtesy of Christie’s.
In total, records were set for artists Robin F. Williams, Vojtech Kovarik, Simone Leigh, Danielle McKinney, El Anatsui, Peter Saul, Rebecca Ackroyd, Diane Arbus and William Eggleston.
A total of six prizes were guaranteed, around half of which were backed by third parties, including the evening’s flagship prize: Massif of Basquiat The Great Espactaculo (1983), painted when the artist was only 22, and one of three large-scale canvases he executed that year. It was last sold at auction for $5.2 million in 2005, when the buyer was fashion icon Valentino Garavani. Tonight’s (unpublished) estimate was around $45 million.
Hilton opened bidding on the Basquit at $40 million and it quickly climbed in $1 million increments. In addition to interest from two Christie’s specialists in phone banks, there was competition from at least one bidder in the room, as well as throughout high bids of $40 million and $50 million. dollars.
The bidder in the room turned out to be mega-dealer Larry Gagosian, who, although seated in the audience, used a subtle relay system with a Christie’s staff member to relay his bids to Hilton, which which has caused confusion among seasoned auction watchers. (Artnet News confirmed Gagosian’s participation as the underbid after the sale.)
In the end, Gagosian didn’t bring home the job he was presumably looking for for a client. Instead, he was hammered for $58 million, or $67 million with bounty, to a client on the phone with Christie’s evening sales manager Vanessa Fusco. It now ranks fourth among the most expensive Basquiat paintings at auction. The artist’s record is $110.5 million, set in May 2017.
Cecily Brown, Untitled (Beauty and the Damned) (2013). Image courtesy of Christie’s.
“What’s fascinating is that it’s one of Basquiat’s most narrative paintings,” said Alex Rotter, chairman of Christie’s 20th and 21st century art departments, after the sale. “I’ve been thinking about this painting for 15 years.”
The second highest price of the night was $6.7 million for Untitled (Beauty and the Damned) (2013) by Cecily Brown, which is currently the subject of a successful retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bidding was strong if not frantic, after the stock opened at $4.2 million, against a low estimate of $5 million. The work was eventually hammered for $5.5 million at a Christie’s specialist bidding for a client, and came close to the artist’s current record of $6.8 million, paid for Suddenly last summer at Sotheby’s in New York in May 2018.
Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin (1993). Image courtesy of Christie’s.
A pumpkin painting by Yayoi Kusama, another artist having a moment in New York with a viral Instagram show at David Zwirner, was the third best-selling work at $4.9 million. Pumpkin (1993), was also guaranteed by a third party, although it is unclear who won it given the pre-sale estimate of $4–6 million. He hammered $4 million from a client of Salome Tan Bo, a Christie’s executive in China.
Among the records set was a new high for Simone Leigh, when Sticka life-size bronze sold for $2.7 million, surpassing the current record of $2.2 million set at Sotheby’s last year.
Louise Bonnet, Interior with orange bed (2021). Image courtesy of Christie’s.
An enthusiastic and active buyer in the room bought at least three lots from some of the most avant-garde artists included in the sale, including Louise Bonnet’s Interior with orange bed (2021) for $403,200; by Miriam Cahn Was Mich Anschaut, 02.10.2016 (2016), which was included in a Reina Sofia show in 2019, for $176,400; and that of Danielle McKinney We need to talk (2020) for $201,600.
Two records for iconic photographers have been set, one for Diane Arbus whose box set of 10 well-known photographs, privately published in 1970, sold for just over $1 million. And Eggleston’s famous close-up image of a tricycle, Untitled (1970), sold for the same price, on an estimate of $1–1.5 million.
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