The sole proprietorship of works of art from the collection of Gerald Finebergthe late Boston real estate developer and hotelier – dubbed ‘A Century of Art’ – fetched a shockingly low $124.7 million at Christie’s in New York on Wednesday night (May 17).
However, only five of the 65 lots offered were not sold, for an impressive sale rate of 91% per lot. The tally, before fees, landed significantly below Christie’s pre-sale expectations of $163 million to $235 million. Including fees, i.e. the added buyer’s premium for all lots sold, the collection brought in $153 million.
None of the entries were backed by in-house or third-party guarantees, making them an exception among recent high-stakes nightly auctions and providing a realistic and sobering picture of market sentiment. What saved the evening from a bloodbath of buy-ins was the drastic drop in reserves, the confidential minimum price at which a lot can be sold and approved by the seller. No lots were withdrawn before the sale and four artist records were set.
The evening started with a bang with Simone Leigh’s salt-fired porcelain sculpture 109 (Face Jug series) (2019), which sold for its high estimate, $500,000 ($630,000 including fees), and Beauford Delaney’s complete and witty abstraction, Blue composition from 1960, which rose to $620,000 ($781,200 with fees), more than double its low estimate of $300,000.
Alice Neel, The De Vegh twins1975 Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd
Populated with numerous works by artists of color and women, the sale echoed the current mood of the market, as evidenced in part by Ruth Asawa’s graceful galvanized steel and brass wire sculpture. Untitled (S.410, Seven hanging lobes, three-part continuous form (stripes) (circa 1955), which grossed $2 million ($2.4 million with fees), matching its low estimate. The infinitely charming double portrait of Alice Neel The De Vegh twins (1975) grossed $2.1 million ($2.5 million with fees), well ahead of its high estimate of $1.8 million. And the radiant abstraction of Alma Thomas A fantastic sunset (1970) surpassed its high estimate of $3 million to sell for a record $3.2 million ($3.9 million including fees) to New York art consultant Todd Levin.
Fineberg’s eclectic range and adventurous taste, perhaps fueled by his role as trustee of Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, echoed throughout the evening. As private art dealer Michael Black said of him in a magazine article a few years ago: “He gets restless if two weeks have passed and he hasn’t bought anything.
Barkley L. Hendricks, Stanley1971 Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd.
His interests encompassed various approaches to portraiture, such as the six-foot-tall canvas by Barkley L. Hendricks. Stanley (1971), depicting a young man wearing a skull – the now famous abstract painter Stanley Whitney – smoking a cigarette against a neutral background. It sold for a record $5 million ($6.1 million with fees), matching its low estimate.
The volleys between abstraction and figuration continued with Lee Krasner’s abstract expressionist composition Untitled (1956-59) which sold for $3.5 million ($4.2 million including fees), well below its low estimate of $6 million – a seemingly brutal sign of the times. Estimates for these big evening sales are often set up to six months before the auction and the economic climate has certainly changed since November.
Christopher Laine, Untitled1993 Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd.
In the same underperforming vein, Christopher Wool’s Untitled (1993), a multicolored, stenciled word painting (“FUCK EM IF THEY CANT TAKE A JOKE”), sold to Andrew Fabricator of Gagosian Gallery for the highest lot price of $8.4 million (10 million with fees), well below its $15m low estimate. Fineberg acquired the painting in 1994 on the primary market for an undisclosed price from the artist’s gallery, Luring Augustine.
Another featured and equally difficult lot, the large-scale painting by Gerhard Richter Badende (bathers) (1967) – depicting a group of nude female figures in a blurry sepia composition – grossed $8 million ($9.6 million including fees), a far cry from its $15–20 million estimate. The painting, from the famous series of bathers by the German artist, was first exhibited in Munich at the Heiner Friedrich Gallery in 1967. Fineberg acquired it 20 years later from New York art dealer David Nolan .
Gerard Richter, Badende1967 Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd.
Still on the German front, the wide-angle chromogenic print by photographer Andreas Gursky Chicago Chamber of Commerce (1997), from an edition of six, sold to Bernard Lagrange of Gagosian Art Advisory for its low estimate, $600,000 ($756,000 including fees). by Thomas Struth Tokyo National Museum (1999), in the same outlet, went for $420,000 ($529,200 with fees), safely within its pre-sale estimate range of $300,000 to $500,000. The image of Eugene Delacroix Liberty Leading the People (1830) was taken when the iconic painting was on loan to the Japanese museum holder of the Louvre Museum.
Some of the works in Fineberg’s collection reflect past market favorites and themes, such as Richard Prince’s Cathy Nurse (2004), for which the artist appropriated a vintage pulp fiction paperback cover. He hammered for his low estimate of $4 million ($4.8 million with fees). The Stainless Steel Sculpture by Jeff Koons Kiepenkerl (Humpty Dumpty) (1987) sold for $1.6 million ($1.9 million including fees), just over half of its low estimate of $3 million. Fineberg acquired it in 2000 from the late dealer and curator Diego Cortez.
Another provenance of Cortez came with that of Jean-Michel Basquiat Brain (1985), consisting of a bootblack stand perched on 27 woodblocks glued together with mixed-media Xerox designs. It was sold to a telephone bidder for $4.6 million ($5.6 million with fees), near its high estimate of $5 million. Fineberg acquired it in 1990 and, 33 years later, it still retains a desirable “fresh for the market” air about it.
The sale also featured a fair sample of works from the era of Abstract Expressionism, such as the work of Joan Mitchell Untitled (1958), which Fineberg acquired from a private collection in France in 2018. It sold for $5.4 million ($6.5 million including fees). The charged color of Willem de Kooning East Hampton III (1977) hammered in $3 million ($3.6 million with fees), half of its low estimate of $6 million.
Joan Mitchell, Untitled1958 Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd.
A few pop art pieces were also on offer, including stylized ones by Tom Wesselmann Bedroom Painting #37 (1977). It was sold to New York dealer Diego Marroquin for $950,000 ($1.1 million with fees), well below its low estimate of $1.5 million. When asked what he thought of the evening, Marroquin, who also captured Wool’s screen print Untitled (2000) for $650,000 ($819,000 with fees) – said, “It shows where things stand, it’s an adjusted reality.”
Trying to think of a blue-chi artist[whoisnotrepresentedintheFinebergtroveisnoeasytaskNaturallythesalefeaturedmultiplePabloPicassosincludingthelateportraitpainting[quin’estpasreprésentédansletrésordeFinebergn’estpasunetâchefacileNaturellementlaventecomprenaitplusieursPabloPicassosycomprisleportraittardif[artistwhoisn’trepresentedintheFinebergtroveisnoeasytaskNaturallythesalefeaturedmultiplePabloPicassosincludingthelateportraitpaintingBust of a laureate man (1969), which grossed $7 million ($8.4 million with fees), well below its low estimate of $9 million. The widely exhibited painting, formerly in the collection of renowned collector and dealer Heinz Berggruen, last sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in September 2018 for the equivalent of $7.8 million including fees.
Christie’s managing director, Guillaume Cerutti, succinctly conveyed the outcome of the evening, saying: “It’s a good reflection of the market.”
After Christie’s sold a further 149 lots from Fineberg’s collection on Thursday May 18 morning, evening auction action resumes at Sotheby’s, with another double evening bargain, backed by a normal number of guarantees.
