Sotheby’s double sales in New York on Tuesday (May 16) totaled $363.9 million ($427 million with fees), with works by Gustav Klimt and Rene Magritte fetching the highest prices.
The evening began with the sole proprietorship of works from the collection of a late music industry executive Mo Ostin (1927-2022), which was followed by the evening sale of Modern Art from various owners. Broken down, Ostin’s collection made $104.8 million ($123.7 million with fees), near the bottom of Sotheby’s pre-sale expectations of $103.3 million to $155.3 million, while the modern art sale fetched $258.1 million ($303.1 million with fees), below the auction house’s estimate of $272.1 million at $378.7 millions of dollars. (Estimates do not reflect buyer’s costs.)
Christie’s equivalent sale on May 11– combining a dedicated sale of works from the estate of publishing magnate SI Newhouse and an auction to multiple owners of 20th-century art – raised a total of $426.6 million ($506.5 million dollars with fees).
Of the 63 lots offered in two Sotheby’s sales on Tuesday evening, nine lots did not find buyers for an overall and elegant sale rate of 88.3%. Home and third-party warranties, also known as “irrevocable offers,” fueled this statistic and accounted for 24 of the 54 lots sold. Six lots from the Modern Art section of the evening were withdrawn before the sale for undisclosed reasons.
Cecily Brown, Free games for May2015 Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Ostin’s action began with Cecily Brown’s Expressionist Free games for May (2015), which reached $5.5 million ($6.7 million including fees) against a pre-sale estimate of $3–5 million. The next batch, the juicy work on paper by Willem de Kooning two digits (1946-47), hammered in at $4.8 million ($5.8 million with fees), just short of its low estimate of $5 million.
The flagship lot among the works of the Ostin estate was a rarefied Magritte, The Empire of Lights (1951). Ostin acquired the painting from fellow entertainment magnate David Geffen in 1979 for an undisclosed price, but at a time when the auction for the artist was under $250,000. It grossed $36.5 million ($42.2 million with fees) against an estimate of $35–55 million. It sold to an unidentified telephone bidder, as did most of the evening’s lots.
René Magritte, The Empire of Lights1951 Courtesy of Sotheby’s
A second Magritte entry, the surreal mountain landscape with trompe l’oeil shards of glass The Domain of Arnheim (1949), went for $16.2 million ($18.9 million with fees) (est. $15-25 million). Ostin, who represented music legends from Frank Sinatra to Jimi Hendrix, privately acquired it (again) from Geffen in 1990.
While not as hot or high as the $67.1 million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat that sold at arch-rival Christie’s on Monday night, the artist is richly symbolic. View of the moon (1984) went for $9.1 million ($10.7 million with fees) against a pre-sale estimate of $7–10 million. It once belonged to the Eli Broad collection and was sold privately to Ostin in 2010. The same bidder won the Basquiat and Magritte. The Empire of Lights.
First-rate entries were accompanied by Cy Twombly’s graffito-scribbled abstraction Untitled (1962), which was an apparent bargain, hammering in $10 million ($11.8 million with fees), well below its low estimate of $14 million. The large-scale cityscape of Mougins by Pablo Picasso, Countryside (1965), made $6.5 million ($7.8 million with fees), just below its low estimate of $7 million. And Joan Mitchell’s sublime abstract expressionist composition Untitled (1958) grossed $6.8 million ($8.1 million with fees) against an estimate of $7–10 million.
Deliciously stripped down yet poetic by Arshile Gorky Portrait of Y.D. (1945) hammered in $2.1 million ($2.5 million with fees), well below its low estimate of $3 million. YD’s identity is subject to debate, potentially referring to Marcel Duchamp’s sister, Yvonne, or the artist’s close musician friend, Yenovk der Hagopian. It was last sold at auction in May 1987 for $520,000. Ostin acquired it privately from Los Angeles dealer David Tunkl in 2006.
Ostin’s sale saw only one unsold work and took nearly an hour to ship 15 lots, as if rows of phone bidders were scrambling to be cheap with split bids.
The larger and decidedly more diverse modern art sale that followed (after a 25-minute break) began with a postcard-sized watercolor and ink painting by Picasso from the artist’s neoclassical period, Acrobat leaning on his elbow (1922), which sold for $1.2 million ($1.5 million including fees), well within its pre-sale estimate of $1–1.5 million. The sale quickly shifted to larger works at higher prices with Mark Rothko’s luminous Untitled (1959), which grossed $3.8 million ($4.6 million with fees), just short of its low estimate of $4 million.
Rarely present in evening sales, the Vermeer-like by Danish master Vilhelm Hammershøi Interior. The Music Room, Strandgade 30 (1907) sold for a record $7.6 million ($9.1 million including fees, more than double its low estimate of $3 million. Klimt’s shimmering lakescape, Insel im Attersee (island of the Attersee) (1901-02), was the top lot and sold to a Japanese telephone bidder for $46 million ($53.1 million with fees), a result fully in line with the house’s unpublished estimate. auction of approximately $45 million. The underbidder for the Hammershøi was New York artistic adviser Todd Levin. The Klimt was backed by an irrevocable offer.
Works by American artists were also on the block, including Edward Hopper’s sunny countryside view Cobb’s Barns, South Truro (1930-33), which was alienated by the Whitney Museum of American Art. It sold for $6 million ($7.2 million with fees), below its low estimate of $8 million despite its institutional provenance. She was once loaned to the White House under President Barack Obama.
Back on French soil, the floral still life of Paul Gauguin Still life with Chinese peonies and mandolin (1885) was offered to the Ambroise Vollard collection (the famous French art and artist’s supplies dealer) after being returned to his heirs in February. It made $8.8 million ($10.4 million with fees) against a pre-sale estimate of $10–15 million. It went to an anonymous bidder by telephone in Asia, according to Sotheby’s.
From this same period, the languor of Vincent van Gogh Garden in front of Mas Debray (1887) sold for its low estimate of $20 million ($23.3 million including fees). He came with an irrevocable offer, just like the late mischievous Picasso Naked woman lying playing with a cat (1964), which grossed $19.5 million ($21.2 million with fees), just short of its low estimate of $20 million.
The Picasso was last sold at Christie’s London in July 1998 for £1.1million. Net proceeds from its sale are donated to the Art of Giving, the art and medical research charity of collectors Jan and Maria Manetti Shrem.
Picassos from different eras were featured prominently throughout the sale. casualness Woman with a Yellow Hat (Dora Maar) (1939) grossed $13.5 million ($15.8 million with fees) against a pre-sale estimate of $15–20 million.
Though hardly “modern,” an Old Master outlier crashed into the crowded party when Peter Paul Rubens’ helmeted helmet Portrait of a Man in March (circa 1620) sold to another telephone bidder for $22.5 million ($26.1 million with fees), well below his estimate of $20–30 million.
Among the rare sculptures on offer, the exquisite bronze idol by Alberto Giacometti Wife Leoni of a lifetime cast from 1960 sold for $24.5 million ($28.4 million with fees) and a massive trio of granite forms by Isamu Noguchi, Family (1956-57), sparked a bidding frenzy. It ultimately hammered in for a record $10.4 million ($12.2 with fees), wiping out the artist’s previous record at auction of $4.9 million. It was also backed by an irrevocable offer.
Even with this high rating, the evening’s overall performance, while solid, lacked sparkle, according to Guy Jennings, senior director of the London-based Fine Art Group. “Almost nothing is above the high estimate and we feel less exuberant than six months ago,” he said.
In tandem with the buzz of New York spring art fair seasonEvening auction action continues Wednesday May 17 with Phillips’ Contemporary and 20th Century Art sale and Christie’s Sole Proprietorship auction of the late Gerald Fineberg’s collection.
