Sotheby’s Evening Sale: Solid But Not Thrilling

“We’re thrilled with the result of this evening’s sale,” declared Sotheby’s auctioneer Tobias Meyer after hammering down $110.65 million’s worth of contemporary art last night (not including the buyer’s premium). That total, slightly above the $109.3-million low end of the presale estimate, was Sotheby’s second-highest take for a sale of contemporary art.
Statistically, the sale did slightly better than Sotheby’s $212.07-million (hammer price) evening Impressionist/Modern sale last week, with 90.9% of the lots sold tonight, compared to 86.8% last week; 14.7% of the total amount bid represented unsold works, compared to a somewhat higher 17% last week.
All told, a good night’s work. But how thrilled can you really be when the piece bearing the auction house’s second-highest presale estimate fails to sell? Roy Lichtenstein‘s “Head – Yellow and Black,” expected to bring $8-10 million, was one of the lots guaranteed by Sotheby’s. That means that the auction house will have to pay the owner a prearranged, undisclosed amount and then continue trying to find a buyer.
Also guaranteed but unsold was Brice Marden‘s “Au Centre” (1969), two grayish monochrome panels, estimated at $3.8-4.5 million. Even the current MoMA retrospective couldn’t stimulate sufficient interest. Another major disappointment: David Smith‘s “Voltri XVII,” unsold against a $5-7 million estimate.
But on the plus side, the top lot, Francis Bacon‘s “Version No. 2 of Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe,” easily exceeded its $9-12 million estimate, with a hammer price of $13.4 million. Its $15.02-million total price (with the buyer’s premium) set an auction record for the artist. Willem de Kooning’s “Untitled XXX,” 1977, achieved the second-highest price of the night—a strong $9.5 million hammer price, against a $7.5-9.5 million estimate. His “Hostess,” while selling below estimate, set an auction record for de Kooning’s sculpture at $3.94 million (including premium).
Anish Kapoor enjoyed breakout bidding, when his untitled carved alabaster sculpture from 1999 was hammered down at $2 million, against an estimate of only $350,000-450,000. The work’s $2.26-million total price, with premium, trounced his previous auction record of $844,444.
Andy Warhol, with seven works in the sale, had his ups and downs: His “Flowers” blossomed at $6.1 million ($6.85 million with premium), slightly above estimate. But his “Avanti Cars” (estimate: $1.8-2.5 million) and “Dolly Parton” (estimate: $1-2 million) both ran out of gas. The Warhol marathon continues tomorrow night at Christie’s, with all eyes on “Sixteen Jackies,” “Marilyn” and “Mao”—all bearing presale estimates in the multimillions. Another megabucks highlight: de Kooning’s “Untitled XXV” from 1977.
But CultureGrrl is keenly anticipating the Battle of the Trolls: Jeff Koons‘ stainless steel “Cape Codder Troll” was sold tonight at Sotheby’s for a hammer price of $300,000 against an estimate of $250,000-350,000. Christie’s goes head-to-head with another little guy from the same edition, more aggressively estimated at $400,000-600,000. Both figurines are catalogued with the same dimensions in centimeters, but different dimensions in inches.
Go figure.