I don’t know where the NY Times‘ art-market reporter Carol Vogel went for her summer vacation, but judging from her first fall column, she isn’t quite back yet.
In an item in yesterday’s Inside Art, titled “Pollock Painting…” (scroll down), she wrote:
Top among the group [of consignments by Sidney and Dorothy Kohl to Sotheby’s] is Jackson Pollock‘s “Number 4, 1951,” created with
layers of red, blue, yellow, green, ocher and silver. It is estimated to
sell for $25 million to $35 million. “There hasn’t been a drip painting
on canvas at auction for years,” [emphasis added] said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s director
of contemporary art worldwide.
I’m surprised Carol quoted that comment uncritically. I would be even more surprised if Tobias actually said that.
Has everyone already forgotten this painting, which was sold in New York at Christie’s just four months ago?
Jackson Pollock, “Number 28,” 1951, oil on canvas
Sold at Christie’s, May 8, 2012 for $23.04 million
Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
Here’s the one that Sotheby’s will auction on Nov. 13:
Jackson Pollock, “Number 4,” 1951, oil on canvas
To be auctioned at Sotheby’s on Nov. 13
Presale estimate: $25-35 million
We all make mistakes, but I’m surprised that the Times hasn’t yet appended a correction to the online version. This goof cannot have escaped everyone’s notice. (Or is the whole artworld still on vacation?)