Christie’s tonight pulled the art market out of its Sotheby’s-induced funk with a Post-War/Contemporary sale that hummed along nicely from beginning to end, with one manic moment—a new auction record for this untitled 1982 Basquiat, which sold for $57.29 million with buyer’s premium:
Photo by Lee Rosenbaum
Here’s my running commentary on Christie’s spirited sale (thanks to the lively performance of auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen), which ups the ante for Sotheby’s contemporary sale tomorrow night. It doesn’t have to equal Christie’s take. (Indeed, Sotheby’s lower presale estimate virtually guarantees that it won’t.)
But it does have to demonstrate the ability, under the new Tad Smith regime, to hit its own marks.