Blogging the Sotheby’s Contemporary Sale

Francis Bacon‘s “Study of Innocent X” has just gone for $47 million (hammer price); estimated at “more than $30 million.” Stay tuned for Pollock next.
First big buy-in of the night: Pollock‘s “Number 16, 1949,” unsold at $17.5 million against an estimate of $18-25 million. Stayed tuned for Rockefeller’s Rothko next.
Rockefeller‘s Rothko sells for $65 million hammer price, against an estimate of “more than $40 million.” The next three works, including another Pollock, (estimated at $12-16 million), were bought in, as if the crowd needed to catch its breath.
Rauschenberg “Photograph,” a 1959 combine, sells at $9.5 million, below its low estimate of $10 million.
Lots of interest in Wesselmann‘s “Smoker #17,” selling for a hammer price of $5.2 million, outstripping its estimate of $2.5-$3.5 million. Haven’t they heard about the new movie ratings?
Uh-oh, another unsold Pollock at $2.6 million, against an estimate of $3.5-4.5 million.
A Yayoi Kusama from 1959 more than triples its estimate at $1.35 million.
Earlier in the sale: Basquiat defies his estimate of $6-8 million. Hammer price: $13 million.
Also earlier in the sale, Richter‘s 1967 painting of two nudes was a big casualty at $7.75 million, unsold against an estimate of $9-12 million.
Darn, unlike last week’s evening sale, they turned off both the audio and the video of the webcast as soon as the auction ended. No unguarded moments. Actually, there was one: “Who executes the order?” auctioneer Tobias Meyer whispered to someone who walked up to the podium, shortly before the Bacon bidding began. Probably unheard by the attending audience, this was picked up by the webcast mike.
We’ll get the official tallies (including records, with buyer’s premium) soon, but, Pollocks and the Richter notwithstanding, prices compared very favorably with presale estimates, and bidding (except for those dramatic decisions at the highest price levels, for the Bacon and Rothko) seemed generally brisk.
For images and more information about all these works, go to Sotheby’s online catalogue here.