Archives for May 2007

This is the moment when art-market observers are called upon to tell the astonished public how to regard seemingly extravagant expenditures for paint on canvas. We hear such insights as: "Art is worth what people are willing to pay for it." "There are lots of very wealthy people who want art." And that favorite question of party-pooping pundits: "When is the bubble going to … [Read more...] about Awesome Auctions: What Does It All Mean?

"Where am I now?" the usually quick-minded, fleet-of-tongue Christopher Burge poignantly queried, momentarily sidetracked in the onslaught of bids early during Christie's record-breaking contemporary sale last night. Baffling the crowd, he had unaccountably dropped $1 million off the bidding for Lot 9, the Philip Guston, which he confidently placed at $4.4 million, despite the … [Read more...] about Megabucks Auction Bloopers: At Those Levels, Who’s Counting?

I don't usually think of myself as a news-you-can-use type of reporter, but I guess my WSJ article and CultureGrrl post, about the new availability of cash for redeeming auction-house antitrust settlement coupons, have inspired strenuous bouts of spring cleaning in some households. Auction client Lee Zuckerman writes: Thanks so much for reminding me that I have been sitting on … [Read more...] about Blogback: Someone Unearths Her Auction-House Coupons

Contemporary art buyers hadn't blown their wad at Sotheby's Tuesday night. They were just getting started. Several records that had just been achieved at Sotheby's (Cecily Brown, Morris Louis, John Baldessari, Hans Hofmann) were toppled last night at Christie's. The Rockefeller Rothko's $72.84-million price still stands as the auction record for any contemporary work, but … [Read more...] about Christie’s Wild and Wacky Night: Boisterous Bidding and Senior Moments

Whatever you may feel about the impressive success of Sotheby's contemporary sale last night, the stock market seems to be nonplussed. Sotheby's publicly traded shares have continued the fall that began on May 8, which was the day of its big Impressionist/modern sale and the day after its announcement of solid first-quarter results. As of 11:10 a.m., the stock was at $44.97, … [Read more...] about Between-Sale Ruminations on the Art Market and the Stock Market

Here are the just-released facts and figures, hot off Sotheby's presses: The 1950 Rothko, "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)," at $72.84 million (including buyer's premium), set a record not only for the artist but also for any contemporary work at auction. (The previous Rothko record was $22.42 million.) Since David Rockefeller stated that he was going to donate … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Contemporary: Official Tallies of a Record-Studded 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, … [Read more...] about Blogging the Sotheby’s Contemporary Sale

Just a reminder: You can watch the auction action tonight, as I will, from the comfort of the computer screen. "The Price is Right" starts at 7 p.m., Eastern Auction Time. If you really want to watch the paint dry, you can view the countdown to zero-hour on the already live link on Sotheby's website. Can we stand the suspense? My friendly colleague Lindsay Pollock of Bloomberg … [Read more...] about Live from York Avenue: “Can You Top This?” with Tobias Meyer as Host

As Tyler Green has just commented, it's about time that the J. Paul Getty Trust added some trustees with art expertise. Unfortunately, two of its three new appointees (announced here)---Paul LeClerc and Neil Rudenstine---have the wrong kind of art experience: They were the prime movers in the New York Public Library's deplorable disposal of Asher B. Durand's "Kindred Spirits": … [Read more...] about NYPL’s Durand Dumpers Named to Getty’s Board

Sotheby's officials may think they deserve all the credit for snaring David Rockefeller's Rothko (above), estimated to bring more than $40 million at tonight's auction. But I think it was really all about CultureGrrl's karma: "Number one in sales does not mean number one in profits," Bill Ruprecht, Sotheby's president and CEO was telling me, during a wide-ranging interview … [Read more...] about How Sotheby’s Got that Rothko (and How CultureGrrl Didn’t Get that Story)

In case you like your news on paper instead of online, my Tricks of the Auction Trade is on page D5 of today's Wall Street Journal. It's accompanied by a clever but potentially misleading illustration (above), showing the successful buyer of tonight's Rothko trying to pay for it with the coupons that were issued as part of the $512-million auction-house antitrust settlement. … [Read more...] about My WSJ Article, and More on Auction-House Coupons

UPDATE: Here's tomorrow's piece, today! Look for my piece on the state of the art-auction business on the "Leisure & Arts" page of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal, informed by long interviews with the presidents of both Sotheby's and Christie's. I will also update this post with a link to the piece, once it's up on the website. Now you know why I've been uncharacteristically … [Read more...] about My Auction Article in Tomorrow’s WSJ

Just to be annoying, I have now clicked on every one of the NY Times blogs that can be accessed through its tiny blogs link near the bottom of its homepage. I can now report that ArtsBeat is the only ongoing blog that hasn't updated in recent days. (Its last entry was on Apr. 30.) At least they have prudently changed their self-description from "all culture, all the time" … [Read more...] about NY Times Watch: Does ArtsBeat Have a Pulse? Does Ephron Have Op-Ed Cred?

Although the press release issued Thursday by the J. Paul Getty Museum, was noncommittal, Sharon Waxman reported in Saturday's NY Times that the first meeting of the panel of experts assembled by the museum to provide more information about its Cult Statue of a Goddess brought the Getty "a step closer to relinquishing ownership of one of its most prized artifacts." The statue … [Read more...] about Scientific Panel on the Getty’s “Aphrodite” (or Whoever) Convenes

David Rockefeller opened his mouth to Bloomberg about the secret Glenn Lowry compensation-sweetener, and admitted that one mistake was made. Actually, David, there were two. Patrick Cole reports: Rockefeller said he had no regrets about setting up a trust with MoMA board member Agnes Gund that paid Director Glenn D. Lowry $5.35 million in addition to his museum … [Read more...] about Lowry Compensation: Rockefeller Acknowledges One of the Two Mistakes