Archives for May 2008

Sotheby's Stock ChartThere was a lot of news in Sotheby's First Quarter 2008 Earnings Conference Call this morning with investment analysts. The lead-off revelations: The auction house's revenues ($129.3 million) declined $18.1 million (12%), compared to the first quarter of 2007. There was a first-quarter net loss of $12.4 million ($0.19 per diluted share) compared to net … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s First-Quarter Loss: Commission Margins Down; Buyers Premium Up UPDATED

Italian Culture Minister Sandro BondiWhat I foretold here (thanks to a helpful tip from Louis Godart) has now officially come to pass: Sandro Bondi has been named by the new Berlusconi government to replace The Great Repatriator, Francesco Rutelli, as Italy's minister of culture. (Above is his official portrait on the Ministry of Culture's website.) In addition to being head of … [Read more...] about It’s Official: Sandro Bondi Replaces Rutelli as Italian Culture Minister

Simon ShawRelief and satisfaction were palpable among Sotheby's Impressionist/modern experts at their press conference (which was viewable online) after tonight's big sale. The sale's hammer price totaled $208.63 million ($235.33 million with buyers premium) for 52 lots, within a presale estimate of $203.9-280.1 million. (One lot was withdrawn before the sale, which is why … [Read more...] about Sotheby’s Impressionist/Modern Results: Relief and Vindication

The Big Lot, Léger's "Study for 'The Woman in Blue,'" 1919 (above), achieved a hammer price of $35 million---at the low end of its $35-45 million presale estimate, but enough to set a new auction record for the artist. There have been two unsold lots in the front 20. Only two sold below estimate.More to come. It's not over till it's over.UPDATE: More records, more buy-ins. … [Read more...] about Early Returns: Sotheby’s Sale Looks Like a Winner (UPDATED TWICE)

At least the online headline is accurate, but even Carol Vogel, who in her NY Times post mortem emphasized the positive aspects of last night's so-so results at Christie's Impressionist/modern sale, could not possibly have agreed with the editors' headline (above) on Page B2 of today's newspaper:Sale Results of Impressionist and Modern Art Exceed Expectations at Christie'sAs … [Read more...] about NY Times Auction Report: Shoot the Headline Writer

Top Lot: Monet, "Le Pont du Chemin de fer à Argenteuil," 1873, $41.48 millionLast November's anemic results at Sotheby's evening Impressionist/modern sale in New York did little to dampen the art market's overall ebullience. So I won't go so far as to say that Christie's lackluster performance tonight signals a market correction. But even though it gave itself an exceptionally … [Read more...] about Is the Art Market Still Hot? At Christie’s, Not

Francis Bacon, "Triptych," 1976, on exhibition at Sotheby's After attending Sotheby's annual stockholders meeting  this morning (as a journalist, NOT an investor), I prowled the Sotheby's showroom, watching auctioneer Tobias Meyer adroitly woo clients in front of Bacon's "Triptych" (above): "I've been waiting a long time for this," he told one Bacon admirer with whom he … [Read more...] about Pondering Pre-Auction Imponderables: Weak Dollar, Emerging-Market Trophy Hunters

One of the scholarly offerings at the Metropolitan Museum's "Superheroes" bookshopIt's too bad that Philippe de Montebello's successor couldn't have been in place by now. Then PdM's record for excellence wouldn't have been marred by his Director's Forward for the catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum's Superheroes show, opening Wednesday. Extolling "the influential reach of … [Read more...] about “Superheroes” Catalogue Intro: Did Philippe Have to Write This?

Sotheby's ad for fashion platesWe impecunious art-market scribes are a bearish bunch. Most of us can't afford a square inch of a van Gogh, so we may enjoy a certain charge of schadenfreude from envisioning the eventual comeuppance of those who can pay for the whole painting. As Marion Maneker recently wrote, in an astute article for Slate:How can you tell that it's nearly … [Read more...] about Auctioneers Gone Wild? Unfair “Fair Market Value”

Chic for a Sheikh? Mark Rothko's $72.8-million "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)," 1950While we're waiting for some contemporary art auction records to be set later this month, The Art Newspaper claims to know the names of big winners of auctions past. Sarah Thornton reports:Ever since their culture minister, Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed Al Thani, was arrested and … [Read more...] about Oligarch and Sheikh: The Art Newspaper Names Buyers of “Rockefeller Rothko” and Koons “Heart”

Not quite ready for prime time: Some of Christie's Impressionist/modern wares at yesterday's press previewSo is the art market getting shakier, as we head into the next two weeks of big evening auctions in New York? Kelly Crow in today's Wall Street Journal describes the jitters in tentative terms:With a weak American economy and global fears over rising fuel and food costs, … [Read more...] about Recession Obsession: Have Auction Houses Tightened Up on Guarantees?

Renzo Piano's design for the new downtown WhitneyCourtesy of Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Cooper, Robertson & Partners In a press release dated today, the Whitney Museum misleadingly said that it "today released plans" for its "new six-floor, 185,000-square-foot building" in downtown Manhattan's Meatpacking District. Actually, it released those plans earlier than … [Read more...] about Westside Whitney: Fortress Mentality?

Sandro BondiAccording to Louis Godart, advisor on culture to Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, Sandro Bondi (above) is likely be named that country's new minister of culture, succeeding the high-profile activist, Francesco Rutelli. Bondi is head of Forza Italia, the political party of Silvio Berlusconi, the recently elected prime minister.Rutelli is not only losing his … [Read more...] about Berlusconi Crony: Is This Italy’s New Culture Minister?