Auctioneer Harry Dalmeny (new to me) at Sotheby’s Impressionist/Modern sale tonight had a strange way of trying to entice bidders by pelting them with barbed wisecracks:
—I’ll have to hurry you: I’ve got a late flight.
—The next bid is going to have to be a bit more than nothing.
And this honest self-assessment, in the midst of bidding for the record-breaking Magritte:
—I’m an equal-opportunity insult-er.
In England, he’s known as Lord Harry Dalmeny, whose propensity for provocations reportedly got him into a ton of trouble a few years ago. (Where’s good-natured Oliver Barker when we really need him?)
Harry lorded it over a mixed-results sale, eliciting a total hammer price of $271.5 million from the New York crowd, only slightly below the $283.9-393.4 million presale estimate of total hammer price. (The total with buyer’s premium was $315.48 million for 65 works, compared to $279.25 million at Christie’s for 61 lots last night.) The full results are here.
Below is my Twitter rundown of the tonight’s ups and downs.
Pro Tip: You’ll need to click each image twice to view the full picture.
Auctioneer Harry Dalmeny allows @Sothebys bidders to shave too many increments. Applause (of relief?) greets works finally sold for within-estimate prices. “If you have the patience to bid, I have the courtesy to accept it.”
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Expensive failure @Sothebys Imp/Mod sale: Highest estimated work, an abstract 1913 Marsden Hartley, unsold at $24m (est. “in region of $30m”) in an excruciatingly slow sale. @ChristiesInc also had shortfalls at highest level last night https://t.co/kIVZ9iPqoK pic.twitter.com/LsqJKmRD2P
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Finally some earned applause @Sothebys: Magritte’s $20.56m auction record broken with $26.83m final price ($23.5m hammer) for “Le Principe du Plaisir.” (Both Magrittes last night @ChristiesInc went unsold.) pic.twitter.com/xMI8XZubSq
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Bidding on Stuart Davis’ “Rue Lipp” starts at $4m. Expected to break $4.33m auction record & it does, at $5.8m hammer ($6.85m with buyer’s premium). But bidding fell short of its $6m low est. No salesroom applause for this one. pic.twitter.com/9v7ikPutbf
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Now a bloodbath starts: 6 of last 7 lots have failed to sell. Auctioneer Harry Dalmeny goes gamely on with a Rodin “Kiss” that mercifully has an irrevocable bid. Hammers at $1.6m, above $1.5m high est. pic.twitter.com/jMTxsoJwcg
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Other Imp/Mod highlights @Sothebys tonight included $24.57m for a Schiele city scene ($21.5m hammer, beating its $18m hi est.); $24.23m for Kandinsky Improvisation that had an irrevocable bid lined up ($21.2m hammer vs $20m high est.) pic.twitter.com/sCcTycmoDy
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Imp/Mod sale total @Sothebys was $315.48m, including buyer’s premium, for 65 lots, compared to $279.25m @ChristiesInc for 61 lots last night. By my unofficial count, @Sothebys sale was 75% sold by lot: 16 of 65 works unsold. Sale @ChristiesInc was 85% sold by lot
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Note: My “unofficial count” was correct.
Hammer total tonight @Sothebys was $271.5m, falling slightly below the $283.9m-393.4m presale estimate of total hammer price. For what it’s worth, @ChristiesInc fell short of its expectations by a wider margin: https://t.co/kIVZ9iPqoK
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 13, 2018
Another artist’s auction record achieved during this sale was $20.4 million ($17.8 million hammer, within the $15-20 million estimate) for Oskar Kokoschka’s “Joseph de Montesquiou-Fezensac,” 1910, recently restituted to the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim:
According to a “news flash” emailed by Sotheby’s, that painting “was sold by Alex Vömel—a member of the Nazi party who took over Flechtheim’s Düsseldorf Gallery—to the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm in 1934. In the 1950s, the work was transferred to the Moderna Museet, where it remained until it was returned to Flechtheim’s heirs earlier this year.”
The auction action should heat up with the upcoming contemporary sales. (I can’t promise to cover them in real time, due to conflicts with other commitments during the next three days, but I’ll give it a shot.)
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