In New York
November 11 2015
Picture: Christie's
Greetings from Newark airport, where I'm awaiting a flight back to London. So, sorry for the lack of posts yesterday, and I won't be back in action till Friday. [Update - I'm blogging from 30,000 feet - THEY PUT WIFI IN THE SKY??]
The modern and contemporary sales have been on in New York (though fear not, AHN-ers, that's not why I am here). Lots of art has sold for lots of money, including a Modigliani nude for an eye-popping $170m (to a Chinese buyer it's said), and a Liechtenstein for $95m. The above Fontana (Lucio, not Lavinia) made $29m, despite having been bought for just $16m just three years ago.
In other words, this crazy market is still going strong, even if last night's Christie's sale, with a total of 'only' $331m can be described (in the New York Times) as 'mixed'.
It seems some of the heat is coming out of the Warhol market, with some works going unsold, and one even going for a lot less than it made before - which is most unusual, given the number and financial of those with a vested interest in keeping Warhol values high. Here's Judd Tully from Blouin Artinfo:
Warhol’s turquoise eye shadowed portrait, “Four Marilyns” from 1962, capturing a movie still image of the screen goddess, sold to a telephone bidder for the evening’s top lot price of $36,005,000 (unpublished estimate in the region of $40 million).
The 28 ¾ by 22 ¾ inch painting, with a glowing, cadmium orange background, was completed shortly after Monroe’s death in August 1962 from a barbiturate overdose at the age of 36. It had last sold at Phillips New York in May 2013 for $38.2 million. Christie’s evidently believed that price was too low, and guaranteed the seller an undisclosed amount in excess of what it made tonight for the chance to reoffer it. [...]
“It didn’t perform as well as we anticipated,” said Brett Gorvy, Christie’s chairman and international head of Post-War and Contemporary Art during, the post-sale press conference.
Which is Christie's-speak for 'we lost money on it'.
More from me when I get back. In other news, I can report that the choice of movies on United Airlines is woeful.
Update - for an indispensable and perceptive analysis of the Christie's sale, head over to Marion Maneker's Art Market Monitor. He tells us the Warhol Marilyn's were guaranteed at $44m! And also raises an eyebrow at Christie's overall strategy:
[...] last night’s sale brings up more questions about Christie’s, its strategic aims and ambitions in the art market, than it does about the state of the overall market itself. For the last several years, Christie’s has embarked upon an aggressive campaign to transform the art market through the Contemporary art category. Using a phalanx of business-getting talent, seemingly unrivaled access to the best property and an industry-dominating guarantee book to inspire shock and awe among collectors and its rivals.
Christie’s dominance in Contemporary art toppled the management of its main rival and emboldened the firm to reject its internal “change agent.” At the time, too many commentators insisted the change in leadership at Christie’s would bring an aggressive drive toward profit. But so far this week, the evidence points in the other direction.
Maybe it's because I'm old-fashioned, but it seems to me Christie's is behaving slightly like a headless chicken at the moment. Their strategy seems to be based on eye-catching boldness, which in one respect is admirable, but, financially, can quickly lead to recklessness. Not doing well in Old Master sales in New York, because Sotheby's are doing a better job? Well, let's try moving the sale to April, and call it 'classic art' (even though there's little evidence consignors - without whom you cannot stage an art auction, classic or otherwise - are prepared to take the gamble with you). I'm told that Christie's attempt to secure what we'll just call for the moment An Extremely Important Old Master painting involved the suggestion that they would include it in a modern sale this week, principally on the basis that it was expensive and had breasts. Classy.
