Roman mythological marble sarcophagus panel sold for $1.9 million at Sotheby's on June 8, 2011

By Eric Russ, Art Market Views contributor

A marble sarcophagus depicting the rape of Persephone, dating from around 190 A.D. surpassed a $600,000 high estimate at Sotheby’s last week, selling for $1.9 million. The elaborate coffin, emblazoned with a toga-clad procession, was the top lot in a robust $11.3 million sale held June 8. Ninety percent of lots found buyers.

Also popular: a first century 13-inch tall marble head of a pensive, wizened Greek poet, likely Hesiod, estimated to sell for up to $500,000.  Three phone bidders vied for the bearded bust, and all were outbid by a man standing in the back of the salesroom who landed the work for $1.7 million.

The same unidentified buyer’s shopping spree included an Attic red-figured cup depicting a man holding a staff, attributed to the Brygos painter, circa 470 B.C, which made $50,000, topping a $7,000 presale estimate. He also snagged an Attic red-figured column krater with three men and a horse, circa 450 B.C., paying $116,500, more than twice the high estimate.

Both works were among a large collection of Green pottery being sold by New York artists Sideo Fromboluti and…

Wifredo Lam's 1945 "Les Oiseux Voiles" sold for $1M at Sotheby's, May 25, 2011

By Eric Russ, Art Market Views Contributor

Sotheby’s Latin American auction totaled $21.7 million on Wednesday night, nearly twice the $12.2 million sold a year ago. It was highest tally achieved for an evening Latin sale at Sotheby’s, according to the house.  (A day sale on Thursday raised the tally to $26.9 million).

On a night when Colombian artist Fernando Botero garnered much of the presale buzz with a separate single-artist sale—the house’s first since 1992—the Brazilians performed with gusto.

The evening consisted of three consecutive sales: modern works from a private collection, the Botero-thon, and a standard “various owner” sale.

“The Botero sale was a bit of a risk,” said Sotheby’s Carmen Melian, head of the Latin department, during the post-sale press conference. While the artist can usually be counted on to perform as predictably as Warhol, nearly a quarter of lots failed to sell.  The sale totaled $7.5 million, with Asian private collectors snagging the three priciest lots, including  a 1992 bronze Man on a Horse, for $1.2 million, an auction record for a Botero bronze.

Bidding gained momentum during the various owner sale. Brazilian sculptor Cildo Meireles’…

Link to story on AiA website here.

Andy Warhol’s role as art market Viagra endured at Sotheby’s last night. Four of his canvases, spanning periods and subject matter, ranked among the 10 most expensive in a high-profile evening auction in New York. The priciest was also the largest and earliest: a 1964 panel painting titled Sixteen Jackies, depicting a somber Jacqueline Kennedy in shades of blue and gold. Bidding was tempered. Dealer Jose Mugrabi, who stockpiles Warhols, tossed out a few lowball bids before an anonymous phone bidder prevailed, paying $20.2 million, near the low end of a $20 million to $30 million estimate.

The evening’s other star lot, Jeff Koons’s 1988 porcelain Pink Panther, sold rather anticlimactically for $16.9 million, below the projected $20 million to $30 million range. As part of an aggressive marketing push, Sotheby’s promoted the work with a video conversation about the piece between Koons and Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s worldwide head of contemporary art. The artist is unusual in his willingness to participate in the secondary market sale of his work. The anonymous seller was publisher Benedikt Taschen.

While Koons’s prices have not…

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A raw, twisted steel 1958 John Chamberlain sculpture, Nutcracker, sold for $4.8 million last night at Sotheby’s in New York. The price achieved an auction record for the artist, selling to a Gagosian Gallery representative who paid more than double the presale $1.8 million high estimate. Gagosian recently signed on the 84-year-old artist, following a two-decade partnership with Pace Gallery.

Nutcracker was the most coveted artwork on offer in a single-owner sale from the estate of Upper East Side dealer Allan Stone, who died in 2006 at the age of 74. The sale included 42 lots totaling $54.8 million, topping the $46.8 million high estimate. The lure of estate material and low estimates resulted in a healthy 93 percent of lots finding buyers.

While results were steady, the mixed quality of works on offer was more suited to a day sale than an evening sale. Nevertheless, Sotheby’s gave the Stone estate the royal auction treatment, having snatched the business away from Christie’s, where a first round of works were sold in 2007.

Stone was a compulsive buyer who…

Picasso's "Femmes Lisant" sold at Sotheby's for $21.4M

New York’s two-week spring auction blitz got off to a lackluster start last night at Sotheby’s, as a quarter of the artworks on offer during the Impressionist and Modern art sale failed to find buyers. The sale pulled in $170.5 million, towards the low end of a $159 million to $230 million pre-sale estimate. “This was not a memorable group of artworks,” said advisor Linda Silverman. “But given the lack of quality, they did O.K.”

Surrealist works sold well, but buyers generally rejected aggressive estimates, even for artists like Picasso and Gauguin.

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1959 Gio Ponti conference table from Time-Life building, sold for $104,500

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views, Contributor

Sotheby’s 20th Century Design sale totaled $3.5 million yesterday, with works from  modern design dealer Mark McDonald fetching $1.3 million.

The single owner sale, titled What Modern Is: The Collection of Mark McDonald, resulted in 84 percent of lots finding buyers. (View results here).

McDonald had said he was selling works to focus on advising studio jewelry collectors. (See AMV’s preview here).

McDonald’s top lot was a Gio Ponti blonde wood conference table from the offices of New York’s Time-Life Building, which sold for $104,500 to an American collector.

Among American makers, ESU steel-frame, birchwood storage cabinets by Charles and Ray Eames – almost a mid-century cliche at this point – sold well. A custom ESU sold for $46,875, over a $35,000 high estimate. A 1st edition ESU-400 fetched $31,250, above the $20,000 high estimate.

McDonald works closely with the estate of modernist jeweler Art Smith.  A patinated copper and brass Lava cuff made $28,125, zooming past a conservative $20,000 high estimate. Other jewelry on the block included pieces by Claire Falkenstein, Ed Wiener and Sam Kramer.

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Sotheby's London contemporary auction, paintings by Andy Warhol and Franz Gertsch wall. Auctioneer Tobias Meyer at rostrum.

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views, Contributor

A protracted recession, banner-waving protesters and even health concerns failed to stymie a Sotheby’s contemporary art sale held last night in London. The unusually eventful proceedings achieved a robust $71.1 million (£44.4 million).

The total, combined with last week’s “white glove” sale, (found here) brings the month’s contemporary art tally to $138.7 million (£88 million) -  the highest for a Sotheby’s London contemporary art sales series since the downturn in July 2008.

The auctions revealed buyers are back, with 91.5% of the 59 lots finding buyers. Bidders came from around the globe, with 23 works selling for over $1 million, according to Sotheby’s.

The evening’s top lot was Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1990), sold to an Asian telephone bidder for $11.5 million, according to reports. The monumental squeegeed canvas, dripping with deep reds, greens, and grays, was estimated to sell for £5 – 7 million ($7.7 – 10.8 million).

Chinese activist artist Ai Weiwei’s mini-mountain of ceramic seeds (a larger version can be found at the Tate Modern (found here) sold for $559,394 (£349,250) to an anonymous…

Tobias Meyer wielding the gavel at Sotheby's in London, Bacon triptych on wall

Francis Bacon burst back on the auction block last night. A crimson 1964 triptych portraying the artist’s painter pal Lucian Freud sold for $37 million at Sotheby’s in London, topping a $14 million presale high estimate.

The work was sold during the sale of a 60-lot single owner collection, offered by heirs of the late Geneva collector George Kostalitz, according to news reports. The sale was 100% percent sold, white glove in auction lingo, tallying $150 million.

The Bacon buyer was identified by Bloomberg News and the Financial Times as  Cologne dealer Alex Lachmann, who was reported to buy for Russian clients.

The evening’s second priciest lot was Salvador Dali’s 1929 symbol-laden Portrait de Paul Eluard, selling for $21.7 million, an auction record for the artist and a Surrealist artwork at auction. The previous record had been set the night before at Christie’s.

Other top lots included a pair of sculptures by Julio Gonzalez, a record setting Wols, and a Giacometti painting.

Picasso's "La Lecture" sold for $40.7M at Sotheby's in London on Feb 8

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views, Contributor

Picasso’s 1932 portraits of his paramour Marie-Therese Walter continue to triumph at auction, with Sotheby’s racking up $40.7 million (£25.2 million) last night in London for a swirling composition in lavenders and yellow.

La Lecture sold to an unnamed phone bidder, topping the £18 million high estimate. Sotheby’s reported a field of seven bidders in the salesroom and over the phone, during a six minute bidding battle.

Among the first works to feature Walter, she is depicted in sensual, colorful swirls, dozing in an armchair.

The painting sold during Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale which tallied $111 million, with a less than stellar 76 percent of the 42 lots finding buyers.

A 1955 gouache by Rene Magritte, Le Maitre d’Ecole, sold for $4 million, an auction record. Other highlights include a monumental sculpture of a horse and rider by Italian artist Marino Marini, L’idea del cavaliere (Idea for the Rider), which sold for $6.8 million. Lyonel Feininger’s maritime painting Raddampfer am Landungssteg (1912) sold for $5.1 million, more than double its high estimate.

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"Gavel" by Andrew Scott, at Ohio Judicial Center, via Flickr

Christie’s has released its 2010 global sales figures, with the total rising 53% over 2009, underscoring a steep market recovery, at least in the top-tier auction realm.

(Sotheby’s has not yet released 2010 figures, but auctions tallied $4.3 billion).

As governments around the globe grapple with budget shortfalls, the auction house clientele, drawn from the world’s wealthiest, appear to be parking money in art.

The firm sold £3.3 billion ($5 billion), the highest in Christie’s 245-year history.

Here are some figures released by the UK-based privately held house:

-Private sales tallied $572.4 million, up 39% over 2009 (they now account for 11.4% of total sales)

-606 works sold at auction for more than $1 million

-Company wide average sell-through rate equaled 79.4%, same as 2009

-New client paddle registration rose 22.7 percent over 2009

-By region: US leads with $2 billion in sales, Europe and UK follow with $1.7 billion, and Hong Kong and Dubai follow with $772.9 million.

-Top international category was Impressionist and modern art with sales of $1.2 billion

-Number two international category was postwar and contemporary art with $934.1 million

- On-line sales tallied $114.4 million,…