newsfromchristies201102

Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction confirmed strong demand for Andy Warhol artworks. Having been in a private collection since 1974, his rediscovered self-portrait, from 1967, was sold for £10.7 million ($17.4 million _ €12.8 million), against an estimate of £3 million to £5 million. When, in the previous evening, another work by the same artist was sold for £3 million at Sotheby's. However, the evening would also be remembered by six new artist records, for works by Jenny Saville, Martial Raysse, Miquel Barcelò, Wade Guyton, Ged Quinn and Adriana Varejão.

The auction presented a strong group of global artists from the 21st century. Leading highlights included Parede com Incisões a la Fontana II (Wall with Incisions a la Fontana II) (executed in 2001), an important masterpiece by Adriana Varejão (b. 1964), one of Brazil’s leading contemporary artists. It was sold for £1,105,250 _ $1,786,084 _ € 1,316,353 – far exceeding the estimate of £200,000 to £300,000 and setting a record for the artist’s work at auction. Whereas, Saville's (b. 1970) Branded (painted in 1992) was auctionned for £1,497,250, which was sold within its pre-sale estimate at £700,000-£1 million; L'année dernière à Capri (titre exotique) (Last Year in Capri (Exotic Title)) by Raysse (b. 1936) fetched £4 million (est. £1-£1.5 million); Tres equis (executed in 1990), a mixed media on canvas, by Barceló (b. 1957), an arresting images of the corrida, or bullfight, that was sold for £1,273,250 (announced at £400,000-£600,000)

«'The torero always talks of distance, of space, but these are invisible spaces, a sort of phantom geometry, and this is very close to painting with this idea of perspective... But the most important thing is what happens on the sand. In a bullfight, you can read what happened in the sand; it's a beautiful metaphor of painting because my paintings are like traces of what has happened there, all that happens in the head, in fact. The picture object is a bit like the sand of the arena, a sort of detritus of what took place there'» (Barceló, quoted in Miquel Barceló: Mapamundi, exh. cat., Saint-Paul, 2002, p. 98);

Guyton's (b. 1972) epson ultrachrome inkjet on linen Untitled (executed in 2005) was sold for £187,250 (against an estimate of £50,000-£70,000); and Quinn's (b. 1963), meticulously executed and beautifully rendered romantic landscape Gone to Yours (oil on linen, painted in 2005), which was bought for £193,250 (far exceeding its estimate £40,000-£60,000).

This evening auction realized £61,380,500 _ $99,190,888 _ €73,104,176 (against an pre-sale estimate of £35,860,000 to £51,760,000). This is the highest total for the Post-War and Contemporary art category, in London, since June 2008. Accordingly to Francis Outred, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, at Christie’s Europe, "this was a global auction that offered art from 5 continents, drew buyers from 21 countries and realized the highest total for the category in London since June 2008."

Auction data:
_ Sold by lot 92%
_ Sold by value 98%
_ Of the 63 lots offered, 58 sold (5 unsold)
_ 16 works sold for over £1 million, and 28 sold for over $1 million.

Top five lots sold:
_ Lot 11 Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Self-Portrait, 1967 for £10,793,250 _ $17,441,892 _ €12,854,761 (est. £3-€5 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 14 Martial Raysse (b. 1936), L'année dernière à Capri (titre exotique), (Last Year in Capri (Exotic Title)), 1962 for £4,073,250 _ $6,582,372 _ €4,851,241 (est. £1-£1.5 million) to an anonymous buyer - ***World Record Price of a Work by a Living French Artist and World Record Price for the Artist at Auction***
_ Lot 8 Gerhard Richter (b. 1932), Abstraktes Bild, 1990 for £3,177,250 _ $5,134,436 _ €3,784,105 (est. £1-£1.5 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 16 Jeff Koons (b. 1955), Winter Bears, 1988 for £2,953,250 _ $4,772,452 _ €3,517,321 (est. £2.5-£3.5 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 19 Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, 1961 for £2,729,250 _ $4,410,468 _ €3,250,537 (est. £2-£3 million) to an anonymous buyer.

newsfromsothebys201011

If Warhol's artworks still have strong competition (realising a total of £5 million for five works on sale, against a pre-sale total estimate of £3.8-£5.5 million) by art buyers, during yesterday's evening, Sotheby's principal stage was shared with two other works, one by the Spanish artist Juan Muñoz (brought a combined total for three works of £4,303,750 / $6,893,316/ €5,138,672), and another by the Swiss artist Franz Gertsch. Both artist were represented by rare works that had been out of circulation for a very long time.

Luciano I, executed in 1976 by Gertsch, was sold for the outstanding sum of £1,497,250 / $2,398,145 / €1,787,713, well above the pre-sale expectations (estimate £500,000-700,000 / €585,000-820,000/ $775,000-1,090,000). Whereas the top lot of the evening was Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild of 1990. Monumental in scale (225cm by 200cm), this intensely-worked, museum-quality piece attracted bids from some five prospective buyers who drove the price to £7 million. Three new artist records at auction were established for Franz Gertsch, Yinka Shonibare and Gary Hume artworks.

Accordingly with Sotheby's Chairman of Contemporary Art Europe, Cheyenne Westphal, collectors were "responding strongly to works of the highest quality that have not been available on the market for very many years ..., demonstrating the depth of demand for the very best that the market has to offer."

Sotheby's Contemporart Art Evening sale realised £44,359,900 / $71,051,252 / €52,965,613 (the sales had a pre-sale estimate of £30.4 to £43 million). With Looking Closely (held last week) sale, this sum brings the total for Sotheby’s Contemporary Art auction series so far this season to £88,022,550 / $138,728,359 / €104,465,529 (pre-sale estimate between £56 to £78 million) – well above combined pre-sale expectations – representing the second-highest total for a February Contemporary Art Sales Series in London (£95 million in 2008 - the highest total for any sale of contemporary art ever held in Europe -, £17.8 million in 2009, and £54.1 million in 2010) and the highest total for a Contemporary Art Sales Series in London since July 2008.

Auction data:
_ Sold by lot 91.5%
_ Sold by value 95.5%
_ Of the 59 lots offered, 54 sold (5 unsold)
_ 8 works sold for over £1 million, and 23 sold for over $1 million, bringing the total number of Contemporary artworks sold so far this season at Sotheby's for over £1 million to 17, and the number of works sold for over $1 million to 33 artworks.

Top five lots sold:
_ Lot 13 Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, 1990 for £7,209,250 (est. £5-£7 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 36 Andy Warhol, Nine Multicoloured Marilyns (Reversal Series), signed and dated 79/86 for £3,177,250 (est. £2 - £3 million) to an anonymous buyer.
_ Lot 37 Juan Muñoz, Conversation Piece, 1993 for £3,065,250 (£600,000-£800,000) to a Private European buyer.
_ Lot 17 Robert Ryman, Rule, signed and dated 91 for £1,889,250 (£900,000-£1,200,000) to a Private US buyer.
_ Lot 14 Franz Gertsch, Luciano I, 1976 for £1,497,250 (est. £500,000-£700,000) to a Private European buyer.

newsfromchristies201102

Strong results in these last two evenings at Sotheby's and Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art auction's demonstrated a solid market for both classic impressionism and the masterpieces of the avant-garde.

A new auction record was achieved at Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale on yesterday's auction. Christie's realise £84,879,800 / US$136,316,959 / €99,903,525 (the sales had a pre-sale estimate of £72,580,000 to £107,060,000) of total revenue. Whereas last year sales total results - £76,834,650 - were on the same level as this year for the two auctions held on the same evening sale (The Art of the Surreal and Impressionist and Modern Art).

"Terrasse à Vernon by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), which realized £7,209,250 / $11,578,056 / €8,485,287", set a new world record price for the artist at auction and was the top price at the auction. "A masterclass in colourist painting executed in 1923, it was one of only 3 works that Bonnard selected to be exhibited at the Salon d’Automne that year where it was very well received. Acquired by the family of the vendor in 1935, it had since passed by descent and was offered at auction for the first time with a pre-sale estimate of £3 million to £4 million."

While at The Art of the Surreal evening sale, "Etude pour `Le miel est plus doux que le sang’", 1926-27, a landmark work and one of the first Surreal paintings executed by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), realized £4,073,250 / $6,541,640 / €4,794,215", and set a new world record price for the artist at auction (estimate: £2 million to £3 million). Both works were bought by anonymous collectors.

Auction data:
_ Sold by lot 79%
_ Sold by value 84%
_ Of the 76 lots offered, 60 sold (16 unsold)
_ Over 93% of the sold lots last evening achieved prices at or above their estimate
_ 3 works sold for over £5 million, 23 sold for over £1 million

newsfromsothebys201102

A new auction record was achieved at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Evening sale during yesterday's auction "for a work on paper by the Surrealist artist René Magritte with the sale of Le Maître d'École for £2,505,250 / US$4,040,718 / €2,952,187" to an anonymous buyer. "This gouache on paper depicting Magritte's iconic bowler-hatted man fetched a price over double the pre-sale estimate (est. £800,000-1.2 million) and double the previous record for a work on paper" by the artist. Sotheby's realize £68,834,400 (last year total revenue was more than double - £146,828,350 - for 39 lots on offer) in sale total.

Auction data:
_ Sold by lot 76.2%
_ Sold by value 84.5%
_ Of the 42 lots offered, 32 sold (10 unsold)
_ Over 93% of the sold lots last evening achieved prices at or above their estimate
_ Average lot value £2.15 million / US$3.5 million
_ 15 works sold for over £1 million, 28 sold for over US$1 million

Recordes em tempos de recessão

As oportunidades surgem quando os mercados se encontram mais voláteis.

Apesar de parecer contra intuitivo este é o momento ideal para se encontrar as verdadeiras obras de arte à venda. Uma das razões para esta tendência natural do mercado está no facto de que os mais ricos continuam a prosperar – é ver, por exemplo os lucros obtidos e os prémios que continuam a ser atribuídos aos gestores das grandes empresas, quer a nível nacional quer internacional – enquanto a classe média começa a sofrer com a diminuição da actividade financeira e a incerteza económica. Mas também significa que o mercado não está entupido com produtos de qualidade duvidosa e valores extrapolados por instigadores financeiros à procura do bónus fácil.

Grande parte das vendas de referência que ficaram para a história, durante o século XX, foram em períodos económicos maus: Adoração dos Magos (1481-82), de Botticelli, durante a Grande Depressão, na década de vinte do século passado; Juan de Pareja (1650), de Diego Velázquez, durante a crise do petróleo dos anos setenta; Juliet and Her Nurse (1836), de J. M. W. Turner, na crise do consumo em 1980; ou o Retrato de Dr. Gachet (1890), de Vincent van Gogh, na crise bancária e monetária, em 1990, são alguns exemplos.

Recentemente, em Abril, o leilão especial organizado pelo Palácio do Correio Velho, em Lisboa, resultou em mais de um milhão de euros, um serviço de jantar em porcelana chinesa foi arrematado por 115 mil euros.

Um outro exemplo, com a moral inflacionada pelos recentes recordes, quer no segmento dos grandes mestres (Head of a Muse, de Rafael), em Dezembro de 2009, quer no segmento da arte moderna (L’Homme Qui Marche I, de Alberto Giacometti, e Nude, Green Leaves and Bust de Picasso), em Fevereiro e Maio deste ano, respectivamente, as casas leiloeiras antecipam um incremento dos preços da arte contemporânea para valores equivalentes aos praticados antes do colapso dos mercados financeiros. Ou seja, em seis meses, o recorde para uma obra em leilão foi superado mais vezes do que durante todo o período de euforia especulativa, entre 2005 e 2008. Traduzido, actualmente a expectativa está em mais de metade dos lotes oferecidos no leilão de arte do Pós-Guerra e Contemporânea na Christie’s, de Nova York, ultrapassar a linha do um milhão de euros para o valor mínimo estimado.

O ruído especulativo desapareceu e quem compra está concentrado no objecto de arte. As oportunidades surgem quando os mercados se encontram mais voláteis e os segmentos de topo do mercado da arte são, neste contexto de crise, os mais apetecíveis e procurados.

Published at NS'228/IN#124, Mercado da Arte (70), (Diário de Notícias N.º 51544 e Jornal de Notícias N.º 355/122), 22 de Maio de 2010, Portugal. Diego Velazquez, Juan de Pareja (óleo sobre tela, 81,3x69,9cm), 1650. Courtesy: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nova Iorque.