Victoria Kleiner, Head of Art Due Diligence and Digital Art Expertise
Back With a Bang - New York November Marquee Auctions Deliver Strong Results
The recent series of New York major 20/21 auctions more than delivered on high expectations, particularly at the very top end of the market. Evening sale results, at 1.57 billion USD in total, were 73.3% higher than this time last year. 44% of lots exceeded their mid-estimate, showing that estimates had been set at attractive levels in reaction to recent market contraction, but also indicating deep bidding. Savvy and extensive use of guarantees also ensured strong prices overall, with 174 lots guaranteed. 32 lots sold over 10 million USD, as opposed to only 18 at this level in November 2024, indicating that there is exceptional demand for fresh to market masterpieces with good provenance, of which there were multiple examples this season.
Records tumbled, with the most notable being that of Gustav Klimt, with ‘Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer’ reaching a remarkable premium price of 236 million USD, well in excess of its ‘whisper’ estimate of 150 million USD. This became the second highest price ever at auction, and the highest for a modern painting (the highest ever price remains 450 million USD for the somewhat controversial ‘Salvator Mundi’ by Leonardo in 2017). Sotheby’s dominated, fielding some exceptional works from a group of single owner collections that were very fresh to the market, and overseeing an exceptional sell-through rate of 98.5% in their evening sales, up on the 88.4% from November last year.
The week kicked off on Monday 17th November with two Evening Sales at Christie’s, a single owner and multi owner. Highlights of the single owner included a vibrant Henri Matisse that exceeded its estimate of 15-25 million USD to sell for a premium price of 32.26 million USD, the 5th highest price for Matisse at auction - a notably strong price given that a top 10 price for Matisse has not been seen at auction since 2018. A Pablo Picasso from the artist’s most sought-after year, 1932 – considered such an important date that Tate Modern devoted a whole exhibition to works painted that year in 2018 – sold for a premium price of 45.5 million USD. The highlight of the group, a late vibrant Mark Rothko, sold for a premium price of 62.1 million USD. Success was not universal – somewhat unusually for a single owner collection, where provenance serves to give a price boost, works by Joan Miro and Franz Kline went unsold. Christie’s followed this sale immediately with their various owner sale, which saw strong results in particular for three John Singer Sargent works from the same collection and which were fresh to the market, with all three works taking their places amongst the top 10 prices ever paid for Sargent at auction. Property from the Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art also performed well, in particular a large-scale work by Marc Chagall that sold for a premium price of 26.5 million USD against an estimate of 8-12 million USD. This was overall a positive start, which served to allay any initial market jitters going into the week.
Sotheby’s Evening Sale of the Leonard Lauder collection on Tuesday evening was the highlight of the week in terms of prices achieved. A combination of stellar provenance and exceptional quality ensured that every work from the collection, bar three, sold above its high estimate. Not only was a record price of 236 million USD set for Klimt – far above the artist’s previous record of 108 million USD set in June 2023 – but the 5th and 6th highest prices for the artist were also set in the same sale. Rounds of applause and cheering greeted the close of the theatrical 20 minute bidding battle for the top Klimt. The Lauder sale was followed immediately by the various owner Now & Contemporary sale, which, buoyed by the Lauder sale, also saw strong results. Records were quickly set for Antonio Oba, Cecily Brown and Jess Collins, which helped to offset the disappointment of a high-profile BI of a work by Kerry James Marshall, despite the boost provided by the artist’s current critically acclaimed show in London. However, this was overall a very strong sale, with only 2 unsold works out of 43 lots, the majority of which sold for above their high estimates.
Momentum continued at Christie’s on Wednesday evening with their 21st Century Evening Sale, which included a single owner group from the Edlis Neeson collection. A strong start was made when lot 2, a Cindy Sherman, sold for 2.2 million USD against an estimate of 500-700,000 USD, an impressive result given that Sherman’s market has been somewhat moribund in recent years, whose top prices were primarily achieved more than a decade ago. Design works by Diego Giacometti also saw intense competition. A record was set for Firelei Baez for the second time that day (Phillips had initially broken the artist’s record a few hours before). A record was also set for Olga de Amaral, from the Elaine Wynn collection.
Thursday evening saw another display of strength at Sotheby’s with a single owner sale of Surrealist works titled ‘Exquisite Corpus’, another single owner sale of the Pritzker collection, and a multi owner Modern auction, both of which were 100% sold. A record price was achieved for a work by any female artist, with a new record for Frida Kahlo of 54.7 million USD premium (the work in question last sold for 51,000 USD in 1980). A work by another female Surrealist artist, Valentine Hugo, also got the sale off to a strong start when ‘Le Crapaud de Maldoror’ sold for a premium price of 825,500 USD against an estimate of 100-150,000 USD. Top lot of the Pritzker sale was the much-hyped ‘Romans parisiens’ by Vincent van Gogh which sold for a premium price of 62,710,000 USD against a reputed estimate in the region of 40 million USD.
Sotheby’s dominance over the week can be partially explained by their ‘hook’ of this being the first series of major sales held in their new New York headquarters, the iconic Breuer building, which provided an incentive to consigners and led to queues forming outside during the pre-sale view. However, Christie’s also has cause to be very satisfied by their performance as well. Overall, the week of sales built strongly on the positive shoots that had been seen during the Frieze London auctions in October, and should mark an upward turn in the temperature of the market. As ‘artnotnet’ – a popular Instagram account followed by many art world participants – succinctly put it as early as the Monday of that week: ‘The art market is more than ok’.