DonaldJudd

Basquiat and Others Beat Minimum at Phillips de Pury Art Auction

The action was small at only $9.6 million, but big names were featured at the Phillips de Pury art auction on Friday night. Donald Judd and Jean-Michel Baquiat went under the gavel and home with collectors for the third auction in a row. This follows solid results at Christie's and Sotheby's, marking a distinct turn in the fortunes of the art market.

Phillips de Pury didn't match Sotheby's and Christie's in terms of above-estimate totals and older works, but that really is the norm. So, I wouldn't view the fact that it only hit the middle of its presale estimate pessimistically. Given what was sold earlier in the week at the larger houses, the Phillips sale does nothing but confirm the direction of the art market.

Established artists did continue to rise aove the fray, with Judd's 1987 sculpture, "Untitled (87-29 Studer)," selling for £735,650. Basquiat's "Cash Crop" landscape and collage "Untitled" were the second best sellers behind Judd's work at £713,520 each. All beat their low-end estimates of £600,000.

There was a concern that Phillips would struggle to attract buyers, particularly because the auction was focused on living artists. While the challenge may not have been evident from the fact that 86 percent of the lots sold, it was confirmed by the tendency of them to move at the low end of the presale range.

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Another Rough Night For The Art Auction Market

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Another day, another day of art auction misery, the third in a long week for art sellers. At the Phillips de Pury & Co.'s New York auction the sales were far below event the low estimate of $23 million, coming in at $9.6 million with two-fifths of the lots not selling. Even usual hot sellers like Damien Hirst whose `Beautiful Artemis Thor Neptune Odin Delusional Sapphic Inspirational Hypnosis Painting,'' was part of a series that appeared in September 2007 during a runway show of his collection for Levi Strauss & Co. at the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea couldn't find a buyer at $1.8 million.

So what artists are still alluring? The star of the Phillips de Pury auction was Donald Judd's 1977 vertical progression of 10 blue, stainless steel stacks, shown at right, which sold for $3.2 million, lower than presale estimate range of $4 million to $6 million but still a good showing in this market (and a Judd sculpture also sold earlier this week to Eli Broad). While the works may have been of a lower tier than comparable Christie's and Sotheby's auctions, the risk was also smaller. Bloomberg reports that Phillips de Pury guaranteed just one work in the auction, a glowing neon text by Kendell Geers, which had a low estimate of $60,000 and sold for $56,250.

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Tags: art, auction, contemporary, damien hirst, DamienHirst, donald judd, DonaldJudd