art auctions

Cleveland Art Museum To Auction European Paintings

The Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio is the latest to deaccession some older art. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the museum will be selling off 32 works as part of the auction of "Important Old Master Paintings" at Sotheby's in New York starting on January 27. As with many other deaccessioning efforts, this one is selling off many works that haven't been exhibited in recent years. There may even be some deals to be had, 21 lots from the museum have a low-end estimate of under $10,000. To some collectors, works that have been in a museum can have more value because of provenance. Most of the works to be sold were given as gifts. Earnings from the sale will be used to buy more paintings for the collection.

In 1949 the museum bought the pair of paintings shown above which depict Roman hero Horatius Cocles defending the Tiber. They were believed were by the important 18th century Italian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo but experts later confirmed that they were done by a follower of Tiepolo. The painting are being sold as one lot with an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.

Tags: art auctions, cleveland museum of art, deaccessioned art, old masters, sothebys

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Art Basel Attracts Abramovich, Kilmer, Millions

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

The exclusive opening of Art Basel – for the most serious buyers – had the desired effect. The most famous art show in the world attracted the likes of art collector Roman Abramovich (however much it may be at the behest of his squeeze) and fetched some major sales, including $15 million for a sculpture by Pablo Picasso.

So, who joined Abramovich in scratching the art itch ... one that's been hard to scratch since the art market collapsed in 2008? Well, Val Kilmer, Peter Brant and Laurence Graff were among the elite.

Prices haven't returned to 2007 levels, noted art dealer Nicholas Maclean to Bloomberg News, but he added that the top stuff is selling well. This doesn't exactly defy common sense, of course. There are 303 galleries at Art Basel this year, and they're all hoping to ride this wave.

A Christie's International auction in Paris the day before Art Basel started set the tone for the affair. A sculpture by Amedeo Modigliani moved for $53 million, setting a record for the French auction market.

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Tags: amadeo modigliani, art auction, art auctions, art basel, art market, auction house, auction houses, christies, ChristiesAuctionHouse, laurence graff, modligiani, peter brant, roman abramovich, val kilmer

Art Market: Russian Billionaires Are Back

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The numbers may not have big, but it felt like 2007 all over again during "Russian Week" in London. Russian billionaires descended on the art auction houses and fought fiercely for prized lots. Compared to last year, auction sales nearly doubled, with the Russians spending $86 million to repatriate icons, paintings, porcelain and Faberge items. This follows $18.5 million in Russian art sales by Sotheby's and Christie's in New York back in April.

The most popular pieces were early 20th century modernist works, with the top lot Alexander Yakovlev's "Titi and Naranghe, Daughters of Chief Eki Bondo." It was good for £2.5 million, almost tripling its high-end presale estimate of £900,000.

Sotheby's was the top auction house of London's Russian Week, generating £22.3 million by selling approximately 70 percent of its 615 lots. The result falls within the presale range of £19.3 million to £28 million.

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, art market, auction house, auction houses, billionaire, billionaires, Christies, ChristiesAuction, ChristiesAuctionHouse, faberge, Faberge Eggs, london, russian art, RussianBillionaires, sotheby, sothebys

Art Auctions to End on Royal Caribbean?

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Auctions, Art

Adam Goldstein, the top dog over at Royal Caribbean, wrote on his blog this week that the cruise line is not renewing its contract with Park West Art Services. It looks as though the future of art auctions on the ships is uncertain, given that the president and CEO says the company is evaluating alternatives.

Writes Goldstein:

"[O]ur contract with Park West Art Services has expired and we have decided not to renew it. There is a wind down period in effect and the art auctioneers will finish on different ships at different times over the next few months. We are evaluating what if any art-related programming we may offer in the fleet in the future beyond Oasis of the Seas where Art Actually is our provider of art tours and art for purchase onboard."

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, cruise, cruise ship, CruiseLines, cruises, royal caribbean, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruises

May Art Sales to Bring Records and Liquidity

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The Impressionist and Modern Art sales on May 4 and 5, 2010 are likely to confirm a continued climb in art auction pricing. We're now six months or so into the badly needed upswing, and there's plenty of room for optimism. Not only are the presale estimates and sales on the way up, but the number of pieces being resold quickly is on the rise, as well. This means that there's a high degree of liquidity in the art market: collectors can sell easily and without worry (as long as the inventory doesn't suck, in which case there's no hope, of course).

The increase in art market liquidity is due in part to the return of guaranteed minimum pricing, in which the auction houses assume some sales risk for attractive or desirable pieces that they feel can beat the numbers and attract buyers and sellers of other strong works. According to ArtPrice, there are "tens of millions of dollars for major works" committed via guaranteed minimum pricing, indicating that confidence is up.

It's the price guarantees that have led to the arrival of some strong pieces at the early may auctions this year, including pieces from the collections of Mrs Sidney Francis Brody, Raymond and Miriam Klein, Bernard Goldberg and Michael Crichton. Brody's works alone could fetch up to $150 million. The high estimate for Christie's is $300 million, a target that doesn't include the top lot, "Nude, Green Leaves" by Pablo Picasso, which as Jared Paul Stern revealed in a recent column is expected to bring in as much as $90 million. Other artists with eight-figure estimates include Henri Matisse, and Alberto Giacometti.

Don't just look for good news – also a expect a few records to b set. Sotheby's has high hopes for pieces by Salvador Dali and Auguste Rodin.

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Tags: alberto giacometti, art auction, art auctions, art market, artist, Artists, auction, auction houses, auction-house, auctions, Christie, Christies, ChristiesAuction, ChristiesAuctionHouse, contemporary, contemporary art, giacometti, Henri Matisse, impressionist, impressionists, michael crichton, modern art, Pablo Picasso, picasso, rodin, Salvador Dali, Sotheby, sothebys

Hidden Art Collection Will Finally Reach Auction

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

A collector's hidden art stash could be good for as much as $26 million. The collection, which had been owned by Ambroise Vollard, will be sold at Sotheby's sales in May and June. It's been hidden in a bank vault for four decades, and now people have shot at buying works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne and Andre Derain.

Derain's piece, shown above, is the top lot in the collection, a landscape that is estimated with a low end of $13.9 million and the potential to go over $20 million. It heads under the gavel on June 22, 2010 at Sotheby's in London. The following week, in Paris, 140 paintings, drawings, prints and books once belonging to Vollard will be sold, with a presale estimate staring at $3.4 million.

The 141 pieces in the collection were tossed in a Societe Generale vault in Paris by Vollard's associate, Eich Slomovic, in 1939. That's the year Vollard died car crash). Slomovich, who was given the collection to sell on consignment, died in 1942 (cause of death: NAZIs). The vault was opened in 1979 and was scheduled that year for auction. Legal challenges, however, kept the collection in limbo until 2006.

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, art market, auction, auction-house, AuctionHouses, auctions, cezanne, london, Pablo Picasso, paris, picasso, sothebys

Sotheby's and Christie's Place Their Russian Bets

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The Russians are coming to New York! From April 21, 2010 to April 23, 2010, 600 lots of Russian art will be coming to market. Sotheby's will be auctioning 359 of them, including several by Pavel Tchelitchew, from actress Ruth Ford's collection. Also going under the blog are pieces by Stanislaw Zukowski, Nicolas Kalmakoff and Vladimir Davidovic Baranov-Rossine. Sotheby's is expecting a new auction record for Yuri Ivanovich Pimenov, with "Morning Windows" carrying a presale estimate of $250,000 to $350,000.

At Christie's, look for Konstantin Egorovic Makovskij to cause a stir. According to Artprice, his index gained 853 percent from 1999 to 2009 before losing 72 percent in the art market bust. "In from a stroll" has a presale estimate of $400,000 to $600,000. Makovskij hasn't had a sale above $200,000 since November 2008.

While there's obviously some excitement over the coming Russian sales, it shouldn't be confused with the market enjoyed from 2005 to 2008, when seven-figure values weren't unusual. Moving carefully, Sotheby's and Christie's are offering many works with estimates below $400,000.

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, art market, Christies, ChristiesAuction, ChristiesAuctionHouse, russian art, Sotheby, sothebys

May Art Auctions Likely to Bring Back Excitement

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The May art sales are coming, and I, for one, can't wait to see what happens. The art market took an exciting turn at the end of 2009. Prices appeared to be on the mend, though nobody was willing to believe it fully – not after the tumult experienced for the year and a half before it. Tentative steps gave way to optimism at the beginning of this year, leading many to accept that the art market is coming back. Collectors opened their wallets. Auction houses put better works on the block. Everything looked good.

Unfortunately, there hasn't been much action in the major categories since February. This is strictly a function of the auction seasons. Sure, we've had the Armory Show in New York and Phillips de Pury's anemic sex-themed auction, but this doesn't scratch the big-money art market itch. At the beginning of March, Sotheby's moved Andy Warhol's "Self Defense" for $420,000, well ahead of the presale estimate of $250,000 to $300,000. Christie's pushed "Two Jackies" for $446,500, more than 10 times more than the low-end presale estimate of $40,000. Yet, without piercing the million dollar mark, it's hard to capture anyone's imagination.

So, we've had to wait – and will have to continue to do so until May. In the meantime, anticipation has been mounting. What's coming up next?

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Tags: andy warhol, art, art auction, art auctions, art market, artist, Artists, arts-culture, auction house, auction houses, Christies, Pablo Picasso, Sotheby, sothebys

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Flaccid Prices at Phillips de Pury's Sexy Art Auction

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Art auction house Phillips de Pury has learned that sex sells. Pushing erotic-themed contemporary works, the house brought in $2.1 million at a London sale on Saturday night at a sale called simply "SEX." Of the 271 lots that went under the gavel, including art, design and photography, 69 percent sold. Unfortunately, the auction's revenue only hit 78 percent of the presale estimate: competition wasn't exactly stiff for the hottest works on the block.

The highlight of the evening was a painting by UK pop artist Allen Jones. His 1966 "Soft Tread" featured a pair of legs in stockings and adorned with stiletto heels. The sultry effort aroused at least six bids and enough action to thrust the selling price to 361,250 pounds. With a presale estimate of 60,000 pounds to 80,000 pounds, the action surely justified the art world's equivalent to a post-coital cigarette.

Apparently the erotic and sex-themed art market is hardening ... and it's turning on billionaires. A piece by Otto Mueller featuring two nude female bathers fetched 2.1 million pounds at Christie's last month, three times the high estimate.

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, art market, billionaire, billionaires, erotic, london, phillips de pury, sex, sexy

Andrew Lloyd Webber to Sell Picasso for Christie's

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art, Charity

Andrew Lloyd Webber is sending a "Blue Period" Picasso canvas under the gavel in June. A painting of an absinthe drinker, the composer has chosen Christie's as the auction house, with the proceeds going to Webber's charity. The Picasso could fetch as much as $60.9 million, a higher estimate than any other piece in Europe so far this year. Last year, Picasso was the top seller at auction, generating $121 million in sales, according to Artprice.

The painting, entitled "Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto (The Absinthe Drinker)," is a study of a young Spanish artist sitting at a Barcelona bar. Says Giovanna Bertazzoni, head of Christie's London-based Impressionist and Modern department to Bloomberg News, "A 'Blue Period' Picasso is the sort of painting that could appeal to a new Chinese buyer." She continues, "There is a new breed of Medici-style collectors who want to buy exceptional art from any period."

Lloyd Weber purchased the painting for $29.2 million in 1995 for his foundation using funds he donated. The painting almost went up for sale at Christie's in 2006 but was withdrawn at the last minute due to some concerns over ownership. A German man had claimed that the painting was lost by his family in a "forced sale" by Nazis but with all issues resolved the painting is now finally up for sale again.

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Tags: andrew lloyd webber, art auction, art auctions, art market, auctions, Christies, Pablo Picasso, picasso

Once Stolen Painting to Be Sold at Sotheby's

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot's "Jeune femme a la fontaine" is estimated to rake in up to $1.8 million at a June 2, 2010 sale at Sotheby's. The nineteenth century piece has an interesting history, having been owned by a patron of Claude Monet and Hamburg banker Eduard Ludwig Behrens. And, it was at one point in the clutches of NAZIs, who had stolen the piece from the Behrens family.

It was returned to the heirs of Georg Behrens, who was arrested in 1938 and sent to a concentration camp, in 2008 based on advice from the Dutch Restitutions Committee. The heirs prefer to remain anonymous. Approximately 650,000 pieces were seized during the 12 years Adolf Hitler held power, and among them were works from the Behrens collection, which was considered one of the most important private art collections in Europe at the time. For 66 years, this Corot painting hung in the Kroller-Muller Museum in Otterlo (in the Netherlands).

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Tags: art auction, art auctions, art collection, art collector, art restitution, corot, jean baptise camille corot, jeune fille a la fontaine, Nazis, sothebys, world war ii

Chinese Artist Leaps Into Top Three Artists at Auction List For 2009

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

A year from now, we'll look back on the art market 2009 as that last slither though the gutter before picking itself back up in 2010. But, we're not there yet: 2009 is in the rearview mirror, so it will remain our baseline for the next 12 months. When looking at the top performers at auction last year, there's a pretty consistent story – revenue declines ranged from 55 percent to 77 percent relative to 2008. Top 10 mainstays – such as Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Edgar Degas and Claude Monet – got thrashed. These conditions led to some changes, as well, with a Chinese artist making the top 10 for the first time. In fact, he pushed into the top three.

1. Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso is back on top, after giving up the #1 position in 2008. And, it took only $121 million in auction sales to get him there. From 1998 to 2008, total sales for Picasso gained 96 percent, before falling by 54 percent last year, with pricing off 15 percent. The number of sales pushing past the $1 million mark declined precipitously, from 39 in 2008 to only 15 last year, and his top sale was for "Mousquetaire a la pipe," which moved for $13 million on May 6, 2009, at Christie's. This year could be a bit tough for Picasso collectors, as Artprice believes certain paintings were still overpriced.

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Art Market Analysis: Revenue Surges 255%, Confidence Climbs

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The Christie's and Sotheby's February contemporary art sales surged 255% year-over-year, thanks in large gain relative to the severely depressed baseline created by the financial crisis. Continuing a trend that began last November, with the $39 million sale of Andy Warhol's "200 One Dollar Bills," the art market's showing solid and healthy growth, not a return to the abject stupidity of 2007.

How can you tell the difference? Well, the fact that Alberto Giacometti's "L'homme qui marche I" set a new record at £58 million while Lucian Freud's much-hyped self-portrait with black eye failed to reach the low-end presale estimate, despite the fact that Sotheby's billed it as "the most important self-portrait by the artist ever to he appeared at auction." This represents a profound departure from the prices of $30 million or more that his work used to command.

At Christie's, Yves Klein was responsible for around quarter of the revenue that came in the door, though work by Andy Warhol, Peter Doig, Martin Kippenberger and Richard Prince crossed the £1 billion threshold.

The Art Market Confidence Index by Artprice indicates that art prices will increase over the next quarter.

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Basquiat and Others Beat Minimum at Phillips de Pury Art Auction

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

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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Christie's Auction Pumped by Yves, Keeps Art Market Recovery Going

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

The 51 lots that Christie's sent under the gavel last night were chosen carefully. The auction was designed to succeed ... which is what you would have thought of every auction until the middle of 2008, right? Nonetheless, the auction house made some bold moves in an effort to push up prices, but only offered lots that would justify putting the necks of its constituent decision-makers on the chopping block.

With a final tally of more than $61 million in line with the high end of the presale estimate, it would appear that Christie's made some smart calls. Forty-six of the lots achieved sale, with one clearing £5 million, nine surpassing £1 million and 16 beating $1 million. Compared to last year's sale, when only 29 lots were offered, the total take surged 3.7X. I tend to be pretty skeptical, but even that sort of result is enough to make me admit that the art market's recovering.

Buyers in Europe and Britain were most active, picking up 41 percent and 33 percent of the sales, respectively. Collectors in the United States followed with 22 percent and Asia at 4 percent.

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