Nobody can find a trace of the good vibes from the May contemporary art auction at Christie's. London art sales are off an estimated 70 percent this month from a year ago. The amount of top-shelf lots being offered has fallen precipitously. Auction house price guarantees are little more than a quaint novelty – this last bit spells continued heartache for the beleaguered art market.

So, if you're looking for Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon or Richard Prince, you're more likely to find them in a museum than under the gavel.

The lack of price guarantees has been particularly problematic for the art market. Without that fallback position, collectors are withholding their pieces from auction, instead pursuing private sales ... or simply continuing to hold the pieces. It follows traditional investment strategy. Would you buy high and sell low? The same thinking applies to the art market.

Last year, six works were guaranteed and sold for more than $20 million. This year, nothing is expected to cross that threshold at auction. Both Sotheby's and Christie's have shrunk their catalogues by 10 percent and are even using these auction marketing tools to promote their private sale departments.

All of this sets the stage for the upcoming Impressionist auctions at Christie's (June 23, 2009) and Sotheby's (June 24, 2009). Estimates are low, with the former at $62 million and the latter at $44 million. Last year's estimates were well over twice this year's. On the June 25, 2009, Sotheby's will hold a contemporary auction and expects to pull in a mere $31 million, down more than two-thirds. The Christie's contemporary auction on June 30, 2009 is estimated at $29 million, down 78 percent from last year's estimate. There won't be as many works from the masters coming to market, thanks to the absence of guarantees.

Looking for a cool piece by Lucian Freud? Try MoMA.

Reflecting the lower prices for contemporary art brought on by the recession, there are some relative bargains to be had at Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art auction in London on June 30. Chief among them is Jean-Michel Basquiat's Red Skull (above), painted in 1982 and estimated at only $2.4 million - $3.2 million. Other potential steals include Richard Prince's Country Nurse, est. at $2.4 million - $3.2 million; Jeff Koons' Moustache, est. at $1.9 million- $2.8 million; Francis Bacon's Study for Portrait, est. at $1.2 million - $1.9 million; and Andy Warhol's Self-Portrait, est. at only $800,000 - $1.2 million. The results will no doubt be closely monitored by art world insiders.

Christie's fought the trend and walked away with close to $94 million. Naysayers stand shocked (I'll admit it; I'm among them). This is still far from the record-setting years leading up to the current financial crisis, but only the truly stubborn would not recognize the accomplishment of coming close to the upper end of the auction house's estimate, particularly a day after competitor Sotheby's turned in such a dismal performance.

The initial estimate for Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale was $71.5 million to $104.5 million. Forty-nine of the 54 available lots were sold – a sales rate of 91 percent by lot and 94 percent by value. This easily tops the 81 percent by lot that Sotheby's hit (en route to a paltry $47 million). Thirty of the lots sold for more than $1 million each, and nine raked in more than $3 million a piece.

If you want to be negative, though, you still have plenty of ammo. Back in November, Christie's achieved a $113.6 million take with a sale rate of only 68 percent (by lot). A year ago, the auction house pulled in $331.4 million at a sale rate of 95 percent.

But, last May doesn't count. That was a last hurrah, of sorts, and most in the art community realized it, even if they wouldn't concede the obvious.

Sometimes, the hardest part of choosing a vacation spot is balancing between your wants and the kids' needs. Sprawling out on the beach or sipping a cocktail by the pool works for you, but children need distraction ... constant distraction.

In perhaps the most creative travel offer I've seen this year, Eden Rock – St. Barths is offering an easel, a paint brush and a palate of watercolors. Rather than splatter aimlessly, each kid will receive a one-time lesson with the Eden Rock Artist in Residence (the next is still to be announced).

Even for the caliber of guest that you find at Eden Rock, this can only be described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

During the lesson, kids will also be exposed to the gallery's exhibitions in progress. In the recent past, this gallery has been home to the likes of Richard Prince and Will Cotton. The natural St. Barths aesthetic plus that created by the artists invited to show their work in the gallery yields a unique combination that is sure to inspire any budding artist.

The lessons are only available when the artist in residence is, in fact, in residence, so check with the Eden Rock Hotel when making reservations. The program runs through August 2009.

Any successful entrepreneur can tell you that tough markets are fertile ground for future success. If you can carve your piece of the world out now, an upturn later will reward you handsomely.

This sentiment must be on the mind of young British artists – such as Merlin Carpenter. London's contemporary art galleries are starting to show affordable works by newer artists. Far from investing in the future or giving the hopeful a fighting chance, this tactic is seen as a way to develop a near-term revenue stream that will help galleries survive the current financial crisis. Retrospectively, this stopgap measure could be seen as pure genius for the art galleries that discover the next Richard Prince or (blech) Damien Hirst.

Claims of forward thinking, however, will have to remain in the future. For now, dealers and galleries in London are struggling. Allsopp Contemporary shut down an exhibition space, and Yvon Lambert pulled out of London.

The market is searching to find – and exploit – some young blood, and buyers are pressing for discounts. The winners may just be the artists. Those discovered through desperation will define the market in the future.

Most of the time Sotheby's exhibit works they are going to be up for auction soon but the collection of Steven and Alexandra Cohen is more about showing off than selling off. Cohen, a hedge fund investor who owns SAC Capital Advisors, has quickly created a collection of some of the most desirable works of modern and contemporary art. He is displaying it at Sotheby's New York in a loan-only exhibition, titled "Women" which runs through April 14. The 20 works show a variety of female forms by artists such as de Kooning, Warhol, Matisse, van Gogh and Picasso. Bloomberg reports that the works have a combined value of $450 million.

While Cohen may not be selling anything now he reportedly consigned at least eight paintings to New York dealers last year. He was said to be trying to raise money for a major purchase that he decided not to make. It may be a savvy move to let the public have a free taste of his collection now when nothing is for sale to whet appetites for private sales later. Or it could be that he's trying to increase attention for Sotheby's. His company, SAC owned 5.9 percent of the company as of March 6 according to an SEC filing.

One of Richard Prince's highly coveted Nurse paintings is up for auction at Christie's on November 12. Lake Resort Nurse (2003) is estimated to fetch up to $7 million at the Post-war and Contemporary Art sale.

Christie's calls Prince's Nurse paintings a "modern embodiment of the Madonna/whore dichotomy," as he manipulates viewers to recall influences as wide-ranging as pulp romance novels, slasher films, masked heroines and Post-WWII iconography.

And Prince did use romance novels as the basis of his work -- scanning in the actual covers and printing them with an ink-jet printer, then layering on suggestive strokes of acrylic paint. (Not surprisingly, the Center for Nursing Advocacy wasn't thrilled with the arguably misogynistic and regressive message of the series.)

See the gallery for more Nurse paintings, which when first -- and last -- exhibited at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in 2004 sold for a reported $45,000-85,000 apiece. The last Nurse painting to be auctioned, Dude Ranch Nurse #2, went for $5.5 million just a week and a half ago.

As Louis Vuitton's latest line in collaboration with an outside talent hits stores, the fashion house's designer Marc Jacobs says the increasingly frequent projects have gotten out of hand. Vuitton's new collection designed by Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo just went on sale in Tokyo, but unlike previous LV collections by Takashi Murakami (far right, with Jacobs) and Richard Prince, Jacobs complains that he had no creative input on Kawakubo's, New York magazine reports.

"I've kind of warned everybody up there [at LV] that I think they've gotten a little too into this idea ," Jacobs says. "I'm glad that everybody gets behind it, but what they don't realize is that I do it at a pace that maintains the brand's integrity and seems really right, and I think that sometimes everybody loves a good idea so much that they kind of go too far and it kind of kills it." This could be an indication that despite the massive profits brought in by the trendy collaborations, they could be coming to an end soon, or at least slowing down considerably.

It appears that Louis Vuitton's love affair with '90s supermodels is a lasting one. The luxury brand has brought back Czech stunner Eva Herzigova, who starred in last season's Richard Prince-themed ads (above), for its new fall campaign. The futuristic new ads, shot by fashion photog duo Mert and Marcus at the Unisphere in Queens, feature the latest line of Vuitton bags including the new Takashi Murakami "Monogramouflage" design. Herzigova, who has starred in LV campaigns in years past, inspired the design house's classic "Eva Clutch" that my colleague Star Sutherland wrote about last month. See the gallery for images from the new campaign and more.

Not to be outdone by archrival Christie's, Sotheby's is staging its own major Contemporary Art auction in London on July 1st. With total pre-sale estimates topping $130 million, the event is being billed as "the highest value summer sale of contemporary art ever held by Sotheby's in Europe." The untitled Jean-Michel Basquiat painting belonging to Irish rockers U2 that my colleague Deidre Woollard mentioned earlier this month is a top draw in the auction, with an estimate of $8 - $12 million.

Other highlights include two important works by Francis Bacon: Figure Turning, painted 1962, est. $20 - $30 million, and Study for Head of George Dyer, painted in 1967, est. at over $16 million. Rounding out the other notable big-ticket items are Richard Prince's Overseas Nurse, 2002, est. at $8 - $12 million - more than the current Prince auction record; and Andy Warhol's 1964 Large Campbell's Soup Can (pictured right), est. $5 - $7 million. Also of interest: tennis great John McEnroe is selling his 1986 Warhol portrait with ex Tatum O'Neal, est. only $500,000 - $700,000. See the gallery for images.

Artist, bibliophile, collector and Louis Vuitton collaborator Richard Prince's first major solo show at a UK public institution opens in London at the Serpentine Gallery on Thursday. Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs threw a posh pre-opening party for the artist. Running through Sept. 7, the exhibition, called Continuation, picks up where Prince's major Guggenheim retrospective of last year left off. The Serpentine show however will "mirror the installation of Prince's work in his own buildings," especially his compound in upstate New York, complete with studio furniture. Also on display will be his sculptures in the form of muscle car hoods, flip-flops and concrete highway barriers. Last month, a painting from Prince's Nurse series similar to the one pictured here from the new show sold at Christie's for $7 million, while LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault cited the Vuitton bags Prince designed as one of the company's prime profit makers.

[via Men.Style]

Louis Vuitton collaborated with Richard Prince for a spring line of handbags, and now they've taken it a step further and created a special limited edition version to celebrate Prince's first solo exhibition (called "Continuation") that will take place at the Serpentine Gallery (in the UK) from June 26 - Sept 7.

There will be 50 of the ostrich and canvas Jamais bags available (numbered and signed of course) at Vuitton's Sloane Street store in London and each will be priced at about $17,800.

Very springy and cute, I love 'em!

Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury goods monolith LVMH, says that despite dire economic predictions and reports of a falloff in parts of the luxury sector the company expects profits to actually improve in 2008. "We are in a position to meet our objectives for a sharp rise in earnings in 2008," Arnault just announced at LVMH's annual shareholders meeting, according to Women's Wear Daily. "Every time we've been [in a difficult economy] we've increased market share. We've started the year strong. We will not pull off [of the accelerator]. We are focused on innovating."

Arnault, whose company recently added Swiss watchmaker Hublot to its portfolio of luxury brands, singled out handbags as a strong earner. "There are tons of new leather goods," he declared. "The Richard Prince bag for Vuitton" - one of our Handbags of the Day -- "has been an immense success and we won't be able to meet demand," Arnault said. "We can't produce the pieces fast enough." He also predicted strong sales this year for Fendi, calling it "one of the most important Italian brands on the market," and Dior as well -- no doubt thanks to Charlize Theron's captivating fragrance ads (above).

A Francis Bacon triptych painted in 1976 is expected to fetch about $70 million in the star sale of Sotheby's Contemporary Art auction in New York on May 14. If the work, billed as the most important privately-held Bacon extant, does max out despite all the hand-wringing going on, the price will eclipse Impressionist claptrap like this $40 million Monet while still falling far short of some puffed-up Picassos. (The middle panel is pictured here; see the image gallery for the complete piece.) Back in February, a Bacon triptych sold for $46.1 million at Christie's in London, slightly below estimate, though the one currently on offer is the better work in our opinion.

Also included in the stunning sale is Mark Rothko's 1956 Orange, Red, Yellow, expected to fetch in excess of $35 million; Jean-Michel Basquiat's beautiful Untitled (Prophet I), est. $9 - $12 million; Robert Rauschenberg's 1963 Overdrive, est. $10 - $15 million; Richard Prince's Millionaire Nurse, est. $3.5 - $4.5 million; a 1986 Andy Warhol self-portrait, est. $2 - $3 million; an untitled Cy Twombly, est. $1.5 - $2 million; and a very naughty manga-inspired sculpture by Louis Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami, valued at an astonishing $3 - $4 million.

After several years of scrambling after hot new faces, a slew of the world's top fashion houses have decided to take a more classic approach for Spring/Summer '08, showcasing supermodels who ruled the Earth in the 1990s in their latest ad campaigns. The top indicator that the supes are back in town is artist Richard Prince's new campaign for the Louis Vuitton bags he designed, starring a gaggle of semi-retired stars: Stephanie Seymour, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Eva Herzigova, all sprawled on the hood of a kandy-kolored muscle car.

This season, Schiffer also appears in ads for Salvatore Ferragamo as well as Chanel, along with Christy Turlington, who's now also the face of Escada. Herzigova also stars in the new Roberto Cavalli and Chopard campaigns, while Shalom Harlow meanwhile does the honors for Valentino, Tumi and Jones New York.