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November New York Art Auctions Confuse Market – artmarketblog.com

admin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:51:48 +0000

November New York Art Auctions Confuse Market – artmarketblog.com

The recent round of Contemporary, Modern and Impressionist art auctions produced some interesting results that require some serious analysis to understand. Thanks to Sotheby’s November Contemporary Art Evening Sale, which saw the record sale of four Clyfford still paintings, there has been plenty of confident banter surrounding the current strength of the art market. But is this confidence misplaced? A more widespread and objective analysis of recent art auctions would suggest so. Take the Clyfford Still auction for instance. The entire auction produced a total of $315,837,000, which was well above the $192,000,000 – 270,800,000 pre-sale estimate, and was also the company’s third highest Contemporary Art Evening sale total. However, the four Clyfford Still paintings made up $114 million of the sale total against a $71 million high estimate.

Considering that the four Clyfford Still paintings paintings were a complete and utter anomaly because of the fact that they should never really have gone to auction, and also because they represent a once in a lifetime, never to be repeated opportunity, I think it only fair that they be removed from the equation. After all, if 95% of Still’s oeuvre were not out of bounds it is unlikely that the prices being achieved for his work would be anything close to what they have been, right? What the sale of the Still paintings tells us about the market is that there is still plenty of money available when an opportunity arises to make a highly significant purchase.

Next on the agenda is Gerhard Richter whose Abstraktes Bild (849-3) 1997 set a new auction record for the artists of $20.8 million. A total of eight Richter paintings were sold by Sotheby’s for a total of $74 million against a pre-sale expectation of $27 million, which is a great result but not an unexpected one considering that a major retrospective of Richter’s work has recently opened at the Tate Modern in London. Sotheby’s should be congratulated for the success achieved with the sale of the Richter paintings that do deserve to be recognised in their sale total unlike the Still paintings.

What concerns me most is that when the prices achieved for the eight Richter works and the four Still works are combined the result is a startling total of $188,000,000 which is more than half of the entire total of the Sotheby’s sale. The reason this concerns me is that the numbers could easily be used to justify a bullish view of the art market – and have been numerous times over recent weeks. Although Sotheby’s did achieve an excellent result and deserve to be praised for winning the opportunity to sell the Still paintings, the results need to be approached with caution and a healthy dose of skepticism.

Christie’s didn’t fair as well as Sotheby’s with their Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale managing 90% sold by lot and 87% by value for a total of $247,597,000 against an estimate of $226,450,000-$312,340,000. With commissions removed, Christie’s failed to break the low estimate although they did manage to set 16 new world auction records for artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Paul McCarthy, Charles Ray and Louise Bourgeois.

Phillips de Pury did okay with their Contemporary Art Evening Sale achieving 94% by value and 84% by lot with a sale total of $71,292,500 against an estimate of $66,560,000 – 97,970,000. A new world auction record was set for Richard Serra whose Palms sold for $2,322,500 against an estimate of $2,500,000 – 3,500,000.

The all important Impressionist and Modern Art sales failed to produce any spectacular results. Sotheby’s once again triumped over Christie’s with an evening sale total of $199,804,500 against a pre-sale estimate of $167.6-229.9 million and a sold by lot rate of 84%. Exceeding the May 2011 sale total, Sotheby’s set new auction records for Gustave Caillebotte, Tamara de Lempicka and Maxime Maufra with the top price of the auction going to Klimt’s Litzlberg am Attersee (Litzlberg on the Attersee) which sold for $40,402,500. The unusual “in excess of $25 million” estimate provided for Litzlberg am Attersee (Litzlberg on the Attersee) suggests that Sotheby’s had were unsure about how successful this work would be and thus chose to provide an estimate that ensured the greatest chance of a positively perceived result.

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale was estimated to achieve more than $215,000 but only managed a total of $140,773,500. The highlight of the sale was Max Ernst’s The Stolen Mirror, which sold for $16,322,500 against an estimate of $4,000,000-6,000000, setting a new artist record that more than tripled the artist’s previous record. A new auction record was also set for any single print sold at auction with Pablo Picasso’s La femme qui pleure selling for $5,122,500 against an estimate of $1.5-2.5 million.

Overall, the major November auctions produced relatively consistent results that suggest a market dominated by buyers who have the money to spend, and are interested in purchasing fine art, but only at the safe haven high end of the market. The fact that the market is relying on the work of a small number of highly desirable artists is concerning as it leaves a very small margin for error.

image:

Max Ernst (1891-1976)
The Stolen Mirror
signed ‘max ernst’ (lower right); signed again, dated and inscribed ‘max ernst 1941 product of France’ (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. (65 x 81 cm.)
Painted in 1941

**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of http://www.artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.

Rising Stars of Italian Post-War Art Market Pt. 1 – artmarketblog.com

admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:56:24 +0000

Rising Stars of Italian Post-War Art Market Pt. 1 – artmarketblog.com

The October 2011 auctions of post-war/modern Italian art held by Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw two post-war Italian artists finally achieve the market recognition that they deserve. Sotheby’s and Christie’s each achieved a new world record for a post-war Italian artist whose prices had previously lagged behind those of their more famous and highly valued peers such as Fontana and Manzoni. Sotheby’s, who held their ’20th Century Italian Art’ sale in London on the 13th of October, achieved a new world auction record for Italian abstract painter and sculptor Alberto Burri (1915-1995) with the work ‘Combustione legno’ which smashed the £800,000 – 1,200,000 estimate for a final price of £3,177,250 – the top price of the sale. Another of Burri’s works offered by Sotheby’s, ‘Rosso Plastica L.A.’, again smashed the given estimate of £850,000 – 1,200,000 for a final price of £2,001,250 and the third highest price of the sale. ’Rosso Plastica L.A.’ would have been the new world auction for Burri record had ‘Combustione legno’ not reached the price that it did.

The recent interest in the Arte Povera movement, combined with the greater level of attention being paid to Burri’s work by the cultural establishment as evinced by the ‘Combustione: Alberto Burri and America’ exhibition held by the Santa Monica Museum of Art in 2010, would partly explain the recent desire for works by Burri. According to the Santa Monica Musuem of Art:

“Alberto Burri (1915–1995) was a seminal artistic figure of the 20th Century, a forebear to many artists and artistic movements—from Pop Art to Arte Povera—both in Italy and the United States. Burri’s fame is great in his native Italy, but he remains relatively unknown in the United States, despite the fact that for over 25 years he would winter in his home in the Hollywood Hills, where he produced more than 60 major works of art”.

Although Burri’s work has received significant attention from the cultural sector, and has had some strong auction results over the previous years, the prices for his work have remained relatively stagnant. A brief period of action during the 2008 art market boom saw a string of high prices for Burri’s work that unfortunately did not last. The previous auction record for Burri was set at £1,924,000 against an estimate of £1,000,000 – £1,500,000 by Christie’s in 2007 with the artist’s ‘Sacco e Rosso’. Prior to that an auction record had not been set for the artist since 1989 when a buyer bid an extraordinary £1,635,992 (hammer price) for one of Burri’s works during an auction in France.

Having lingered in relative obscurity compared to his like-minded contemporaries, Burri has now come out of the shadows to claim his place as not only one of Italy’s most important post-war artists, but one of the most highly valued as well. In fact, recent auction results would suggest that the more polished and minimalist work of Fontana is losing ground to the grittier work of artists such as Alberto Burri.

To be continued………..

image:

Alberto Burri
COMBUSTIONE LEGNO
signed and dated 57 on the reverse
wood, plastic, vinavil and combustion on fabric
117 by 97cm.
46 by 38 1/4 in.

The Spectacle of the Art Market Pt. 2 – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:22:59 +0000

The Spectacle of the Art Market Pt. 2 – artmarketblog.com

If you read my last post (which is the introduction to this post) then you may be asking yourself whether art market trends can really be dictated to a certain extent by such a simple and primitive human instinct. The evidence that I have come across suggests that it can. In fact, a recent study linked the human attraction to shiny objects with a primitively instinctual attraction to, and desire for, sources of water. I would would like to believe that my decision to purchase a work of art is primarily based on some highly complicated thought process or a highly developed taste for art and sense of style, and not on some primite instinct that we really don’t understand or have any control over. But we are all only human after all. And humans are highly complex and emotional creatures who are susceptible to those emotions that make us human. When you think about it, it is really not that bizarre to suggest that art market trends can be dictated by an instinctually emotion judgement as opposed to a complex process of reasoning.

Charles Saatchi is the undoubtedly the quintessential purveyor of shiny objects and is known to be particularly fond of highly visual, high impact works of art such as those produced by Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst who are both products of the Saatchi empire. Therefore, if I was going to use anyone as an example of the human attraction to bright, shiny works of art then it would have to be Saatchi. Interesting, it is a well known fact that Charles Saatchi is NOT so keen on photography or video art. Why is this interesting I hear you ask? Well, of all the different mediums that come under the banner of art it would have to be photography and film that are the least likely to incorporate the bright and shiny elements that are present in the type of works that I have been referring to. Bright colours and shiny elements are usually absent from video and photographic works of art thus making these two mediums less likely to evoke that instinctual attraction that humans have to bright and shiny objects. Video art in particular is a medium that cannot rely on high impact, instantly attractive elements to engage viewers. To appreciate and interact with a work of video art usually requires that the viewer to spend a considerable amount of time watching the video and thinking about what is happening.

When it comes to the impact that instinct and emotion can have on the art market it is interesting to compare the current art market buying trends with the state of the global financial sector. As I said in my last post, one of the interesting trends that has been particularly noticable during the recent current art market correction is that works that have less visual impact and are not as flamboyant are experiencing competitive bidding and high prices. This trend is the opposite to the popularity of high impact, bright and shiny works of art that was evident during the playful and heady days of the art market boom when the global economic outlook was far more positive. Just a coincidence? I don’t think it is. To me it would make sense that people would purchase works of art that coincide with their state of mind and the emotions produced by the circumstance that they are in at the time.

There have been studies that show that different types of perfume are purchased according to the state of the economy. A recent article featured in the Financial Times ‘How to Spend it’ magazine mentioned that “floral fragrances – the safest, least challenging perfume category – have historically flourished in a recession”. In his book ‘Why Yesterday Tells of Tomorrow: How the long waves of the economy help us determine tomorrows trends’ of 2001, Helmut Gaus used womens fashion trends as an example of anxiety and functional anxiety-driven behaviour. According to the statistics compiled by Gaus, during periods of high anxiety women wear fewer patterns, darker colours, clothes with lower necklines and skirts that are longer. During periods of less anxiety women wear more patterns, brighter colours, clothes with higher necklines and skirts that are shorter. From these two sets of data it seems that during periods of high anxiety the less complicated, less flamboyant and less colourful become more popular and the reverse during periods of less anxiety when times are good. I see no reason why the art market shouldn’t experience a similar trend.

to be continued……….

Dissecting Christie’s Feb 09 Art Auction Pt. 2 – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:37:23 +0000

Dissecting Christie’s Feb 09 Art Auction Pt. 2 – artmarketblog.com

A few weeks ago I posted the first half of the results from the Christie’s February 2009 Impressionist and Modern Art auction along with information relating to whether each lot had been sold at auction previously and if it had, when it was sold and how much it sold for. My purpose for doing this is to show that there is always far more to art auction results than the statistics provided by the auction houses will tell you. Just because an auction results in a high hammer total, high percentage of lots sold by value and a high percentage of lost sold by number doesn’t mean that the auction was a complete success. The statistics that the auction houses provides could be masking the fact that a majority of the works sold in the auction had been sold at auction before for a higher amount meaning that the people selling these works were selling at a loss. Although the purpose of the auction house is to sell works of art and not to ensure people make a profit on the works they are selling; the factors that may be beyond the control of the auction house, such as whether a person makes a profit or not, should still be used as a measure of the success of an auction. In the next post in this series I will look at the data I have provided in this and the previous post and provide an analysis of the data.

See part 1 of Dissecting Christie’s Feb 09 Art Auction here:

http://artmarketblog.com/2009/02/17/dissecting-christies-feb-09-art-auction-pt-1-artmarketblogcom/

Continuation of data relating to lots sold at the Christie’s February 09 Impressionist and Modern Art auction:

-Otto Mueller (1874-1930) Sitzender Akt in Landschaft, c.1927: Sold for £769,250 ($1,106,182) against an estimate of £650,000 – £850,000 ($926,250 – $1,211,250). No previous auction sale history

-Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) Dame en face mit plisiertem Kleid (Damenbildnis en face) , c. 1898: Sold for £1,385,250 ($1,991,990) against an estimate of £600,000 – £800,000 ($855,000 – $1,140,000). Previously sold by Christie’s on the 9th of November 2004 for USD$1,000,000 (GBP 524,700) against an estimate of USD$750,000 – 950,000 which represents an increase in price of $991,990

-Marino Marini (1901-1980) Gentiluomo a cavallo, c. 1937: Sold for £769,250 ($1,106,182) against an estimate of £700,000 – £1,000,000 ($997,500 – $1,425,000). No previous auction sale history

-Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967) Torse de femme, c. 1925: Sold for £421,250 ($605,758) against an estimate of £300,000 – £500,000 ($427,500 – $712,500). No previous auction sale history

-Marc Chagall (1887-1985) Les mariés aux deux bouquets, c. 1980: Sold for £541,250 ($778,318) against an estimate of £400,000 – £600,000 ($570,000 – $855,000). No previous auction sale history

-Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Buste d’homme, 1971: Sold for £1,497,250 ($2,153,046) against an estimate of £1,200,000 – £1,800,000 ($1,710,000 – $2,565,000). No previous auction sale history

-Max Ernst (1891-1976) Temptation of St. Anthony, 1945: Sold for £97,250 ($139,846) against an estimate of £100,000 – £150,000 ($142,500 – $213,750). No previous auction sale history

-Julio González (1876-1942) Le rêve (Le baiser) 4/6, c. 1934: Sold for £577,250 ($830,086) against an estimate of £400,000 – £600,000 ($570,000 – $855,000). Number 5 of the edition of 6 was sold by Christie’s in 2002 for GBP 220,000 against an estimate of GBP 250,000 – 350,000 which represents a theoretical increase in value of GBP 377,000.

-André Masson (1896-1987) Le météore, 1939: Sold for £169,250 ($243,382) against an estimate of £120,000 – £180,000 ($171,000 – $256,500). No previous auction sale history.

-Joan Miró (1893-1983) Femme entendant chanter le coq aux éclats violets, 1972: Sold for £892,450 ($1,283,343) against an estimate of £500,000 – £700,000 ($712,500 – $997,500). No previous auction sale history.

-Paul Delvaux (1897-1994) Faubourg, 1956: Sold for £277,250 ($398,686) against an estimate of £200,000 – £300,000 ($285,000 – $427,500). Previously sold by Sotheby’s in 1975 – price unknown

-Francis Picabia (1879-1953) Geminis, 1936: Sold for £385,250 ($553,990) against an estimate of £120,000 – £180,000 ($171,000 – $256,500). Previously offered for sale at Christie’s Paris in May 2008 but failed to on an estimate of EUR 250,000 – 350,000. Previously sold by Sotheby’s in 1975 – price unknown.

-Joan Miró (1893-1983) Personnage, 1976: Sold for £481,250 ($692,038) against an estimate of £280,000 – £380,000 ($399,000 – $541,500). Previously sold by Sotheby’s in February 2004 for GBP 172,000 against an estimate of GBP 150,000 – 200,000 which represents an increase in price of GBP 309,000.

To be continued…..

Art Market Blog - artmarketblog.com » modern art

November New York Art Auctions Confuse Market – artmarketblog.com

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Rising Stars of Italian Post-War Art Market Pt. 1 – artmarketblog.com

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Dissecting Christie’s Feb 09 Art Auction Pt. 2 – artmarketblog.com

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