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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.

Greek Financier Wins Picasso’s Lover in Art Auction Stoush – artmarketblog.com

admin — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:21:33 +0000

Greek Financier Wins Picasso’s Lover in Art Auction Stoush – artmarketblog.com

Greek financier Dimitri Mavrommatis added to his already impressive art buying history on the 21st of June when he purchased Picaso’s Femme assise, robe bleue at Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern Art sale for £17,961,250 against an estimate of 4,000,000 – 8,000,000. Bidding like a man yet to be informed of the Greek economic crisis, Mavrommatis held off several other determined bidders to come out the victor taking Picasso’s mistress as his spoils of war. Not the first time that he has made a move on one of Picasso’s women, Mavrommatis purchase a painting of Picasso’s wife Jaqueline from Christie’s New York in May last year (2010). Again paying well over the expected price, Mavrommatis took home Picasso’s Femme au chat assise dans un fauteuil for $18 million against an estimate of $10-15 million. Considering that Macrommatis is a member of rival auction house Sotheby’s advisory board, he has sure spent a lot of money at Christie’s. Again feeding what appears to be a penchant for anatomically askew females, Mavrommatis plonked down 11.8 million pounds at Sotheby’s in June of 2010 for Matisse’s 1928 Moroccan interior Odalisques jouant aux dames which had an estimate of 10-15 million pounds.

Having amassed a great collection of old master and modern paintings from the early 1990′s onwards, many of which were purchased from London dealer Richard Green, Mavrommatis sold 17 paintings from his collection in 2007 through Sotheby’s who sold them for just over 8 million pounds against an expected total of only 3 million pounds. Again employing the services of Sotheby’s to sell items from his collection of important french furniture and Sèvres porcelain that was housed in his Chester Square, London house – the sale of which prompted the clear out – Mavrommatis once again profited substantially from the sale. According to Sotheby’s :

“Furniture and Works of Art from the Collection of Dimitri Mavrommatis on July 8 (2008) in London attracted strong competition from the all corners of the globe, realizing the extraordinary sum of £10,410,600 ($20,535,950) against a pre-sale estimate of £5.5/ 8.7 million. No fewer than 80 of the 85 lots offered found buyers, with the majority of lots sold achieving prices well in excess of the pre-sale high estimate. The top lot in the sale was an Important and Rare Large Gilt-Bronze-Mounted Chinese Black and Gold Porcelain Pot-Pourri Vase and Cover (the Gilt-Bronze Louis XV, circa 1745, the Porcelain Qianlong, 1736-1795), which sold for £2,169,250 ($4,279,063) – far exceeding its pre-sale estimate (“in excess of £1 million”), and establishing a new auction record for a piece of mounted porcelain.”

Studying the habits of connoisseur collectors such as Mavrommatis is a great way of learning how to develop a collection. Mavrommatis is a man who obviously knows what he wants and makes sure that he gets it as long as the spoils are top quality works by famous artists. By focusing on the very best examples of the artists and artisans that he is interested in, Mavrommatis has been able to profit significantly from his collecting efforts over the last few decades.

Images:

1. Femme assise, robe bleue by Picasso

2. Femme au chat assise dans un fauteuil by Picasso

What Price Art Auction Philanthropy? – artmarketblog.com

admin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:15:51 +0000

What Price Art Auction Philanthropy? – artmarketblog.com

Christie’s 16^th of February Post War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction saw a staggering new auction record for a living French artist when Martial Raysse’s “L’année dernière à Capri (titre exotique), (Last Year in Capri (Exotic Title))” sold for €4,851,241 against an estimate of €1,000,000 – 1,500,000. The problem is, at least as far as the value of the work is concerned, that the painting was sold to benefit a charitable foundation. Now, before the angry emails start flooding in, I want to state that I think it is great that someone is donating the proceeds of the sale to charity. What does concern me are the effects that this sale could have on the way people perceive the value of this particular work, and the artist’s work in general.

I have no doubt that the price the bidders were willing to pay for this work was significantly influenced by the fact that the proceeds of the sale were going to be donated to charity. Although it may seem that Raysse would have benefited significantly from this sale and from the charitable association, I’m not so sure he has. You see, people are always going to question whether this work would have sold for such a high price if the proceeds of the sale were not going to charity. What makes this question even more relevant is the fact that Raysse is not the most well known or desirable artist and is nowhere near as highly regarded as his American pop artist counterparts. There is, however, significant evidence to suggest that Raysse was beginning to become more highly regarded and more popular, which makes this whole matter even more complicated.

According to artprice.com, the prices being paid for Raysse’s work at auction have been quite solid over the past few years with many works fetching six figures, and a few breaking the one million pound mark. As far as I could see, the previous auction record for Raysse was achieved with a sculpture titled “Snack”, which was sold by Sotheby’s London for 1.26 million pounds in 2008. It is worth noting at this point that a huge majority of the works by Raysse that have been sold at auction were sold in Paris. This doesn’t bode well for Raysse’s reputation as it makes the auction record, which was set in London, seem even more anomalous.

Given the current trend towards works that can be associated with the concepts of arte-povera and primitivism, it would make sense that Raysse’s work would be experiencing a surge in popularity. As an artist who is known for his mixed media collages and sculptures that include “found objects”, both of which are the type of works that are driving the current arte-povera trend, there is every chance that “L’année dernière à Capri (titre exotique), (Last Year in Capri (Exotic Title))” would have still exceeded the estimate and achieved the record had the proceeds not been going to charity. The problem is that we will never know for sure. Instead of this being an excellent chance for Raysee’s work to really excel at auction, this whole situation has generated a big question mark surrounding the true value of Raysse’s work. Given that Raysse’s work rarely appears at auction outside France, there may not be another chance like this for a long time, which is a really big shame. Hopefully Raysse’s work will continue to become more well know and more highly valued as it deserves to be.

image:

Martial Raysse (b. 1936)
L’année dernière à Capri (titre exotique)
(Last Year in Capri (Exotic Title))
signed twice and titled ‘MARTIAL RAYSSE “L’année dernière à Capri” (titre exotique)’ (on the reverse)
oil, paper collage, glycerospray and painted wooden frame on board
72 3/8 x 53in. (184 x 134.6cm.)
Executed in 1962

How to Avoid Dirty Art Auction Tricks – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:14:39 +0000

How to Avoid Dirty Art Auction Tricks – artmarketblog.com

Having focused my last few posts on the issues surrounding the questionable practices of some art auction houses, I thought it important to let people know how they can avoid becoming a victim of dirty art auction tricks and tactics. The only real way to avoid becoming a victim of the art auction houses is to ask questions and to know which questions to ask. Below is a list of questions, and the reasoning behind each question, that will ensure that you know exactly where you stand.

Seven questions every buyer should ask before bidding on a work of art:

1. Does the auction house or anyone associated with the auction house have an ownership interest in the work of art I am thinking of purchasing?

(The reason you should ask this question is that if an auction house has an ownership interest in a work of art you should question whether this would have an effect on the way the auction house markets and presents the work of art in question – as well as the final price. Auction houses are required to indicate in auction catalogues when they have an ownership interest in a work of art.)

2. Is the auction house employee who is advising me on my purchases also representing the seller of the works they are advising me on?

(The reason you should ask this question is that it is not unknown for a specialist assigned to a particular client as an advisor to be representing the seller of the works they are advising the buyer to purchase. If you are assigned an expert advisor by an auction house make sure they are not representing the seller of the particular works you are interested in.)

3. Is there any doubt regarding the authenticity or provenance of the works of art I am interested in purchasing?

(The reason you need to ask this question is that auction houses are not always forthcoming with information regarding authenticity. It is worth while making sure that you are getting what you are paying for.)

4. Who has authenticated the works of art I am interested in purchasing, what qualifications do they have and what evidence was the authentication based on?

(The reason you need to ask this question is that auction houses have been known to justify the attribution they make using less than reliable information.)

5. When were the works of art I am interested in purchasing last consigned to an auction and what was the result?

(The reason that you should ask this question is that auction houses are not always forthcoming with information regarding the consignment history of a work of art. Auction houses have been known to sell the same work of art a number of times within a short period of time and not disclose this information to buyers. It is important to know this information as it is likely there is reason that this has occurred. It is also important to know this information because a work of art being passed in at auction can gain a stigma that can reduce the value.)

6. Does the auction house allow the auctioneer to bid in his own sale?

(It should be obvious why one needs to ask this question, and yes, some auction houses to allow the auctioneer to bid on their own sale.)

7. What is the condition of the works of art I am interested in purchasing and has a condition report been completed on each work?

(Auction houses are not always forthcoming with information regarding the condition of a work of art. It is generally expected that buyers will inspect a work of art themselves and will be aware of the condition of the work of art. If you are not able to assess the condition of a work of art then hire an expert.)

Halsey Minor Battles Sotheby’s Again – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:10:31 +0000

Halsey Minor Battles Sotheby’s Again – artmarketblog.com

In my previous post I made reference to a court case involving CNet founder Halsey Minor who sued Sotheby’s in 2008 for allegedly failing to fully declare when they had an ownership stake in works that they sold him. Sotheby’s won the case and were awarded $6.64 million in outstanding debts. I mentioned that I was not aware of whether Minor had appealed the decision – well, just after publishing this post, I received an email from Halsey Minor to inform me that he had in fact made an appeal on the 24^th of November 2010. Minor will be hoping for another positive outcome like the one he received when he sued Christie’s in December 2008 for waiting too long to return some of his art after failing to sell the works on his behalf, and not returning the works when they said they would. Minor won the case against Christie’s and was awarded $8.5 million which was the calculated drop in value that the works in question experienced while in Christie’s possession. According to Minor in an email sent to myself: “in 8 hours a jury found Christie’s guilty of Fraud, Theft and Failure to Honor a Contract and awarded me $8.5 million”.

As the appeal against Sotheby’s is still being processed I cannot comment on the case, but I would like to revisit the case Minor won against Christie’s. The reasoning behind Christie’s holding the paintings by Richard Prince that Minor had consigned to Christie’s, but had failed to sell, was that Minor owed Christie’s $12 million at the time for works that he had purchased through the auction house. Christie’s essentially held the Prince paintings to ransom in the hope that they would be able to recoup some of the money that Minor owed them. Unfortunately for Christie’s, this was not an ethical means of encouraging Minor to pay them what he owed, and was what essentially won the case for Minor. Christie’s also had a $1.5 million breach of contract counterclaim for when Minor declined to pay for work that he had purchased at auction which Christie’s won. Mind you, the win for Christie’s was no-where near as significant as Minor’s win.

At the end of the day one expects a reputable and highly respected business like a major auction house to act ethically, morally and legally at all times regardless of how their clients act. Although I would never condone illegal or immoral action by a client of an auction house, considering the number of clients that the large auction houses deal with it is almost inevitable that some of them will not play by the rules. A major auction house, on the other hand, should never be seen to conduct their business in a way that breaches ethical, moral or legal boundaries – yet there is plenty of evidence that they have. What is even more disturbing is that the auction houses are so powerful that even the most discrediting mud seems not to stick.

To be continued……..

The Rise of Victorian Paintings Pt. 3 – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:41:55 +0000

The Rise of Victorian Paintings Pt. 3 – artmarketblog.com

Henry Herbert La Thangue's Leaving Home

Following the sale of the Koch collection in 1993, the next major sale of a collection of Victorian paintings came in 2003 when the Forbes collection was auctioned by Christie’s over a two day period. The Forbes collection, considered one of the 20th century’s most important collections of Victorian art, was put together by Malcolm and Christopher Forbes of the Forbes Magazine family. Malcolm and his son Christopher began the collection after Christopher made the comment to his father that, for the price of a minor Monet hanging on the wall of his office, he could assemble one of the world’s great collections of Victorian art. Malcolm, a lover of bargains and challenges, liked the sound of this idea and so, with his son Christopher, began collecting. Malcolm Forbes died in 1990 leaving his son with the collection that they had both had put together with passion over a thirty year period.

Unfortunately for Christopher, a family squabble is rumoured to have meant that the collection needed to be sold, even though Christopher was quoted as saying at the time that he would not attend the sale because “it would be too sad.” Among the numerous outstanding works that were included in the sale were John Martin’s Pandemonium; Sir Edwin Henry Landseer’s ‘Scene in Chillingham Park: Portrait of Lord Ossulston’ or ‘Death of the Wild Bull’; John Phillip’s Early Career of Murillo; Dicksee’s Chivalry; and W.H. Deverell’s masterpiece, Twelfth Night. The sale was a huge success, especially considering the poor market sentiment at the time, with 75% of the works finding new homes for a sale total of 16.9 million pounds. Most exciting of all was the 63 artist auction records set during the sale for artists such as Henry Herbert La Thangue, Sir Edward Landseer and John Martin.

There is no doubt that the success of the sale was bolstered significantly by the association with a famous family – an association that Christie’s took full advantage of. A large contingent of buyers from the Continent, who would usually not be interested in the work of Victorian British paintings, indicated that the Forbes name was a big draw-card. Regardless of the fact that many of the buyers were motivated to a large degree by the provenance of the paintings, the success of the sale and the associated publicity gave the market for Victorian art a major boost. The Forbes sale was a huge milestone for Victorian paintings and paved the way for what was to be a slow but steady revival for Victorian art.

To be continued…………

Part 1:

http://artmarketblog.com/2010/02/25/the-rise-of-victorian-paintings-part-1-artmarketblog-com/

Part 2:

http://artmarketblog.com/2010/03/04/the-rise-of-victorian-paintings-pt-2-artmarketblog-com/

Kees Van Dongen Revived and Revalued – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:00:32 +0000

Kees Van Dongen Revived and Revalued – artmarketblog.com

KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968) Le narrateur et Albert Bloch à la maison close avec le cachet de l'atelier 'Van Dongen' (en bas à droite) aquarelle, gouache et traces de mine de plomb sur papier 24.5 x 21.2 cm. (9 5/8 x 8 3/8 in.) Exécuté vers 1946-47

The first major retrospective held in North America of work by Dutch born French artist Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968) was held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from the January 22 to April 19. This event is sure to have played a part in the exceptional results achieved by Christie’s for a collection of works by Van Dongen sold on the 20th of May as part of the Art Impressionniste Et Modern sale held in Paris. A total of ten watercolour paintings by Van Dongen were included in the sale the most interesting of which were eight works originally from the Proust collection which depict various different street and scenes of high society. Each of these scenes were painted by Van Dongen as illustrations for a famous book by French author Marcel Proust titled ‘A la recherche du Temps perdu’ (In Search of Lost Time). A total of 77 watercolours were painted by Van Dongen for the book which is a memoir/autobiographical novel that consists of seven volumes and a total of around 3200 pages. Making these paintings even more desirable is the fact that, according to Christie’s, they will be all included in the forthcoming Kees Van Dongen catalogue raisonne being prepared by Jacques Chalom Des Cordes under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Institute. It is noted in the catalogue that an attestion of inclusion will be given to the buyer of each work.

Each of the eight illustrations by Van Dongen for the book by Proust had estimates of either €25,000 – 35,000 or €20,000-30,000. The least successful of the paintings still managed to exceed the estimate of €25,000 – €35,000 selling for €49,000 and the most successful of the paintings sold for more than five times the €30,000 high estimate reaching an amazing €163,000. According to Christie’s the main buyers were American and European collectors. The results for all eight works were as follows:

Lot 41, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le narrateur et Albert Bloch à la maison close
estimate: €25,000 – €35,000
price realized €121,000 ($165,029)

Lot 42, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Gilberte Swann et des amies au Bois de Boulogne
estimate: €25,000 – €35,000
price realized: €139,000 ($189,579)

Lot 43, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Les Permissionnaires
estimate: €20,000 – €30,000
price realized: €163,000 ($222,312)

Lot 44, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)La nouvelle Gilberte
estimate: €25,000 – €35,000
price realized: €151,000 ($205,945)

Lot 45, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le Mariage de Robert de Saint-Loup et de Gilberte Swann
estimate: €25,000 – €35,000
price realized: €49,000 ($66,830)

Lot 46, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le Baron Charlus à la gare de Doncières
estimate: €20,000 – €30,000
price realized: €109,000 ($148,663)

Lot 47, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Le narrateur avec deux servantes
estimate: €20,000 – €30,000
price realized €61,000 ($83,196)

Lot 48, Sale 5563, Paris
KEES VAN DONGEN (1877-1968)Robert de Saint-Loup et le Prince de Borodino chez le barbier de Doncières
estimate: €20,000 – €30,000
price realized: €85,000 ($115,930)

The major retrospective just held in Canada and the catalogue raisonne of his work that is in the process of being completed are all major milestones for the Van Dongen and his work. As one would expect, the market has reacted positively to these major milestones as well as the highly desirable provenance and also the connection with author Marcel Proust and his book ‘A la recherche du Temps perdu’. Kees Van Dongen was a highly regarded artist during his career but has been somewhat overlooked since his death. Consequently, Van Dongen is an underrated and undervalued artist whose work is only just starting to receive the recognition that it deserves.

NY Art Auctions Feel the Heat – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:21:20 +0000

NY Art Auctions Feel the Heat – artmarketblog.com

Tamara de Lempicka, Portrait de Marjorie Ferry, 1932

Since January 2008, prices in the Impressionist & Modern Art segment have posted a cumulative fall of roughly 30% and they contracted no less than 10% in the first quarter of 2009 alone. So, inevitably, the first day of the Impressionist & Modern Art sales in New York was awaited as a test of the top-end of the market. By the end of the two evening sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s the verdict was clear: with sales revenues just half their previous year totals and some major works bought in or withdrawn from sale, the market appears to be demanding even larger adjustments to price estimates.

Anticipating weaker demand, the auctioneers had diminished the size of their catalogues by roughly half compared with 2007 resulting in a low bought-in rate (20% on average), but drastically reduced total revenue figures. The correction has been particularly severe for Sotheby’s who were expecting $81.5m from their 5 May sale but only generated $52.9m. Remember that on 7 May 2008, Sotheby’s fetched $208m for its Impressionist & Modern Art sale. This disappointing result is partly due to the financial context, but it also reflects buyers’ overall sentiment with respect to the two aggressively priced star lots: Alberto GIACOMETTI le Chat and Pablo PICASSO’s La Fille de l’artiste a deux ans et demi avec un bateau both of which were bought in at just a couple of million dollars below their low estimates of $16m. In the more favourable context of May 2008, Sotheby’s fetched $15.5m for Picasso’s Le baiser, a large painting executed in 1969. Today, bids above the $10m line are much less common: only Christie’s managed to generate a successful 8-figure bid over the 2 days of sales and that was for Picasso’s Mousquetaire a la pipe which fetched $13m. The same piece was last sold at auction for $6.4m by the same auctioneer in November 2004.

This year, the two major auction houses were both seeking to set new records for Tamara LEMPICKA de whose paintings appear rarely at public sales. In 2008, for example, only 5 of her paintings were auctioned compared with 12 in just two days this year as Sotheby’s offered 10 works from the collection of German fashion designer Wolfgang Joop. On 5 May, Portrait of Marjorie Ferry set a new record for the artist at $4.3m. The following day, Christie’s substantially exceeded that score with $5.4m for Portrait de Madame M.

At the end of the two evening sales, Christie’s posted a better overall result than its rival with a revenue total of $89.4m from 38 lots. Apart from the disappointment of a Max ERNST’s Malédiction à vous les mamans that was expected to generate a record but was finally withdrawn from the sale (estimated at $7-9m), Christie’s generated a number of respectable results including $6.8m for Buste de Diego (Stele III) by Alberto Giacometti and $6.8m for another Picasso, Femme au chapeau, (just below its low estimate of $8m). Sotheby’s best result came from a 1932 Piet Mondrian painting which doubled its estimate at $8.2m. This result was undoubtedly carried by the recent record of $24.6m (€19.2 m) generated by Christie’s at the famous Y.Saint Laurent & P.Bergé sale in Paris in February of this year.

Although Sotheby’s sales figures signal a serious depression on the New York market, the majority of art market players seem relatively optimistic (the AMCI at over 40 points on 11 May) buoyed by excellent purchase opportunities after recent price reductions.

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…..

Evaluating Art Auction Results Pt. 4 – artmarketblog.com

artforprofits — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:14:02 +0000

Evaluating Art Auction Results Pt. 4 – artmarketblog.com

2. Percentage of lots sold by value continued

In part three of this series I looked at the first of two different methods of calculating the percentage of lots sold by value. The first method that I looked at which is calculated by using the following formula:

(total sale value at hammer price)

divided by

(total sale estimate)

x100

is the less frequently used of the two methods and is not the method used by the top auction houses. The main problem with the above formula is that the sale estimate is being used as a representation of the value of the works of art being auctioned which we all know is problematic to say the least. Auction houses use estimates as a marketing tool with a low estimate often used to encourage bidding which would make the percentage of works sold by value calculated using the estimates highly inaccurate.

Other than the estimate for each work as calculated by the auction house there is really only one other indicator of the value of a work of art and that is the highest price someone is willing to pay for the work. When you think about it, using the highest price someone is willing to pay for a work of art as an indicator of value does make sense because, in reality, the true value of a work of art is really only what someone is willing to pay for it at the time it is sold. For this reason, all the major art auction houses use the highest price that someone is willing to pay for a work of art as being representative of the value of that work of art. But what about lots that don’t sell?. Well, the value that the auction house uses for unsold lots is the highest bid for those that do attract bids and the final (lowest) figure reached by the auctioneer for lots that are passed in without receiving any bids. The value that the auction houses use in place of the denominator (total sale estimate) in the formula referenced above is called the knockdown figure and includes:

1. the hammer price of works that are sold
2. the highest bid for works that receive bids but are passed in
3. the lowest figure reached by the auctioneer before passing in a work that did not receive any bids

The formula used by the major auction houses to calculate the percentage of works sold by value is:

(total sale value at hammer price)

divided by

(knockdown figure)

x100

As an example of the way the sold by value percentage is calculated I will use an auction of five works with the following results:

1. Sold for $100,000
2. Sold for $150,000
3. Passed in $100,000 with three bids
4. Passed in at $50,000 with no bids
5. Sold for $200,000

The total sale value at hammer price of the three works that sold is (numerator). The knockdown is the hammer price of the three works that sold plus the highest bid of lot 3 and the price that lot 4 was passed in which comes to a total of $600,000 (denominator). When you use these two figures in the formula you get $450,000 divided by $600,000 x100 which equals 75 – the percentage of lots sold by value. If every single lot in a sale were to sell then the percentage of lots sold by value would be 100%.

Although the auction houses choose to use this particular method of calculating the percentage of works sold by value there are just as many problems with this method as the first method I looked at. More on this in my next post.

To be continued………..

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