NEW YORK — Big money continues to pour over
postwar and contemporary art. At Sotheby’s Wednesday evening sale, 46 works of
the 57 that were on offer sold for $266.6 million.
Gigantic prices were paid for paintings by the
most famous artists of the second half of the 20th century. The three most
expensive works were iconic pictures executed by artists long dead.
Roy Lichtenstein, one of the shining lights of
New York Pop Art, painted “Sleeping Girl” in 1964. The picture was included in
the artist’s show that year at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles where it was
bought by a couple of renowned collectors, Philip and Beatrice Gersh. The
portrait remained in their collection for nearly half a century and never hit
the market until this week. Sotheby’s estimate was set at an extremely
ambitious $30 million to $40 million, plus a sale charge of over 12 percent.
“Sleeping Girl” managed to edge its way up to a world-record $44.88 million.
Moments later, it was Francis Bacon’s turn to
cause a stir with a picture also set in the concrete of art history. The
British artist painted “Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror” in 1976 and took
it to Paris to be exhibited in a one-man show at the Galerie Claude Bernard in
early 1977.
The huge composition (198 by 147 centimeters, or
78 by 58 inches), which served as the exhibition poster, was acquired there and
then by a European collector who sold it this week.
Never before offered in the market, the Bacon
had everything in its favor. The artist’s works are scarce, and its large size
made this one rarer still. “Figure Reflected in a Mirror” was further enhanced
by its past history. It carried the same estimate as Lichtenstein’s “Sleeping
Girl” and realized the same price, $44.88 million.
The third highest price on Wednesday evening was
the most remarkable in its own way. “Double Elvis [Ferus Type],” a monumental
image at over 207 centimeters high, in silk screen print and paint, was
executed by Andy Warhol in 1963, just as Pop Art was
taking off on a grand scale.
Warhol has been elevated to the status of a folk
hero in the global news media over the past four decades, as has the subject of
the picture, Elvis Presley, seen standing legs apart, revolver in hand.
Warhol’s source for the image was a publicity still for a movie, “Flaming
Star,” starring Presley as the gunslinger Pacer Burton.
But “Double Elvis [Ferus Type]” suffers from a
weakness. The grayish hue lacks the punch given by color to the Warhol works
that are most admired by his fans. The estimate, $30 million to $50 million,
plus the sale charge, was a tall order. Somehow, the gray picture ascended to
$37.04 million, which says a great deal about the keenness of contemporary art
buyers for very large iconic works with famous names attached to them.
Two lots down, yet another gray image confirmed
that the thirst of postwar and contemporary art buyers for very large works
signed by artists who rose to world fame in the 1960s is unquenchable.
“Untitled (New York City), 1970,” signed by Cy Twombly, could not be further
removed from the Warhol.
The work is abstract, not figural. A dark gray
panel is covered with regular lines of rhythmical white scribbling. Sotheby’s
expected it to be knocked down between $15 million and $20 million. It fetched
$17.44 million, setting one more world record.
Had Sotheby’s been lucky enough to garner as
many imposing post-World War II works as Christie’s there is little doubt that the Wednesday
session would have aroused the same enthusiasm. The enormous prices paid for
the Lichtenstein, the Bacon, the Warhol and the Twombly demonstrate that buyers
were as eager as ever.
But seen together, the 57 lots that came up at
Sotheby’s made up a far less impressive sale. Several lots sold on just one bid
and 11 of them fell unwanted in an atmosphere that was quite dull during the
second half of the session.
Yet demand was strong enough throughout for
works of lesser importance to do very well as long as they lent themselves to
instant identification.
Lichtenstein’s “Sailboats III, 1974,” was
brilliantly sold at $11.84 million, even though this later period of the artist
is less sought after. On its appearance at Christie’s in May 1998, the price
paid by the consignor was a more modest $1.37 million.
Jean Michel Basquiat’s “Ring,” done in the
manner of a naughty schoolboy chalking cartoons on the blackboard in the
master’s absence, shot up to $7.64 million. In June 1999, at Christie’s in Los
Angeles, the Basquiat had cost the late collector Theodore J. Forstmann a mere
$442,500.
Even if less successful than the Christie’s
Tuesday session, Sotheby’s evening auction on Wednesday illustrates the
spectacular appreciation of most of the artists who rose to fame in the second
half of the 20th century. But it also indicates that those artists’ less
recognizable works can perform unpredictably.
Robert Rauschenberg’s “Primo Calle/Roci
Venezuela” is a 1985 composition executed in a manner that differs from the Pop
artist’s earlier work. This week’s consignor paid $2.61 million when it came up
at Sotheby’s in November 2007. On Wednesday, the Rauschenberg, which carried a
$2 million to $3 million estimate plus the sale charge, interested no one.
Those who seek gilt-edged securities in postwar
and contemporary art need to make sure they are in a position to identify the
right targets.