New York’s marquee May auctions got off to a strong start at Sotheby’s on Thursday, where $433.1 million worth of art sold in three hours. That’s 132.7 percent more than the same sales last spring, despite the fact that there were fewer lots on offer, underscoring the art market’s top heaviness as it recovers from more than three years of contraction.
The evening started with an 11-lot sale of works from the collection of Robert Mnuchin, a legendary banker-turned-art dealer who died late last year. The trove, all backed by guarantees, featured the top lot of the evening, Mark Rothko’s monumental Brown and Blacks in Reds (1957), which hammered for $74 million, just above its $70 million low estimate. Factoring in buyer’s fees, it totaled $85.8 million. Sotheby’s owner, French telecoms tycoon Patrick Drahi, watched excitedly from the back of the room as the hammer fell.
The Mnuchin sale brought in $166.3 million with fees—roughly 40 percent of the night’s entire haul—while the main contemporary art evening auction, which included “The Now” sale, totaled $266.8 million. The auctions were more than 80 percent guaranteed by value, so it’s no surprise the $433.1 million total fell squarely between the house’s $321.1 million–$446.6 million presale estimate.
Four works went unsold, and one—Alice Neel’s Timothy Collins (1971)—was withdrawn mid-auction, yielding a 91 percent sell-through rate.
It was a Rothko-heavy night, in the end, with a 1949 painting, also from Mnuchin’s collection, selling for $20.8 million. Later on, a moody black-and-purple untitled work—the last of four pieces from the Jean and Terry de Gunzburg collection—sold for $16.5 million after a bit of labored bid drawing from auctioneer Oliver Barker. There’s another Rothko to watch: the artist’s 1964 No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) from Agnes Gund’s impeccable holdings goes under the hammer at Christie’s on Monday, May 18, with an estimate in the region of $80 million.
Read on for more stats.
Andy Warhol, Brigitte Bardot(1974). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.
Total Sales After Fees: $433.1 million
Total Sales of Equivalent Sale Last Year: $186.1 million
Hammer Total: $363.8 million
Top Seller: Mark Rothko’s Brown and Blacks in Reds (1957), $85.8 million
Lots on Offer: 57
Lots Withdrawn: 1
Total Low Estimate of Withdrawn Lots: $1.5 million
Lots Sold: 52
Lots Bought In: 4
Sell-through Rate: 91.2 percent
Sell-through Rate Excluding Withdrawals: 92.9 percent
Presale Low Estimate: $327.1 million
Presale Low Estimate Excluding Withdrawals: $325.6 million
Hammer Total vs. Presale Low Estimate: + 36.8 million
Hammer Total vs. Presale Low Estimate (revised after withdrawals): + $38.3 million
Lots With House Guarantees: 30
Lots With Third-Party Guarantees: 29
Total Low Estimate of Guaranteed Lots: $263.8 million—80.7 percent of total presale low estimate
Quote of the Night: “I think I was there,” auctioneer Oliver Barker quipped as he opened bidding on Elizabeth Peyton’s Earl’s Court (Liam + Noel), a 1996 painting depicting a tender moment between the Gallagher brothers, who are behind the iconic Mancunian band, Oasis. Should we believe this claim to fame? Well, Barker, a one-time D.J., was a regular on the club scene while he was at Manchester University…
Lasting Memory: An acid-green Brigitte Bardot (1974) by Andy Warhol made its auction debut, selling for $24.8 million, with more than five bidders chasing it for nearly five minutes. The work set a record for the series of eight paintings of Bardot commissioned by Gunter Sachs, Bardot’s former husband. (Interestingly, the pair was already divorced when he had Warhol create the series.) “It was great to see such active bidding on it,” valuations expert Rachel Rosan said. “The health of Warhol market is a like a little barometer for the overall market, to an extent, at least when it comes to the public’s perception.”
Parting Shot: The sale room cleared out with record speed as attendees rushed to their dinner reservations at the auction house’s newly opened restaurant, Marcel.
Next Sale Up: Christie’s S.I. Newhouse Collection and 20th century art evening sale on Monday, May 18.
