Christie’s back-to-back evening auctions of the esteemed S.I. Newhouse collection and its 20th century evening sale netted a massive $950m—or $1.1bn with fees—and along the way set several sky-high artist records.
The overall tally landed at the high side of the combined pre-sale expectations of $823m to $1bn. Estimates exclude fees.
Technically speaking, the Newhouse sale was a white glove affair and 100 percent sold, but it was also entirely backed by third-party guarantees. The various owners segment had 30 of the 47 lots offered covered by house and third-party guarantees.
Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse, the storied New York magazine publisher of the Condé Nast empire and devoted art aficionado who died in 2017 at age 89, opened with a bang.
Pablo Picasso’s striking Tête de femme, evocative of his revolutionary Les demoiselles d’ Avignon from 1907 made $12m ($14.4m with fees) and the Cubist constructed, 16 1/8 inch bronze Tête de femme (Fernande), cast from a 1909 clay model, fetched $41.5m ($48.3m with fees).
It last appeared at auction at Christie’s New York in May 2001 when it made $4.9m, a record at the time for a Picasso sculpture. Both works and the large majority of lots throughout the evening went to anonymous telephone bidders.
The Picasso cavalcade continued with the large and colour-charged encaustic and sand on canvas Homme à la guitare from 1913 that sold for $35m ($40.8m with fees). Newhouse acquired it from his go-to mega-dealer Larry Gagosian in May 2000 for an undisclosed price.
Constantin Brancusi’s Danaïde (1913)
Courtesy of Christie’s
But it was Constantin Brancusi’s Danaïde, a rare almond eyed bronze from 1913, measuring 25cm and embossed with gold leaf and black patina, that stole the sculpture show and shot to $93m ($107.5m with fees).
Based on the Hungarian model and artist Margit Pogany and featured in the artist’s first New York exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 gallery in 1914, Newhouse acquired it at Christie’s New York in May 2002 for a then record $18.1m (with fees). It carried an unpublished estimate in the region of $100m.
Stratospheric prices marched on unabated with Piet Mondrian’s exquisite geometric Composition with Large Red Plane, Blue, Gray, Black and Yellow from 1921 that realised $34m ($39,735,000 with fees and Joan Miró’s diagrammatic yet decidedly sensual Portrait de Madame K from 1924 that rose to a torrid and record $46m $53.5m (with fees).
Thought to be Miró’s Polish artist friend Dora Bianka, the Surrealist painting was acquired by Newhouse at Christie’s New York in November 2001, just two months after 9/11 for a then-record $12.6m.
Newhouse’s long-cultivated taste also paid off handsomely with Henri Matisse’s richly decorative Robe noire et robe violette painted in Nice from 1938 that realised $29.5m ($34.5m) with fees though it just missed its low estimate of $30m. Newhouse acquired it privately from Ernst Beyeler’s eponymous galley in Basel in 2004 for an undisclosed price.
Moving later in the 20th century, Francis Bacon’s ghostly Study for Portrait (after the life mask of William Blake) from 1955 and an object Bacon owned and prized as a memento mori for his favorite English poet went to LA/New York dealer Jeffrey Deitch for $4.8m ($5.9m) with fees and Jasper Johns’ monochromatic Gray Target from 1958 in encaustic on canvas fetched $24.5m ($28.8m with fees).
The Johns formerly belonged to famed Paris/New York dealer Ileana Sonnabend and her husband Michael who bought it in 1960.
Topping Newhouse’s Pop Art entries, Andy Warhol’s hand-painted and thus rare Do it Yourself (Violin) from 1962 and breathtaking as an irreverent and witty version of the colours by numbers set manufactured by Venus Paradise, a colored pencil maker that you can still buy vintage sets on eBay, drew $22 m ($25.9m with fees) and nabbed (again) by Jeffrey Deitch.
Newhouse’s magnificent and mural-scaled Jackson Pollock drip painting, Number 7 A (1948), a tsunami of swirling and staccato-like passages in oil and enamel on canvas that blasted to a record-shattering $157m ($181.8m with fees) that drew thunderous applause in the revved-up salesroom.
Two telephone bidders duked it out in a cinematic ping-pong match of competing million dollar bids that started at $107m.
Newhouse acquired it privately in 2000 from A. Alfred Taubman, the soon-to-be disgraced chairman of Sotheby’s, some five decades after Pollock gifted it to fellow artist Herbert Matter in 1949.`
The Newhouse 16-lot trove fetched a staggering $540.5m ($630.8m) with fees. This tally fell comfortably within midrange territory of pre-sale estimates pegged at $462m to $595m. Tacked on to previous Newhouse sales at Christie’s in 2018, 2019 and 2023, the overall total for works from the estate now sits at $1.05bn with fees.
Rothko’s No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) (1964)
Courtesy of Christie’s
After a brief intermission at the firm’s Rockefeller Center headquarters, the 20th Century evening sale began with more Picasso, the light-filled l’Atelier from 1955 and formerly in the collection Douglas Cooper (before it was stolen in 1974 and later returned to his heir) that made $5.6m ($6.9m with fees). The art adviser Ralph de Luca was the underbidder.
More salesroom drama ensued with the trio of works from the estate of revered philanthropist and long-time MoMA trustee Agnes Gund as Joseph Cornell’s jewel-like Untitled (Medici Princess) mixed-media construction from circa 1948 hit $5.6m ($6.9m with fees) and Cy Twombly’s masterfully graffitied in blood-red and earth colours Untitled (1961) brought $39m ($45.4m with fees), going again to a telephone bidder.
The Gund epic entry, Mark Rothko’s magisterial and pristine No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) from 1964 quietly roared to a record $85m ($98.3m with fees). It easily broke the mark set by Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) that sold at Christie’s New York back in May 2012 for $86.8m.
The picture has only been exhibited once before in Gund’s hometown of Cleveland in 1972 in a museum group show titled Cleveland Collects Contemporary Art.
Gund acquired the work directly from the artist in 1967, as a young collector in her late 20s on a studio visit with her already notable art collecting friend Emily Tremaine. Intent on another work, according to recorded legend, Rothko recommended the 96-inch high abstraction saturated with a bold red stripe running across the dark canvas. Gund took his advice.
As a palate chaser, Pierre Auguste Renoir’s luscious La femme aux lilas (portrait de Nini Lopez) (1876-77), depicting the young beauty gracefully clutching a large bouquet bloomed at $24m ($28.2m) with fees.
It formerly belonged to one-time New York Mets owner Joan Whitney Payson who bought the painting shortly after the stock market crash of 1929 for $100,000 and later gifted to her daughter Lorinda Payson de Roulet.
From the same era, Edouard Manet’s Pivoines dans une Bouteille (1864) and last exhibited at M. Knoedler & Company in 1928, brought $7m ($8.6m with fees) in its auction debut and Gustave Caillebotte’s intimate scene, Le Déjeuner from 1876 and featuring his family gathered around a table glistening with glassware, also went for $7m ($8.6m with fees). Consigned by the artist’s heirs after 130 years in their possession, the painting came to market without a financial guarantee.
Among the very few market hiccups in the evening, a ravishing Amedeo Modigliani portrait, Almaïsa from 1917 was withdrawn shortly before the sale, knocking off $30 to $40m from expectations.
Of the Pop Art entries, Roy Lichtenstein’s Benday dot masterwork of the blonde, blue-eyed beauty with a furrowed brow, Anxious Girl from 1964 starred at $39.5 million/$46,060,000 with fees.
The image was purloined from a “Girl Romances #97” DC Comic from December 1964. It was first owned by famed art dealer Holly Solomon and her husband Horace.
Andy Warhol’s “Double Elvis (Ferus Type)” from 1963, executed in silkscreen ink and spray paint on linen and scaled high at 81 ¾ by 48 inches, and one of ten gunslinging versions, sold for $23 million ($27,085,000 with fees. It last sold at Christie’s New York in May 2018 for $33.5m hammer, representing a big loss for the seller.
Among the small mix of AB-Ex era entries, Joan Mitchell’s luminous and lyrical Cherchez l’ aiguille (1958) and dense with ribbons of French countryside colour, went for $10m ($12.1m with fees) and Lee Krasner’s large-scaled Lotus from 1982 and evocative of late Matisse cutouts made $2m ($2.5m with fees).
The gigurative painter Alice Neel’s dual portrait Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia) from 1967 hit a record $4.6m ($5.6m with fees).
All in, the 20th Century component reeled in $409.8m ($490.3m with fees) compared to pre-sale estimates of $361m to $490m.
“It was a huge amount of money shared among a small number of bidders,” said Hugo Nathan of the London art advisory Beaumont Nathan shortly after the sale concluded. His firm bought the Agnes Martin’s The Desert from 1965 for $7.5 m ($9.2m with fees).
The marathon $1.1bn evening proved to be another high-performance tune-up for the art market, seemingly bullet-proof, at least for now. Further track tests for Christie’s on Wednesday, including a single-owner sale of storied art dealer Marian Goodman’s trove of Gerhard Richter works will tell more.
