CHRISTIE’S POSTWAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING SALE BRINGS IN $318.4 MILLION
Christie’s postwar and contemporary art evening sale in New York earlier tonight brought in $318.4 million in sales, according to Bloomberg’s Katya Kazakina. Though that number was down 52 percent from last year’s analogous sale, a total of six artist records were broken. Among these works reaching new heights were Agnes Martin’s Orange Grove, 1965, for $10.7 million, and an untitled 1982 canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which went to an anonymous Japanese buyer for $57.3 million. The work last sold for $4.5 million at Sotheby’s twelve years ago.
The same bidder “also bought a $1.7 million Bruce Nauman neon sign Eat War, 1986, a $5.8 million red Alexander Calder mobile Sumac 17, 1955, and a $9.7 million Richard Prince Runaway Nurse from 2005–2006,” reports the Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Crow. The latter represented an all-time high for the artist’s auction prices as well.
On the other hand, a significant number of pieces sold for under their asking prices, including works by Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Robert Gober, and Ed Ruscha.
