MORE SLOW SALES AT SOTHEBY’S CONTEMPORARY ART AUCTION
Carol Vogel reports in the New York Times that Sotheby’s barely managed to sell $125.1 million worth of contemporary art last night, well below the low estimate of $202.4 million. “It was a half-price sale,” said philanthropist and collector Eli Broad, who went on his first shopping spree in several years. In less than ninety minutes, he dropped more than $8 million (including Sotheby’s fees) on works by Ed Ruscha, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, and Donald Judd. Bidding was fairly sparse throughout the night—of the sixty-three lots offered, twenty failed to sell. But some art was coveted. The evening’s star was an Yves Klein wall relief from 1960 featuring the artist’s signature rich saturated blues. It was being sold by Magnus Lindholm, a Swedish collector, and was estimated at more than $25 million. It brought $19 million, or $21.3 million with fees: under the estimate, but still hefty. (Final prices include the commission to Sotheby’s: 25 percent of the first $50,000, 20 percent of the next $50,000 to $1 million, and 12 percent of the rest. Estimates do not reflect commissions.) “At the right level, the market exists,” said Tobias Meyer, the head of Sotheby’s contemporary art department worldwide and the evening’s auctioneer. “But the audience is smart and seasoned.” He said prices had rolled back to 2006 levels.
Vogel writes that Sotheby’s agreed to financial deals that might have seemed sensible months ago but made for what must have been an expensive evening for the house. Philip Guston’s Beggar’s Joys, for instance, went on the block with a big guarantee—reportedly around $18 million—promised to the seller, in this case Donald L. Bryant Jr., a New York collector. In the end, the work’s lone bidder, San Francisco art adviser Mary Zlot, paid $9 million, or $10.1 million with fees.
