Art Market: Impressions From New York`s Fall Auctions 2018

(Drivebycuriosity) - Last week´ s auctions in New York showed the status quo of the art market. According to Bloomberg the 3 global leaders in the auctions business - Sotheby`s, Christie`s & Phillips - sold together art work with the value of $2.3 billion (bloomberg). If you focus alone on the auctions for post war & contemporary art than Sotheby`s  sold for $362 million & Christie´s auctioned $357.6 million (artprice.com).

These are solid sales, a sign that the art market is in a robust health. Apparently the market is benefiting from the growth of the global economy.  Art is not only bought by collectors, who love it and want to own it, art is also purchased by investors & speculators who hope to sell it later for a higher price. These people consider art as an asset, comparable to stocks, bonds & real estate - and as long as they become more wealthy, they spend more for art.





                                                          Most Expensive Living Artist

Last week`s auctions brought some spectacular results and records. David Hockney became the world’s most expensive living artist on 15 November with his Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) and  reached a new record of $90.3 million at Christie`s.

Christie’s registered another record. They sold Edward Hopper’s Chop Suey (1929) for nearly $92 million, a new all-time auction record for the American artist.

Willem De Kooning`s Woman as Landscape left Christie`s for $69 million.

Sotheby`s auctioned  Gerhard Richter´s  Abstraktes Bild (1987)  for $32 million, not a record but still respectable.

Jean-Paul Basquiat is still cult (nypost). Sotheby´s sold his 1982 painting Untitled (Pollo Frito) for  $25.7 million & Masque for $4,6 million.

  

Andy Warhol also sits on the Olympus of the art market: Phillips sold his Gun (1981-1982)  for a solid $9.54 million.

Richard Diebenkorn’s masterful and grandly scaled Ocean Park #137 (1985) brought $22.6 million @ Christie´s


                                                  Trinker Am Tisch

I was glad to see @ Sotheby`s Georg Baselitz`s absurd painting Trinker am Tisch (Drinker at the Table) which got sold for $5 million.

 

Coming to the category surprises and up-and-coming artists. Sotheby`s auctioned Dana Schutz’s Her Arms  for $795,000 with buyer’s premium—a new record for the artist and nearly four times the painting’s $200,000 high estimate.


  

Zhang Huan´s American Flag No. 7  (ash on linen)  surprised as well (Phillips estimated the painting for $60,000 - 80,000 and sold it for $175,000).

 

Elizabeth Peyton also seems to get more popular. Sotheby`s sold her Georgia  O`Keefe (After Stieglitz 1918) for $1,3 million, her Flower Ben for $945,000 & her Ozzy for $81,250.


                                               Mummy Wants To Go Home

The auction house also showed Ella Kruglyanskaya`s "Girl on a hot day" &
Kohei Nawa `s "Pixcell Deer (Mica).

 At Christie´s I spotted Wojciech Fangor`s  "M 25 1970" & "M 29 1970. Both are oil on canvas.

And @ Phillips I discovered Club Mature by Tomoo Gokita (Estimate $250,000 - 350,000, Sold for $807,000);  Marlene Dumas` Cultural Exchange (Mummy wants to go home); Julio Larraz`s   His Last Dream, 29 July & Terry Winters´ Model System.

The auction houses looked like huge museums and together they over-trumped any major museum exhibition of contemporary art I know including New York´s MoMa, Los Angeles`"Broad" and Chicago`s Art Institute.Admission was free and taking pictures was permitted! Priceless.

Enjoy!