Art Market Monitor

The Auction Houses Say There Are Plenty of Buyers. Let’s See ‘Em.

In the last few days, a remarkably consistent theme has come out of both auction houses. Perhaps emboldened by the interest shown by clients in the weeks leading up to the sale, auction house representatives have been making bullish noises about the art market. In his press introduction to Sotheby’s Evening sale of Impressionist and Modern works, Simon Shaw reminded reporters that a Monet in the house’s Spring sale had attracted 20 bidders.

Reuters followed up with this quote from Marc Porter, president of Christie’s Americas: “We really have more buyers than ever — as many, if not more than a year ago.”

If that’s true, the consignors of great works who had the nerve or need to sell this season may be rewarded. The market, we are told, is strong for striking pieces with good provenance. Of course, everything has to be fresh to the market. The game this fall is not beating last year’s sales volume but bettering the Spring’s results. More important than beating $164m combined total for both houses’ evening sales will be bettering the $2.449m average price across all evening lots.

In the Spring, the sales were dominated by late Picasso musketeers, Mondrian, Giacometti and a large number of Tamara de Lempicka portraits. There are de Lempicka’s again this season at Christie’s but not of the caliber of the Spring cavalcade. Picasso, Mondrian and Giacometti are well represented. Sotheby’s has another Buste d’homme that will show just how much demand remains after the Gagosian show and the multi-year run-up in prices for these formerly shunned works.

Christie’s has a striking Picasso Tete de femme from the war years that is estimated below the Sotheby’s Buste d’homme. Here is Christie’s Conor Jordan discussing the painting at the press preview:

The Giacometti role is being played by S.I. Newhouse’s pre-shopped Homme qui chavire. The $8-$12m estimate will test the autioneers theory that buyers who were previously offere the work at $20m and $16m might be persuaded to buy at the level if only they can be assured that someone else is willing to pay that price.

Simon Shaw explains here why this particular Homme qui chavire is worth fighting for:

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