August 26th, 2008
Interview with Guy Bennett
In our continuing effort to de-mystify the art market and make the auction houses more accessible, we bring you this interview with Christie’s Guy Bennett (along with some video excerpts.)
First, a little background. Guy Bennett is Senior Vice President, International Co-Head of Impressionist and Modern Art. In addition to overseeing the day to day running of the department worldwide, he is responsible for the daily management, marketing and promotion of Christie’s sales of Impressionist and Modern Art in New York. And, of course, it’s his job to find the right properties to sell at the right time. He headed the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in November 2006 which totaled $491.5 million, making it the most valuable auction ever. The next year, he organized the second most valuable sale totaling $396 million in November 2007.
In 2008, Bennett landed the Miller Collection, which included Monet’s spectacular “Le bassin aux nymphéas” which sold for $80.4 million in London in June, doubling the artist’s previous record set a month earlier when Bennett had orchestrated the sale of Monet’s “Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil” in New York which sold for $41.5 million. (The interview, with video, after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »
August 23rd, 2008
Do you remember when Bill Gates bought the Codex Hammer not long after he became the richest man in the world? Well, there’s a dearth of da Vincis out there for billionaires to buy. Which may explain the excitement around this picture that was previously attributed as a 19th Century German marriage portrait. According to the New York Times, various scientific tests and art historical opinions suggest it may be the master’s work. But the $50 million supposedly already offered by a Russian buyer also points to the motives that would make many eager to believe.
“The market is a fairly efficient place,” said Hugh Chapman, assistant keeper at the department of prints and drawings at the British Museum in London. “This would be an amazing miss.”
July 23rd, 2008
Was Sotheby’s the Favorite to Win the YSL Collection?
Pinault Steps In and Wins the Contest for Christie’s.
What Will This Do for the Paris Auction Market?
London’s First Post gives us the back story on Christie’s not-so-surprising success in getting the YSL art collection to sell in Paris in the Winter of 2009. The Independent confirms that Sotheby’s was close to a deal and values the collection at more than $500 million, making it the largest single owner sale ever. Those who have seen the collection describe it as “a room full of masterpieces.”
Reuters adds this quote from YSL’s dealer:
Antique dealer Alexis Kugel, who told Le Figaro his relation with the collectors was the closest a dealer could have with his clients, said: “For Yves Saint Laurent art was a vital need, indispensable for his inspiration, like water to survive. It soothed his depressive character.”
The Times tries to pour cold water over the whole affair by turning it into an important market test–which it will be–and using a bitchy quote from Godfrey Barker: “We now learn that Saint Laurent moved stealthily to become one of the biggest buyers in the most overpriced sector of the art market - paintings from 1900-25, which cost £5m to £25m each,” said Godfrey Barker, an art-market expert. Read the rest of this entry »
July 9th, 2008
Watteau’s La Surprise goes for $24 million at Christie’s
Christie’s re-discovered Goya drawings (including this and this) made nearly $8 million as the pre-opener to last night’s Old Master’s sale in London. The star of the Evening sale was the Watteau found in the corner of a country house during a routine valuation trip. But the sale had other surprises with Sir Thomas Lawrence’s sketch portrait of his mother Lucy Lawrence going for nearly five times the high estimate or $736,000. The catalogue essay reads like a scene from Trollope but the price was no fiction. Even the sales, second highest lot was the subject of some surprise and doubt. van Dyck’s Rearing Stallion was only recently accepted as the work of the master and that was enough to interest buyers to the tune of 3 million pounds.
July 7th, 2008
So says Christie’s CEO: It’s a massive change in taste.
Christie’s CEO Dolman on CNN
Christie’s CEO Dolman
July 1st, 2008
No, That’s Not a Law Firm.
Those are the Names that Carried the Christie’s Sale.
Christie’s Contemporary sale totals $171 million. Half of that figure came from four paintings by Bacon, Freud and Koons and $25 million Koons sculpture. The top ten lots account for 70% of the total sale value. Beneath the headlines, the big news was the record set for a Gilbert and George work: $3.7 million for To Her Majesty. Eight other record prices were set. One for a Jeff Koons painting and more significantly, $2.5 million for a Sayed Haider Raza picture as well as records for Yan-Pei Ming, Nicolas de Stael, Michael Andrews and Antonio Lopez.
By lot, the buying was 48% American, 42% European (including UK), 8% Asian and 2% from other regions.
June 25th, 2008
The Highest Total in Europe for an Impressionist/Modern sale; 81% of lots sold
Such is the strange nature of the press coverage of the art market that a solid sale with 81% sell-through can be reported with doubts.
The top end of the Impressionist market remains strong. Christie’s sale confirms what experts have been saying for several years now: the market likes quality. And it should be added that quality includes provenance. But the important statistic to emerge from last night’s sale was the weighting of the top ten lots in the total. At 86,932,500 pounds, the top ten lots represented 60% of the total sale value.
The average price for the Evening sale was 2,188,492 pounds, a figure comparable with the numbers last seen in New York in May where Christie’s had an average lot value of $6.3 million. The median price in last night’s sale was 1,060,450 pounds against a median of $3 million in New York.
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