Who would have thought that the art handlers would have such leverage in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy? But here’s Bloomberg on the orphaned art collection:

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. said it plans to sell about $8 million of artworks warehoused in New York and Paris to help pay creditors.

Lehman, which filed the biggest U.S. bankruptcy Sept. 15 with liabilities of $613 billion, said in a court filing it had a “desire to monetize the art collection through sales, for the benefit of” creditors. It asked the court to let it pay $20,000 in overdue bills to art-handlers who would move artworks to and from the warehouses and display them to prospective purchasers.

“The art collection represents significant value to the debtors’ estates,” Lehman said in a Nov. 10 filing. [ . . . ]

If Lehman doesn’t pay the art handlers’ bills, they have the right under New York state law and French law to seize all the artworks to satisfy their claims, according to the filing.

Turns out the art movers are the unsung stars of the art world. They got this segment on the Leonard Lopate Show on New York’s WNYC.

A few weeks ago the Times had a conversation with Vinnie Verga, an art mover:

There’s an art to handling art. It’s not just about picking up a painting and moving it, or hammering a nail into a wall. It’s a lot more challenging than most people think. You have to know what you’re looking at, and you learn by experience. We become artists to figure out how we are going to hang something that weighs 300 pounds. There is engineering involved, and carpentry skills. [ . . . ] Getting big things into New York buildings is another challenge. Sometimes you have to hoist the piece up through a window, or fold it in half. I’ve even put stuff on the top of elevator cars.

The Evening sale at Phillips de Pury brought in $9,608,700 with just under 54% of the lots selling. The big lot of the evening was Donald Judd stack (left) selling for $3.2 million. Nothing else came close in price. The next highest lot (right) was Anish Kapoor’s Untitled (Mirror), a blue concave egg-shaped piece of stainless steel, that sold for $782,500. Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana and Mark Grotjahn rounded out the top lots.

Bloomberg has the details:

“We have seen a moderation of interest,” said Michael McGinnis, senior partner at Phillips. “The demand is a lot different than it was six months ago.” [ . . . ]

In recent days, Phillips’s staff had tried — with little success — to convince the auction’s consigners to cut their reserves, or the minimum level at which pieces could be sold, up to 50 percent below the low estimates.

“Sellers had a luxury of eight years of the climbing prices,” McGinnis said. “They were not receptive.” [ . . . ]

Buyers passed both on brand names like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat and on emerging artists like Mark Grotjahn and Anselm Reyle.

Hirst Painting Flops at `Brutal’ New York Art Auction (Bloomberg)

Sotheby’s hasn’t released the day sale figures yet beyond the total of $35,808,600 for both sessions. You can see the lot by lot results here. This Rauschenberg Traffic Flower Glut went for $362,500. That price was just above the low estimate. The picture was bought at Sotheby’s four and a half years ago. Then, a mere $136,800 took it home. Though it was ballsy price considering the estimate range was a demure $25-35,000.

At Christie’s, the two day sale sessions(here and here) brought in $39,084,500 with almost 62% of the lots sold. The morning session’s top ten was dominated by Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn, with Calder, de Kooning and Robert Indiana muscling in as well. The afternoon saw a Hirst butterfly-wing stainglass window top the list that featured Basquiat, Sherrie Levine, Christopher Wook, Sugimoto and Zhang Xiaogang.

NPR’s Margot Adler tries to make sense of the art market for the listeners of National Public Radio. She talks to Tobias Meyer: “we’re not curing cancer;” Ian Peck: the speculators are gone; a gallerist who compares art prices to CEO compensation: “the good news is that there is still an art market;” Josh Baer: “no one knows what a price should be;” Jonathan Binstock at Citigroup: I’m still buying; and others.

Economic Concerns Affect Art Market by Margot Adler (All Things Considered)

Sarah Thornton muses on the art market, the Fulds and Francis Bacon Pope paintings:

Thornton on NPR

Christie’s $113 million Contemporary art sale started as an easy, crash-defying walk. That’s what CEO Ed Dolman is referring to here in Carol Vogel’s story:

“In the beginning we thought we were witnessing a gravity-defying auction,” Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, said after the sale. “But it was disappointing not to sell the Bacon.” He added, “There were some good prices but it’s inconsistent.”

The bad news was the Bacon and a big Richter that didn’t sell and number of works that couldn’t find buyers. The good news is:

The sale had its high points. When “Pharmacy” (1943), a Joseph Cornell box that once belonged to Marcel Duchamp’s wife, Alexina (Teeny), came up for sale, the room perked up. Four bidders wanted to take it home and it made $3.7 million (with fees), well above its high $2 million estimate. It was a record price for the artist at auction.

Another record price was set when “No. 2” a shimmering 1959 canvas of white and gold tones by Yayoi Kusama, was bought by Mr. Ségalot for $5.7 million (with fees), way above its $3.5 million high estimate.

Lindsay Pollock explains it with this quote:

“No one’s going to do silly spending in this market,” art adviser Allan Schwartzman said. “If they are flush with cash, they don’t want to look like the fool that got carried away.”

Judd Tully offers these observations:

Three artist records were set, including for a rare and beautiful Yayoi Kusama abstraction, No.2 from 1959 (est. $2.5–3.5 million). The work, which was once owned by Donald Judd, fetched a bullish $5,794,500, making it the most expensive artwork by a living woman artist.

The painting sold to New York private dealer Philippe Segalot, who outgunned stiff competition from at least three other bidders. “For something like this,” he said moments after the sale, “there’s no difference [in price] between six months ago and today. I think the market is becoming rational, which is a good thing, because there needed to be an adjustment in terms of prices.” [ . . . ]

“The estimates and expectations have to come down a little bit, like 30 percent,” said New York art adviser Sandy Heller, who underbid on Takashi Murakami’s DOB in the Strange Forest (DOB), which went to Segalot for $3,442,500 (est.$5–7 million). “But the buyers are still there, and that’s encouraging.”

The New York Times has a little video story on the state of the art market in the “new economy.” They mean the new nightmare economy, not the internet fantasy of a decade ago. Despite Catherine Opie and Richard Armstrong expressing their  thanks at still having day jobs, the story doesn’t tell you much you couldn’t guess. Of course, the Guggenheim benefit auction they’re at sold eveything above estimates. Surprise! So maybe this video is playing catch up to reality, like the rest of the art market.

Urban Eye: Guggenheim Gala (New York Times Video)

Sotheby’s took its medicine last night selling $125 million worth of art against a $202 million low estimate. Some of the biggest lots failed to find buyers or were bought at big discounts from the prices in mind when they were consigned.

Still, some bidders and buyers were grabbing with both hands. There was Valentino Gravani in the front row bidding hard. Eli Broad, who rather vocally has been staying out of the market these last few years and predicting a round trip on prices much like the one we’re seeing right now, bought $8 million worth of art, according to Carol Vogel. Larry Gagosian was buying too. He bested Valentino for Roy Lichtenstein’s Study for New York State Mural (Town and Country) with a $3.9 million bid. Later, auctioneer Tobias Meyer looked toward Gagosian with a wide-eyed, beseeching glance as Lichtenstein’s Half Face with Collar fell without a bid.

An anonymous telephone bidder backstopped the market buying Jeff Koons’s Cheeky for $4 million; Willem de Kooning’s Untitled VI for $4.6 million and Figures in a Landscape for $1.8 million; Lichtenstein’s Interior with Red Wall for $7 million; and Tom Wesselmann’s Still Life #58 for $2.4 million.

The wholesale buying is a good sign. It suggests that someone sees value in these works that will return sometime soon. Carol Vogel closes her story with Eli Broad making exactly this point:

Buyers were clearly careful about parting with their cash, wondering if better bargains were around the corner. “I don’t think we’ve reached the bottom yet,” Mr. Broad said as he was leaving Sotheby’s after the sale. “We may be close.”

If that’s true–and it seems pretty quick to be calling a bottom–the Contemporary art market at 2006 prices is not so dreary after all. Though, Lindsay Pollock suggests we’re not there yet:

“Bonuses are going to be really bad this year” on Wall Street, Dallas-based art economist David Kusin said. “That’s going to be the single biggest hit for the newest, freshest, least-seasoned work.”

Pollock also quotes Broad in a gleeful mood:

“It’s a half-price sale,” said Broad, a 75-year-old billionaire who predicted for years that prices would fall. “Things are a little more reasonable.”

Judd Tully adds to the cheering from collectors:

“It’s a bad night for Sotheby’s,” said Berlin dealer Heinrich zu Hohenlohe, “but a good night for the art market.” Six of the 26 guaranteed lots failed to find buyers [ . . . ] New York collector Aby Rosen bought Jean-Michel Basquiat’s huge oil painting on paper Ribs Ribs from 1982 for $626,500 (est. $1-1.5 million). “When the price was right for great objects,” said Meyer after the 70-minute sale, “the audience responded and bought it.”

Currin Nudes Set $5.46 Million Record at Spotty Sotheby’s Sale (Bloomberg)

A Dreary Night for Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s (New York Times)

Sunk Costs at Sotheby’s Contemporary Sale (ArtInfo)

Eli Broad Goes Shopping as Sotheby’s Auction Falls Short (Bloomberg)