Colin Gleadell moves the ball forward on a few Contemporary art items. Here he identifies some works rising and falling in value on the market. The first two items are examples of work that has fallen in value and had to be supported by the artist’s dealers:
- an ornate mirror sculpture by Koons, which would have been estimated at over $2 million a year ago. Its new estimate was almost half that and it sold for $1.1 million to the artist’s dealer, Larry Gagosian.
- The extent of the adjustments in value that have taken place was seen specifically when Christie’s re-offered works it had guaranteed in the boom, had not sold, and now owned. Among several examples last week which lost money for Christie’s was Maypole by the Belgian artist, Luc Tuymans. Offered and unsold at Christie’s in 2006 with a $1.6 million estimate, it re-emerged last week with a $500,000 estimate, and sold to the artist’s dealer, David Zwirner, for $722,500.
The second is the odd story of a Andy Warhol’s Michael Jackson portrait from the early 1980s. Over the Summer, we had the spectacle of a gallery putting the work on the market, taking it off, putting it back on the market for an unusual private auction and finally claiming that it sold to a “speculator” who intended to put it back on the market. Whatever the real story there, it did not put off Laurence Graff:
- A rare example of a Warhol painting that has increased significantly in value within the last year is the portrait of Michael Jackson which was sold last week. In 1984, Warhol made five paintings in different colours as a commission for Time magazine. The version used for the cover hangs in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Another, bought for $278,000 last May, was offered by the Vered Gallery in East Hampton this summer and reputedly sold for over $1 million. A third, belonging to New York collector-dealer Jose Mugrabi was offered at Sotheby’s last year with a $500,000 estimate, but not sold. Last week, it returned to the rostrum at Christie’s with the same estimate and sold for $812,000 to London jeweller Laurence Graff.
Real World Prices Bring Back Buyers (Telegraph)
Art Market News (Telegraph)
