The Master, Judd Tully, offers some perspective on Sotheby’s London Contemporary sale:

• Richard Prince’s aptly titled 2002 Millionaire Nurse, an ink-jet print and acrylic on canvas (est. £2-3 million, or $3-4.5 million) […] sold on one bid to the telephone for a relatively lackluster £2,169,250 ($3,262,769). It last sold at Sotheby’s New York in May 2009 for $4,745,000.

• Richter’s powerfully disturbing racistly titled 1964 cover lot Neger (Nuba), appropriating a famed 1963 black-and-white image by German photographer and Nazi film propagandist Leni Riefenstahl (Nuba Funeral), sold to a telephone bidder for £3,737,250 ($5,621,198). It last sold at auction at Sotheby’s London in November 1995 for £298,500 ($460,577).

• Doig: the double rejection will certainly taint the artist’s golden auction reputation. White Creep last sold at Sotheby’s London in February 2009 for £1,364,500 ($2,701,980). You might say that tonight’s consignor got prematurely greedy.

Bloomberg’s Scott Reyburn gets a definitive comment from Faggionato:

“The contemporary art market has leveled,” the London- based dealer Gerard Faggionato said in an interview. “There were still some good prices: There’s no doubt where we stand.”

Sotheby’s Kicks Off the London Contemporary Sales with a Solid but Uninspiring Effort (ArtInfo.com)
Fontana Boosts $62 Million Art Sale as Buyers Go Back to 1960s (Bloomberg)