Katya Kazakina had these observations on Bloomberg:
- “Things that are desirable and iconic sell very well,” said Simone Battisti, who recently joined the Gladstone Gallery in New York and Brussels as associate director. “Others don’t.”
- The seller of Claes Oldenburg’s humorous sculpture “Popsicle, Hamburger, Price” (1961-1962) wasn’t as lucky. The work sold for $458,500, a 27 percent decline from the seller’s purchase price of $632,000 at Christie’s in 2006.
The Master, Judd Tully, does his detailed duty on Artinfo:
- there was plenty of wonga around for the Willem de Kooning’s handsome, 80-by-70-inch cover lot abstraction, “Untitled VI” (1975), which sold to a telephone bidder for $12,402,500 (est. $10-15 million). New York dealer Robert Mnuchin was the underbidder. The guaranteed de Kooning last sold at auction in May 2000 at Sotheby’s New York for $1,380,750.
- “Mao” (1973), which sold to New York dealer Hugo Nathan of Simon Dickinson Gallery for $10,386,500 (est. $9-12 million). It last sold at auction in November 1991 at Sotheby’s New York for a hard-to-believe $165,000.
Carol Vogel chatted up Philippe Ségalot and observed this sale:
- Twombly’s “Untitled (Bolsena),” a canvas of scrawled white lines painted in 1969, was bought by a lone bidder for $5.5 million, or $6.2 million with fees; its low estimate had been $6 million. Still, it was a big price considering that the last time it was on the market, at Sotheby’s in 2004, it sold for $2.9 million.
Basquiat, Schutz Boost $87 Million Phillips de Pury Sale (Bloomberg)
Phillips de Pury & Company Nets $86.9 Million, Crowned by a Record $16.3-Million Basquiat (Artinfo)
Basquiat Painting Brings $16.3m at Phillips Sale (New York Times)
