Last week, Wright in Chicago held a two auctions. The first contained 13 Picasso drawings and totaled $1.7M, selling 77% by lot. The top lot was a 1943 drawing of Picasso’s mistress, Dora Maar, entitled Buste de Femme (Lot 5). It sold for $746,500. A 1970 pencil and ink drawing, Le Peintre et Son Modèle I (Lot 8) made $446,500. Nature Morte au Gramophone (Lot 2) sold for $242,500.
The second sale, Living Contemporary made $3M, selling 75% by lot. Works from private collections, including the collection Joseph and Janet Shein, were led by an untitled work on paper by Christopher Wool with the word PRANKSTER broken over three lines.The was sold for $506,500.
Other notable lots were
- Lot 221: Julio Le Parc, Continual Mobile Transparent. Estimate: $100,000-150,000. Result: $230,500
- Lot 160: Félix Gonzáles-Torres, untitled (Warm Water). Estimate: $60,000-80,000. Result: $104,500
- Lot 150: Christopher Wool, untitled. Estimate: $70,000-90,000. Result: $98,500
- Lot 242: Philip Pearlstein, model in Kimono on Eames Chair. Estimate: $40,000-50,000. Result: $62,500
- Lot 246: Alex Katz, Red Coat. Estimate: $30,000-40,000. Result: $50,000
- Lot 159: Vija Celmins, untitled portfolio. Estimate: $30,000-40,000. Result: $47,500
- Lot 101: Julian Stanczak, Frigit Light. Estimate: $15,000-20,000. Result: $43,750
- Lot 138: Bruno Romeda, untitled. Estimate: $7,000-9,000. Result: $36,250
- Lot 133: James Lee Byars, untitled. Estimate: $10,000-15,000. Result: $31,250
- Lot 182: Al Held, untitled. Estimate: $10,000-15,000. Result: $22,500
- Lot 210: Edward Ruscha, Roughly 92% Angel, But About 8% Devil. Estimate: $3,000-5,000. Result: $12,500
Results for the remainder of the lots are available on Wright’s own website www.wright20.com.