Christie’s Olnick Collection Typifies the Market Mood

James Tarmy has a detailed look at the Olnick collection at Christie’s which typfies the market these days. Here are works by big names at single-digit seven-figure prices at the top tend and working down into solid day sale numbers.

Sylvia Olnick, who died at 97 this Summer, was committed collector who regularly patrolled the gallery waterfront building a highly personal collection:

In total, the estate is auctioning 58 objects, which are expected to sell for “in excess of” $20 million.

Thirty-five artworks will be sold at Christie’s November postwar and contemporary sales—six in the more prestigious contemporary art evening sale and 29 in the day sales. […]

The estate’s leading lot is a geometric acrylic and graphic on canvas work by Agnes Martin, Untitled #6 from 1983, which is expected to sell for $5 million to $7 million. The second-highest estimated lot is a sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein, Sleeping Muse, from 1983, which carries an estimate of $3.5 million to $5.5 million. […]

Other top lots include a work by Josef Albers, Homage to the Square, from 1973, estimated at $900,000 to $1.2 million; a vivid 1979 oil painting by Roy Lichtenstein, Despair, estimated at $1.5 million to $2.5 million, and an oil-and-silkscreen-on-canvas work from 1963 by Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (#3), which carries an estimate of $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Real Estate Titan Robert Olnick’s Huge Art Collection Goes to Auction (Bloomberg)