More comparison data from our friends at Live Auction Art. The New York sales of Post-War and Contemporary art were only a piece of the action in the marketplace in September. We’ll have a rundown of all the September Contemporary auctions for AMMpro subscribers this week ahead of the Frieze auctions.
Sotheby’s Revises Credit Facility Down by $235m: Sotheby’s has filed an 8-K with the SEC notifying investors that the firm has reduced its credit facility from $1.035bn to $800m for Sotheby’s Financial Services, the auction house’s lending arm. The move reduces fees for Sotheby’s but also acknowledges that its loan portfolio has reached its limit. Expanding the loan portfolio had been one of Daniel Loeb’s strategic initiatives for Sotheby’s. …
Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fall Sales Cycle in Full Swing: Sotheby’s sold $90.9m in Modern & Contemporary Asian art Saturday night in Hong Kong to open their Fall series of sales. Despite concerns that Beijing’s clampdown on capital leaving the mainland might limit spending, several of the sales have shown exceptional strength. Morita Shiryu: Bokujin saw all 19 lots sold at levels nearly twice the low estimate. The Fine Classical Chinese paintings sale and the Fine Chinese paintings sale combined to make more than $82m in sales. The top lots in the Fine Chinese paintings sale are a who’s who of Chinese Classical painting: Li Keran, Fu Baoshi, Zhang Daqian, Xu Beihong, and Wu Guanzhang …
Christie’s Is Ready for Its Up Close: Christie’s small works sale on Tuesday evening in London has some interesting suprises among the works by Giacometti, Warhol, Nicolas de Staël, Duchamp, Fontana, Richter, Uecker and Picasso. …
Among the top lots at Swann’s African American art auction on Oct 5th at 2:30 in New York are a number of works estimated into the six figures. Among those lots is Hughie Lee-Smith’s untitled work depicting youths on a lake shore that carries a $100k low estimate. Drawings by Charles White and paintings by Henry Ossawa Tanner, Norman Lewis, Elizabeth Catlett, Alma Thomas, Romare Bearden, and Sam Gilliam all have the potential to sell for six-figure prices.
