Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Sotheby’s Announces New Online Day Sales for May Postponing Live Auctions

April 1, 2020 by Angelica Villa

From the Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale Online: Marc Chagall, Devant la fenêtre, executed circa 1974-75. Estimate $200/300,000 / Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Roses dans un vase décoré, painted circa 1912-13. Estimate $450/650,000.

Sotheby’s has postponed their May live sales of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art (including the marquee Evening sales) and announced a series of online Contemporary Art and Impressionist and Modern Art Day sales in their place that will each run between May 4 to mid-May.

The upcoming online Day Sales will comprise works by modern and contemporary artists that have historically driven the day sale market. Additionally, Sotheby’s will add another online sale of Post-Impressionist paintings to the spring online sale calendar which will open on April 23rd.

Among the highlights in the contemporary category include Richard Prince’s 1987 three-part acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas titled 3 Jokes Painted to Death or 3 Jokes Really Painted estimated between $500-700,000.

Sotheby’s Head Day Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art in New York, Scott Niichel, confirmed that the offerings in the forthcoming online sales will “be anchored by the same top-quality, exciting selection of works by sought-after artists of the 19th through the 21st centuries.” Emphasizing the necessity in engaging with clients through these rapid changes to the sales schedule, Niichel remarked “we are still actively – and responsibly – sourcing for these auctions, and encourage collectors to start a dialogue with us about how we can best meet their needs.”

Part of the initiative to further develop digital sale offerings comes with the imperative to both retain its top sector buying base, and to attract new collectors who are becoming increasingly savvy to virtual transaction. Max Moore, Co-Head of Sotheby’s New York Day Auctions of Contemporary Art remains optimistic that the online series will meet demand for these higher priced works, saying “our global clientele has an extensive and demonstrated history of transacting at elevated price points in our live sales.”

In previous announcements the house noted its extensive investment in digital technology to expand online collecting. With confidence that the higher price echelon of the Day sale segment will remain active online, Moore noted that “in 2019 for example, more than half of the thousands of bidders in our Contemporary Art auctions placed their bids online.” With plans also to the release a new e-catalogue design coinciding with each of their future sales across the business, Sotheby’s hopes to attend to the expanding digital collecting approach.

Reporting an excess of $35 million achieved in its 2020 online sales so far across various sale categories which include Modern and Contemporary African Art, 20th Century Middle Eastern Art, 20th Century Design, and Photographs, the house is seeing a solid level of bidding that negates notions throughout the industry that the market has slowed. Another one of Sotheby’s representatives, Nicole Schloss, New York’s Co-Head of Day Auctions of Contemporary Art noted that this continuous participation by collectors online is “driving results that demonstrate the resilience of the global art market.”

The announcement of a new set of day sales featuring top-tier works is a big change for the seasonal market schedule with larger implications for movement to the global schedule in the fall. Sotheby’s has yet to confirm plans for its postponed live New York Evening and Day auctions of modern, contemporary and American art initially scheduled for May.

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Christie’s Can’t Wait, New York Sales Move to October with $25 M. Cézanne AnnouncementChristie’s Can’t Wait, New York Sales Move to October with $25 M. Cézanne Announcement
  • $80m Tisch Collection at Christie’s in May$80m Tisch Collection at Christie’s in May
  • What’s Christie’s Got for November?What’s Christie’s Got for November?
  • If You Choose Well, You May Never Want to SellIf You Choose Well, You May Never Want to Sell
  • Teasing the Chinese Taste for PicassoTeasing the Chinese Taste for Picasso
  • Knoedler Case Enters EndgameKnoedler Case Enters Endgame

Filed Under: General

About Angelica Villa

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • After Pandemic’s Rapid Change, Sotheby’s Has 8 Predictions for 2021
  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • A Season of Improvisation: Fall 2020 New York Modern and Contemporary Art Auction Analysis
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Basquiat's Last Girlfriend
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor