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Another One Hit Wonder? (Christie’s Record-Breaking Victorian & British Impressionist Sale)

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Edward Coley Burne-Jones (£3-5m) £14.8m

This week’s sale of Victorian and British Impressionist works of art once again illustrated my point that there are far too many mediocre works of art coming to the market and buyers are being very selective.  However, like all the recent sales, when the right work/works appear with the right estimates, amazing results can be achieved.  This was another sale that falls into my category of: what a difference a painting can make.

Taking the top position here was a large watercolor by Burne-Jones (the Pre-Raphaelite artist) that sold for an over-the-top price of £13.2M (£14.8M/ $22.1M – with commissions) and crushing its £3-£5M estimate.  In second was Millais Sisters at £2M (£2.3M/$3.4M – with commissions), just making its £2-£3M estimate and in third was Leighton’s sculpture An Athlete Wrestling with a Python which made £410K (£494K/$735K – with commissions), beating its £250-£350K estimate … all three were auction records.  Rounding out the top five were Millais’ Portrait of Lady Campbell at £400K (£482K/$728K with commission – est. £400-£600K) and Arthur Wardle’s A Fairy Tale at £280K (£482K/$728K with commission – est. £150-£200K) … the latter making another auction record.

Along with these great results were a number of works that did not find homes. Among those were Armstrong’s A Girl Watching a Tortoise (est. £150-£250K), Landseer’s Merry Trick & Mark Hall… (est. £200-£300K), Watts’ Portrait of Laura Gurney… (est. £60-£80K), Lady Butler’s To the Front… (est. £70-£100K), Herring Senior’s The Gamekeeper’s Shack… (est. £60-£100K), Ansdell’s Going to the Lodge…(est. £100-£150K) and other works by Riviere, Sharp, La Thangue, Munnings, Harvey and Seago (they had 10 Seagos in the sale and 4 were unsold – just too many for one summer sale).

Of the 123 works offered only 71 sold (57.7%) and the total take was an amazing £19.36M (£22.2M, $33.5M, with the buyer’s commissions) – the presale estimate range was £10.1-£15.6M. According to the auction room, this was their highest total ever for this category.  Digging a little deeper we find that the top 10 works brought £17.2M (£19.5M with commissions) or about 90% of the sale’s total. In addition, the number one lot – Burne-Jones’s Love Among the Ruins – accounted for 66.9% of the sales total …like I always say, what a difference a painting (in this case a watercolor) can make.

Now I know they are all excited about the overall results for this sale, but let’s be real; without the Burne-Jones this sale would have fallen far short of expectations.  Removing that one lot from the sale would have resulted in a presale estimate range of £7.2-£10.6M and the sale would have grossed £5.2M.

It is really time to trim the fat and reduce the number of sales.  Small and stronger sales are the way to go.

Howard-RehsHoward L. Rehs, after graduating from New York University with a degree in Art History, joined Rehs Galleries, Inc. in 1981. His first year was spent living in London; during which time he both bought works for the gallery’s inventory and studied the 19th century European painting market. Upon his return to the United States a serious interest in French Academic, Realist and Barbizon art emerged and over the years more works by the masters from these schools entered the gallery’s inventory.

Today the gallery specializes in 19th and early 20th century European works of art and displays paintings many important Barbizon, Realist and Academic artists including: Eugene Boudin, William Bouguereau, Jean B.C. Corot, Julien Dupré, Daniel Ridgway Knight, Louis Aston Knight, Edouard Cortès, and Emile Munier. In addition the gallery features works by mid 20th century American artists such as Ilya Bolotowsky and Ugo Giannini and represents a number of Contemporary Realist artist, including Allan Banks, Barry Oretsky, Gregory F. Harris and Sally Swatland.

Ask Me No More (New York’s 19th Century Sales)

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When we last left off, Christie’s was about to present their 19th century European Painting sale in New York on the 29th. I will begin by saying that they did do their best to slim down the offerings … just 95 lots in the sale and as with all of these sales, the catalogs always look great, but the real test was going to come during the viewing — did the works look good in person? In addition, the “Frankenstorm” (Sandy) was scheduled to hit the New York area on the Sunday before the sale and run through Wednesday – uh oh!

We decided not to take any chances so we viewed the sale first thing Friday morning and as expected there were some very nice works and some that were going to be difficult to find new homes … and most of those were due to condition issues.

Among the paintings we really liked were a couple of Corots, a nice Lhermitte, a couple of Bouguereaus, a Stevens, Boldini, Barber, Grimshaw, Sorbi and a Dawson. The works that fell into the nice category were Monsted, Schuller, Godward, Tadema, Santoro, Kuhnert and Herring. And those I could do without included works by Corot (seriously overcleaned), Bridgman (not one of his best days), Bonheur (price seemed way off the mark), Dagnan-Bouveret (which had extensive pigment separation), a Bouguereau that had definitely lost some of its luster, some Vastagh’s which looked far better in the catalog than they did in person and a few others that had seen better days.

Well, the storm hit New York and it was a whopper … causing the Christie’s sale to be postponed for a few days … not a good thing. In addition, the stock market was not having a good run that week and then there was the presidential election – all forces beyond Christie’s control.

The sale took place on November 1 (three days late) and NYC was still a mess – most people could not get in or out. We relied on iffy phone service to bid; however, the better works seemed to pull through while those that were less than stellar had a really tough go. I have said this before, the main issue with auction sales is that they take place on a specific day, at a specific time, and if things go wrong with the weather, stock market, etc. the sale can be impacted – not a good thing for the sellers, but for the buyers it can be a bonanza if they step up to the plate!!!!

Taking the top slot in this sale was Alma-Tadema’s Ask Me No More which brought $2.2M (est. $2-$3M), in second was Bouguereau’s Pandora, a painting that I was not impressed with, that brought $602K (est. $600-$800K) and in third was Bridgman’s Interieur d’un palais Arabe at $291K (est. $200-$300K) … another work that left me wondering. Rounding out the top 5 were Godward’s A Pompeian Lady at $291K ($300-$500K) and Alfred Stevens’ Melancolie that made $219K (est. $200-$300K) – it was worth more.

There were a number of other works that sold ‘cheaply’; these included paintings by Corot, Dupré, Dawson, Herring, Lhermitte and Sorbi. And there were a number of big lots that did not sell … these included paintings by Bouguereau, Grimshaw, Barber (nice painting but the estimate was just too high), Tissot, Corot and Boldini. In fact, of the 5 works with the highest estimates, only 1 sold — combined they expected at least $7.5M for them and only generated $2.2M … not good.

When the day ended, of the 95 works offered 59 sold (62%) and the total take was $6.65M (lower end of the estimate range was $13.1M – so they were WAY SHORT). Now, some of the works offered had issues and probably would not have found buyers anyway since buyers are very choosy; however, there were others that did not sell that probably should have and prices for some of the better works were not as strong as they would have been. It is my feeling that the weather, election and stock market took a heavy toll on the results.

The following week the competition had their 19th century sale … which also took a little hit from the Nor’easter that decided to pay a visit to NY … Mother Nature gave us the one two punch!

As we have seen over the past few years they tried their best to make this sale slim and trim and while there were no double digit million dollar works offered, the results, given the circumstances, were ok. Taking the top slot here was Bouguereau’s The Cherry Branch which sold for $1.54M (est. $1.5-$2M) … had the work been in better condition, I am sure it would have made much more. In second was Lavery’s The Green Sofa which sold for $1.3M (est. $700-$1M) and in third was an extremely nice Ludwig Deutsch titled The Scholars which brought $1.1M (est. $400-$600K). Rounding out the top 5 were another Bouguereau, La Tasse de Lait, at $927K (est. $750-$950K) – to me, the figure looked like a bobble-head – and a nice Stevens’, La Villa des Falaises a Sainte-Adresse, at $627K (est. $500-$700K – it last sold in 1996 for $443K).

Overall, the sale was better than the competitions and in the end, of the 105 works offered, 68 sold (64.8%) and the total take was $12.9M (the low end of their estimate range was $14.9M … so they fell a little short, but far superior to the competition); given the circumstances the results were better than I would have expected.

When it comes to the 19th century market what we are seeing is that there is strong support for the bigger names and those paintings that have ‘wall-power’. The more general works are selling when there is ‘individual’ interest … meaning that there is one potential buyer who is willing to pay the reserve price. After that, if the condition is troubling, the estimate is just too high or the work is just not a very good one … there is no support. At the Sotheby’s sale only 26 of the paintings offered appeared to have competitive bidding while Christies only had 19 (meaning those works that sold for more than the lower end of the estimate range – normally where sellers set their reserve).

Believing in the Real Thing: Old Master Sales

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By the beginning of July it was time for the Old Master sales and there was a great deal of hype surrounding them.  A number of works by important artists were hitting the blocks (Constable, Rembrandt, van de Velde, Brueghel, etc.) and all eyes were peeled on them.

First up was Christie’s and the most talked about work was being offered by them – John Constable’s The Lock.  There was a great deal of controversy regarding its sale and the work carried a third party guarantee (in other words someone basically bought the work before the sale and then would benefit from any upside).  Well, on that day the painting sold at the reserve and the Russian guarantor was now the owner at £22.44M ($35.2M – est. £20-£25M) – so we cannot chalk that up as a true ‘auction’ sale, but it sold and made the highest price for the day.  In second came Rembrandt’s small A Man in a Gorget and Cap at £8.44M ($13.2M – est. £8-£12M – bought on the reserve by an Asian) and in third was Lorenzetti’s Christ between Sts. Peter & Paul at £5.1M ($7.97M – est. £1-£1.5M).

When the evening’s action ended, of the 64 works offered 54 sold for a total take of £85M ($133.5M – presale est. was £61.8-£88.3M – so they were well within the range).  The top 10 works brought in just over £59M (92.8M) or about 70% of the total sale.

The next day they offered the general merchandise and the top lot here was catalogued as Follower of da Vinci and carried a £50-£70K est. — it sold for 937K ($1.47M); it was also interesting to note that 9 of the top ten works beat their estimate.  When the day was done, of the 121 works offered 71 sold (59% – not very strong) and the total take was £4.44M ($6.96M – est. range was £3.7-£5.5M – so they made the numbers).

That evening Sotheby’s presented their offerings and taking the number one slot was Van de Velde’s The Surrender of the Royal Prince… which carried a £1.5-£2M est. and sold for £5.3M ($8.32M) – not bad.  In second was Brueghel’s The Battle between Carnival and Lent that made £4.5M ($7.09M – est. £4-£6M) and in third was Cranach’s The Feilitzsch Altarpiece at £4.3M ($6.74M – est. £4-£6M) – the last two only making their estimates with the buyer’s premium.

When this sale ended, of the 43 works offered 29 sold (67.4% — a bit better than the competition) and the total take was £32.2M ($50.6M – presale est. £26.7-£40.4M).

The following day came the last of the painting sales and the top three works here were a piece attributed to Dirck Dircksz. Van Santvoort at £409K ($639K – est. £80-£120K); another by Dirck Dircksz. Van Santvoort at £289K ($452K – est. £60-£80K) and a William Larkin at £289K ($452K – est. £40-£60K).  I have to guess that the buyer of the attributed work believes it is the real thing!

In the end, this sale saw 218 works offered and 124 sold (56.6%) for a total take of £6.2M ($9.6M).  I also need to add that both salerooms offered a selection of works on paper: Sotheby’s brought in £6.9M ($10.8M) and Christie’s added £4.16M ($6.5M).

So, for the week Christie’s brought in £93.6M ($146.9M) and Sotheby’s generated £45.3M ($71.1M); and when combined that adds another £139M ($218M) to the London totals (about $918M) — still a little shy of the $1 Billion mark – but what is a few million among friends!?

 

Smaller Markets, Too Much Art: Victorian, 19th C European & Old Masters

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Victorian & British Impressionist

On the very last day of May the action started in London with a Victorian & British Impressionist Art sale.  Taking the top slot here was a signature image by Dante Gabriel Rossetti that eclipsed its £1-£1.5M estimate to sell for £2.17M ($3.4M). Coming in second was Leighton’s Bacchante at £1.16M ($1.8M — falling short of its £1.2-£1.8M est.) and in third was Alma-Tadema’s In the Rose Garden which beat its £400-£600K estimate when it made £960K ($1.5M).  In addition, there were a number of paintings by Seago that did remarkably well – 13 in total and all sold within, or well above, their estimates.

Among the more notable misses were Richmond’s Sarpedon…. (est. £200-£300K); Godward’s His Birthday Gift (est. £80-£120K); Osborne’s A Grey Morning in a Breton Farmyard (est. £200-£300K); Foster’s A Market Day on the Giudecca, Venice (est. £120-£180K) and a couple of Grimshaws.  When the sale ended, of the 107 works offered 64 sold (59.8%) and the total take was £7.9M ($12.3M) which beat the low end of their estimate (£6.5M).

Old Masters

We then jumped back to NYC for two Old Master sales … which overall were not too impressive.  First up was Sotheby’s whose top lot was The Pseudo Dalmasio Degli Scannabecchi’s Madonna & Child which made $795K (est. $250-$350K); this was followed by Colantonio’s Blessed Leonard of Assisi which brought $555K (est. $60-$80K) and then Van Brussel’s Still Life of Flowers made $375K (est. 150-$200K).  Among the works that failed were a pair of Domenichini’s (est. $400-$600K) and a d’Hondecoeter (est. $300-$400K).

When this sale ended, of the 114 works in the catalog, only 63 sold (55%) and the total take was $5.2M … not very good.

The next day Christie’s presented their sale and I am sure that after the competition’s experience they were more than a little worried (I actually sat through this sale since my daughter is interning with the Old Master & 19th century departments this summer and she assisted with the setup of the sale). Top lot here was a restituted Romanino painting of Christ Carrying the Cross which brought $4.6M (est. $2.5-$3.5M). This was followed by a beautiful pair of Robert paintings that were being sold by the Met which made $1.9M (est. $800-$1.2M) and in third was another Met work by Brueghel at $687K (est. $200-$300K).

By the end, of the 99 works offered 60 (60.6%) had found new owners – not the best, but the total take was $12.6M … about 2 ½ times that of Sotheby’s.

European Paintings

The following week we were back in London for the European Painting sales … once upon a time these sales were made up of strictly 19th century works, but now they have incorporated some modern and contemporary works (many of which were for the Greek market).  Our period always seems to get diluted in one way or another!  Anyway, on with the show.

On the 11th, Sotheby’s offered their European Painting sale and there were a few interesting results here.  Taking the top position was Hammershoi’s Ida Reading a Letter which blew past its 500-700K estimate to sell for £1.7M ($2.67M) – an auction record for the artist and for any Danish work of art at auction. And as for the balance of the top 5, they were all works by Hammershoi – he was the flavor of the day and all easily beat, or crushed, their estimates.

Now you might think … not bad, must have been a very strong sale – well, that was not the case.  Yes, the Hammershoi’s did amazingly well … in all these 5 lots brought in £4.3M; however, you will soon see that was a large percentage of the sales total.  In addition, there were some big misses including: Bocklin’s Odysseus und Polyphemus (est. £800-£1.2M) which I really did not like; Mir’s Serra de Tramontana, Mallorca (est. £200-£300K); Springer’s The Wijdstraat… (est. £100-£150K); Koekkoek’s A Summer Landscape… (est. £100-£150K); Schelfhout’s Winter Landscape…(est. £100-£150K) and of the 34 Greek works, only 13 sold – hum, wonder why that happened?

When the sale was over, of the 144 works offered only 70 sold (48.6%) … a very low number … and the total take was £6.5M ($10.15M); so even with the buyer’s premium added in they fell short of their presale estimate of £6.8M – £9.98M.  Look, if it weren’t for the serious action on the Hammershoi’s, this sale would have been a disaster … but like I always say: what a difference a painting or two can make.

The next day Christie’s offered their 19th century European Art sale which, unlike the competition, only included 19th century paintings – YES!

Taking top honors in the sale was Sorolla’s Pescadores… which brought £938K against an estimate of £500-£800K.  In addition, his Pescador de quisquillas… took second place with £481K (est. £400-£600K) and in third we found a Delacroix sketch at £361K (est. £300-£500K).

Among the works that did not pass muster were: Sorolla’s A la Orilla del Mar (est. £700-£1M); Zuloaga’s Anita Ramirez in Yellow (est. £250-£350K); Robert’s Procession before the Tombs of the Caliphs… (est. £300-£500K); Boldini’s Figura di donna distesa (est. £120-£180K) – a rather confusing work; and Zandomeneghi’s Femme en bleu qui lit (est. £150-£250K).

At the end of the day, of the 98 works offered 51 sold (52% – a little better than the competition) and the total take was £5.01M ($7.8M) while the low end of their range was £6.7M – so a bit short.

Once again, the results from these sales prove that the market is still not ready to absorb all the material being thrown at it.  I am pleased that the salerooms have reduced the size of their sales, now it is time to reduce the number of sales.  I still do not see why, at this point, they need individual Victorian and 19th century sales.  The New York sales include all that material in one sale; so should the London sales – at least until the lower end of the market is back in full swing.

19th Century Sales Held Up in New York But Will Auction Houses Succumb to Temptation and Increase their Size?

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Yes, Sotheby’s is still squashing our beloved 19th century sale at the end of the Impressionist sales week … not something I am very happy about, but what can I do — keep complaining!  We really need our OWN week!

Anyway here is my take on this sale.  Grabbing the top slot was a small, but beautiful, Bouguereau from 1875 titled Girl with a Pomegranate which carried what appeared to be a rather optimistic estimate of $500-$700K, but when the bidding was done those numbers were left in the dust — the painting made $2.3M WOW!, Coming is second was what they believed was going to be the ‘star’ lot of their sale, Tissot’s The Morning Ride, at $1.87M (falling short of its $2-$3M est.).  Now I must add that while the quality of the painting was pretty good, the subject was not the best – at least when one thinks of Tissot – and judging from the result, the general market felt the same way.  In third was Boldini’s Portrait of Mrs. Howard-Johnson at $1.76M (est. $1.5-$2M) … a nice standard Boldini portrait, but it lacked the sex appeal of those that make the Big Bucks – like it or not, sexy sells!  Rounding out the top five were a very impressive work by Godward titled A Fair Reflection which garnered $1.45M (an auction record – est. $400-$600K) and a nice Corot Les etangs de Ville d’Avray at $1.1M (est. $700-$1M).

It was nice to see that they have continued to keep the number of offerings in check, but the real question is: was it their choice, or the markets?  In other words, are they not being offered the works they need to create larger sales?  My feeling is the latter is probably more of the case and I base that conclusion on the fact that while the sale was small, it really should have been smaller … some of the works offered should not have been in this main sale — whether that had to do with the quality, condition or  estimate range.

Look, the nicer works (in my opinion) commanded very good prices: La Thangue’s Winter in Liguria – $843K (est. $500-$700K – sadly the seller paid $851K for it in 2003 so they took a loss); a nice Kaufmann – Portrait of a Rabbi – at $435K (est. $250-$350K); Knight’s Coffee in the Garden $315K (est. $150-$200K) and Courbet’s Le Moulin at $435K (est. $160-$200K).  And then there were those which, in my opinion, should have never been included in this sale; these included paintings by Bouguereau, Perrault, Morgan, Munier, Kaemmerer, Barye and a few others.

When their session was done, of the 110 works offered 71 found buyers (64.6% – a rather low number and pointing out the market’s desire for the really good works) for a total take of $20.6M — pretty good considering 35% of the works did not sell.  Now let’s compare this sale to last year when they had 100 works offered, sold 66 (66%) and grossed $44.6M.  Ok, so you are wondering: why was last year’s sale so strong?  Well, remember that they had a fairly pricy Tadema – it made $29M – and this year there were no works in that league. Now, when you strip out that one work we find that the 2011 sale brought in about $15.5M from 65 sold works and this year they brought in $20.6M from 71 sold works … in my book, this year’s sale was just as strong as last year’s.  My only concern is that they are beginning to increase the size of their sales – little by little … this is not a good thing!  Please keep them lean … for the time being.

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