Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

Early Kusama Works Fetch $15.2 M. at Auction, Nearly Doubling Expectations

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Yayoi Kusama, Hudson River, 1960.
Yayoi Kusama, Mississipi River, 1960.

A group of 11 early works by Yayoi Kusama from the late 1950s and early ’60s that have been in private hands for six decades sold on Wednesday for a collective $15.2 million—almost double the pre-sale expectation of $8.8 million—at Bonhams during a postwar and contemporary art sale in New York.

The trove consists of three paintings and eight works on paper that Kusama gifted to the late Japanese cardiovascular surgeon Teruo Hirose in exchange for medical care. Bidders from China, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States competed to buy the works, according to a Bonhams spokesperson.

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$93 M. Basquiat Leads Christie’s 21st C. Evening Sale, $17 M. Cryptopunks Among Trending Talent

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Jean-Michel Basquiat, In This Case From, 1983.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, In This Case, 1983.
Christie's
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On Tuesday evening Christie’s launched its new 21st-century sale category (1980s to now) with a 39-lot sale estimated to fetch more than $145 million. Timed an hour later than normal, it ate into America’s dining schedules and Europe’s deep sleep time. And to say that it was all about Asia would be an exaggeration, as barely 7 or 8 lots attracted bidding from Hong Kong. Still, after two hours of remote bidding and eleven record prices, the sale totaled a very healthy $210.5 million, realizing a 95 percent sell-through rate (sold prices include the buyers’ premium; estimates do not). There was no precise precedent for comparison, as previous contemporary art sales included postwar work, henceforth to be included in their 20th-century sales (starting in the 1880s). Christie’s did experiment splitting 20th century and 21st century in the late 1990s, leaving Impressionists to merge with 19th century, but it didn’t work. Now, a quarter of a century on, there is far more contemporary art to choose from. Christie’s last evening contemporary art sale in New York before the pandemic in November 2019 scored $325 million with 54 lots including postwar art; the equivalent sale in May 2019 was $441 million. The drop was to be expected after shifting the postwar material.

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A Season of Optimism: Strong Demand in March-April Cross-Category Sales

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Femme nue couchée au collier (Marie-Thérèse)
Pablo Picasso, Femme nue couchée au collier (Marie-Thérèse), 1932.
Christie's.
The report is available to AMMpro subscribers. (The first month of AMMpro is free and subscribers are welcome to sign up for the first month and cancel before they are billed.)
Following a period of experimentation with new sale formats and technological upgrades, the top auction houses—Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips—have now found their footing in a post-pandemic era. In an attempt to make up for the lost revenue of the first months of the pandemic and the constrained Summer sales, the houses staged a series of smaller cross-category sales from October to December 2020. Still, during those smaller sales the portion held in New York and London lagged behind buying volume in Hong Kong by a noticeable margin, a shift in the usual dynamic that plays out across global sale centers. In response, the three houses invested even deeper in creating thematic cross-category auctions combining trophy lots from old masters to the ultra-contemporary. The London- and Paris-based sales staged between March and April this year saw fewer ultra-high value works (+$40 million.) This despite evidence that demand for top tier works has remained undiminished throughout the pandemic. Even at a lower price point, the top lots of the London and Paris evening auctions were works made by art historical giants like Jean Michael Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch and Vincent van Gogh.

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Sales Report: Frieze New York May 2021

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Casey Kelbaugh
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Hauser and Wirth sold a Louise Bourgeois work in the range of $1 million, a work by Ed Clark for $650,000, a George Condo painting for $800,000, a Rashid Johnson work for $750,000, a work by Simone Leigh at $300,000, Gary Simmons at $200,000, and a Günther Förg at $560,000. James Cohen sold a number of mixed media canvases by Trenton Doyle Hancock for prices ranging between $38,000-$60,000. David Zwirner sold out their booth of new Dana Schutz paintings at prices ranging $700,000-$900,000, and sculptures for $160,000-$250,000. Kasmin sold numerous works priced from $8,000–$350,000 by artists including Cynthia Daignault, Liam Everett, Jan-Ole Schiemann, Elliott Puckette, Tina Barney, Walton Ford, JB Blunk, and Matvey Levenstein. Lehmann Maupin sold out of works by Dominic Chambers for prices ranging from $35,000 to $40,000 and work by Hernan Bas for between $350,000 and $400,000. Goodman Gallery sold a William Kentridge drawing at $700,000 and two quilt tapestries by Hank Willis Thomas at $120,000 and $84,000.

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Auction House Veterans Unveil New Data and Private Dealing Platform

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LiveArt website interface
LiveArt website interface.
LiveArt

There’s a funny thing that happens in the private art market that really isn’t very funny when it happens to you. Because the best art is rarely for sale publicly—and because art buying is too much like being on a treasure hunt—it isn’t uncommon for someone to approach a collector known to have work by an in-demand artist and claim to have a serious buyer for it. After some blandishments and extravagant promises, the “runner,” as a person in that position is known in the trade, secures an image of the work supposedly only for that exclusive client.

In truth, there is no client. But the enterprising runner, knowing there’s a hot market for the artist, starts shopping it around to advisers and private dealers. The runner will take it to directors at some of the important galleries that make money from secondary market sales. As the chain of interested intermediaries extends, eventually someone gets the bright idea of offering the work to a collector who has been known to buy that artist’s work before. Lo and behold, the original collector gets a text and an image offering her the work she already owns.

It’s funny—but infuriating.

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