13/02/2002
by James Gaskell

From the 6^th to the 8^th of February Sotheby’s and Christie’s held a series of brilliantly orchestrated auctions incorporating the most desirable artists with some irresistible low estimates to successfully seduce a sober market. Sotheby’s refined sale of only 38 lots of Post-War and Contemporary art raised $10,667,496 (€12,331,928), selling 82% by lot and 90% by value. Christie’s sale on the other hand fetched $13,603,098 (€15,725,568), divided between their Post-War sale - $10,447,746 (€12,077,892), 89% by lot and 94% by value - and their Contemporary sale - $3,155,351 (€3,647,676), 72% by lot and 77% by value.

Sotheby's sale, which saw nine of the top ten lots sell well above estimate, was dominated by Gerhard Richter, whose major retrospective at the MOMA New York opens this week. In fact the three top lots were by Richter, including the most expensive lot of the week, Mailand: Dom, a magnificent 1964 photo-painting of Milan's Duomo which sold to a US collector for $2,486,540 (€2,874,505), albeit disappointingly below its estimate. More enthusiasm was expressed for Stadtbild Sa, a good example of Richter's cityscape series from 1968, which tripled its modest estimate to sell for $904,515 (€1,045,650). A third Richter, Abstraktes Bild from his abstract series of 1985, affirmed the international interest in this artist, selling to a Korean dealer above estimate for $702,890 (€763,655).

Despite the last minute withdrawal of Warhol's iconic Two Gold Mona Lisas, there was plenty of excitement to be had, not least with the new British star Peter Doig, whose substantial 1990 painting Swamped tripled the estimate and the artist's previous auction record to sell for $454,725 (€525,680) to art adviser Thomas Dane, bidding on behalf of a UK collector. Miquel Barcelo is another painter for whom there was much expectation following the astonishing $1,015,200 (€1,173,600) paid for his work at Sotheby's last June; this week Sotheby's sold Petjellides, a large 1988 work, for a more realistic $346,155 (€400,165), an identical price to a similar example sold at Christie’s the previous evening.

Christie’s Post-War sale saw eight of the top-ten lots going to private collectors. Fernando Mignoni, the specialist in charge, commented: "The sale demonstrated the extraordinary strength of the Post-War market in Europe". The star lot of the evening was an important early Rothko No. 15 from 1949 and one of his first rectangular colour field abstracts, which sold after numerous telephone bids for an above estimate $2,331,790 (€2,695,610). Three works by Francis Bacon were also on offer, with the 1964 Portrait of Man With Glasses IV, ironically the smallest piece with the lowest estimate, fetching the best price at a double-estimate $1,261,600 (€1,458,440). The second much larger and earlier Man in Blue VII from 1954 sold for $997,930 (€1,153,630), having gone unsold at the same sale 12 months ago. The third, Head from 1962, sold at a low estimate $439,570 (€508,150), lacking interest because it was cut down from a larger work.

A major highlight of Christie’s Post-War sale turned out to be a 1963 work by Pierre Soulages which after a slow start went on to triple its estimate and sell for $408,547 (€472,290), setting a new auction record for the artist and providing emphatic evidence of the current strength of the post-war market in Europe.

Christie’s Contemporary sale was again dominated by German photography from the Hans Grothe Collection, led by Andreas Gursky's monumental 1997 work Untitled V which sold to a Korean dealer bidding against Jay Jopling for $610,180 (€705,380) to set a new record for a contemporary photograph at auction, just beating his previous record of $600,000 (€693,600) set at Christie’s in New York in November. A new record was also set for Thomas Demand whose 1998 work Studio sold for $106,100 (€122,660). But while popularity for this group continues to grow, one artist, Thomas Ruff, saw his prices slide this week, when two examples from his famous "Sterne" series both sold for around $77,550 (€89,650), some 25% down on similar works last year.

The lack of interest in Chris Ofili's 1998 Four Plus One More, which was bought in at $91,650 (€105,950), reflects the YBA's decline. But as fashion moves on, new artists emerge and much interest was shown in Turner prize nominee Glenn Brown's 1994 major work Ornamental Despair which sold well in a relatively untested market for an above estimate $46,389 (€52,160).

The "Part two" sales were dominated by an abundance of photography, by Wolfgang Tilmans for example, much of which failed to attract interest, resulting in sold rates reduced to around 65%. This is reflected in Christie’s decision to pull the plug on the funding for their well-marketed Contemporary sales which from this summer will be combined with Post-war art, as at Sotheby's. This move will only heighten the distortion in both Sotheby's and Christie’s contemporary auctions caused by the absence of installation and video work, such a prevalent medium in contemporary art, and will thereby heighten criticism of their financial exploitation of the market.