A $325-million US auction of postwar and contemporary artwork in New York Tuesday night has helped allay concern that the international art world was heading for a downturn.
The 1955 Mark Rothko work Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange) fetched the top price at Tuesday night's Christie's auction, with an anonymous bidder paying $34.2 million US (including commission) for the painting — surpassing its pre-sale upper estimate of $30 million.
A reproduction of Andy Warhol's portrait Liz and the Jeff Koons sculpture Diamond (Blue) were displayed in front of the Christie's offices in New York before Tuesday night's auction of postwar and contemporary art.
(Seth Wenig/Associated Press)
More than a dozen artists achieved new record prices at the evening sale, including Lucien Freud, Richard Prince and Jeff Koons.
Piney Woods Nurse by Prince — currently being honoured with a retrospective at New York's Guggenheim — fetched $6.1 million US, nearly triple the painting's pre-sale upper estimate of $2.2 million.
However, some of the artists who achieved record high prices did so with artwork that sold shy of pre-sale estimates.
For instance, Freud's portrait Ib and her Husband, which depicts the artist's daughter entwined with her spouse, sold for $19.4 million — below its $20-million US estimate.
Two of the evening's most high profile works sold despite failing to achieve pre-sale forecast prices.
Actor Hugh Grant sold his 1963 Andy Warhol painting Liz (Colored Liz), a portrait of Elizabeth Taylor, for $23.5 million US. It had carried an estimate of between $25 million and $35 million.
Diamond (Blue), a massive, jewel-shaped sculpture by Jeff Koons that has been displayed outside the Manhattan offices of Christie's for weeks, drew only one bidder: New York art dealer Larry Gagosian, who also represents Koons.
He bought the work for $11.8 million US, just shy of the sculpture's $12-million US pre-sale estimate, but still a record high for the artist.
Many art experts and industry watchers expressed relief at the close of Tuesday night's sale, following which Christie's officials reported the sale of more than 90 per cent of the evening's lots.
"The market is obviously incredibly healthy right across the board," said Christopher Burge, Christie's auctioneer for the evening, according to Reuters.
"It was an absolutely incredible result."
Last week's poor performance at an Impressionist sale by rival auction house Sotheby's — including a late van Gogh masterpiece failing to sell — had caused many to speculate that ever-increasing art prices had reached a ceiling and the market was stalling.
Overall, the Christie's evening brought in a total of $325 million US, "right in the middle of the $270 million to $375 million US estimate," Burge said.
With files from the Associated PressRelated
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