238.9 million in sales for contemporary art at Sotheby's
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The first sale, of modern and impressionist art, brought in a total of $141.1 million and the goods were sold 100% by lot. In addition, the live broadcast was viewed by more than one million people worldwide. Amy Cappellazzo, President of Sotheby's, Global Fine Art, points out that the sales of contemporary, impressionist and modern art for the month of October reached more than $500 million worldwide. Evening sales were 97% sold. One of the leading artists was Giacometti, who sold two sculptures, Woman of Venice IV and Great Woman I in private sales. The success of these auctions is due to the ability to rethink the traditional calendar in order to provide even more important works as well as a wide and flexible range of possibilities. This capacity for innovation allows the sales to be relaunched and to maintain their interest.
Grégoire Billault, head of the Contemporary Art Department at Sotheby's in New York, notes that the important element of these sales is the duration of the auctions, reflecting the high level of competition. For instance, for a pair of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the auctions lasted 6 minutes. Julian Dawes, head of the evening sales of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby's in New York, recalls the sales where 100% of the lots are sold. The Leoni Woman by Alberto Giacometti was the second highest sale after a bidding competition between New York and Hong Kong. The other top sale of the evening, Il Pormeriggio di Arianna by Giorgio de Chirico, which sold for $15.9 million, provoked a 10-minute battle between buyers.
David Galperin, head of the Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Sotheby's in New York, highlights the evening's attractive events, such as the sale of extraordinary paintings and the long minutes of debate between buyers, which were particularly exciting. Exciting moments throughout the evening's auction for works Other incredible sales include works by René Magritte, which totalled $14.1 million, and Rêverie de Monsieur James, which sold for $5.1 million. Another impressive sale was Vincent Van Gogh's Flowers in a Glass, which sold for $16.2 million. Also, Man Ray's Black Widow (Nativity) was sold for $5.8 million. Pablo Picasso was also an important artist in this sale, in fact, five of his works were sold for $9.2 million. While the Brooklyn Museum's works brought in $7.2 million.
For the evening contemporary art auctions, the total auction was $142.8 million. Buyers marveled at the Alfa Romeo Berlina Aerodinamica Tecnica Concepts alias B.A.T. 5, 7 & 9d which raised $14.8 million. These are highly conceptual and sought-after 20th century models. Sotheby's had already been able to offer for sale Schumacher's famous Ferrari for $7.5 million.
Here again, the sales lasted long minutes, of debate and competition to obtain sumptuous works. Approximately six minutes of battle per work for a total of 15.1 million sales for the Enrico Navarra collection. Or ten minutes of negotiations for a dining table by Carlo Mollino who doubled his estimate of $3 million.
Finally, works by living artists such as Jordan Casteel's large hairdressing salon reached $564,500, or Alexander Calder's Sumac 17 monochrome, sold for $8.3 million, but also Ruth Asawa's work, a hanging sculpture called Untitled sold for $4.3 million.
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