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The International Herald Tribune, France
May 12, 2012 Saturday
Disconnect in the art market: Celebrity drives buyers, who operate as
if they live on a different planet
by SOUREN MELIKIAN
NEW YORK
ABSTRACT
Two weeks of sales in New York demonstrate that celebrity drives
buyers, who seem to be operating on a different economic planet.
FULL TEXT
The sales of postwar and contemporary art that took in $388.5 million
at Christie's and $266.6 million at Sotheby's this week conclusively
proved that the disconnect of the art market from the broader economy
is now radical.
When a single evening session ends on the highest total ever scored in
any category, as was the case with Christie's on Tuesday, no one can
doubt that those who run after art operate as if they were living on a
different planet. This outburst of hubristic buying occurred less than
a week after Sotheby's registered its highest score ever, $330
million, in a sale of Impressionist and modern art.
Two historic weeks in a row deserve attention at a time when the
economic outlook is so bleak.
Three salient facts emerge from the buying binge that went on in that
sale. Most striking was the series of world auction records set at
extraordinarily high levels for paintings and three-dimensional works
by artists who have long been praised in the media and displayed in
glamorous museum shows.
Mark Rothko, who became the standard bearer of New York Expressionist
Abstraction by the late 1950s, painted ''Orange, Red, Yellow'' in
1961. The glow of its misty orange rectangles framed by carmine red
bands radiates from far away. Christie's reckoned that the monumental
picture would sell for $35 million to $45 million, plus the sale
charge of more than 12 percent.
It brought $86.9 million, beating the previous record for the artist
for ''White center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose),'' sold by
Sotheby's in 2007 for $72.84 million - a world record for any postwar
and contemporary work.
The second highest price down the list of Christie's world records
went to Yves Klein's ''FCI (Fire Color)'' painted in dry pigments and
synthetic resin. The huge panel, nearly three meters long, about 10
feet, was painted in 1962, the year Klein died. Female silhouettes
move about as if dancing in a ballet. Set off by purplish blue halos
on an ochre background, they give the composition a ghostly touch - to
achieve his ''Fire Color'' paintings, the French artist employed
female assistants standing in the nude and pressing their bodies
against a panel. At $36.4 million, ''FCI (Fire Color)'' exceeded by
two thirds the record price paid at Sotheby's in 2008 for Klein's ''MG
9'' in gold leaf on panel, also from 1962.
The third highest record price in Christie's sale, $23 million,
greeted Jackson Pollock's ''Number 28, 1951,'' underlining the new
energy with which bidders were chasing the best works by postwar
artists. Pollock, the most subtle of the New York upholders of
Expressionist Abstraction, died in 1956. In 2004, ''Number 12, 1949''
sold at Christie's for $11.65 million, half this week's price.
The second significant fact in the Tuesday super-sale was the upward
leap made by small-size works that were seen as negligible less than
20 years ago. Now the artists' names are enough to define them as
desirable tokens.
''When Roy Lichtenstein's ''Brush-stroke'' in graphite, pochoir and
lithographic rubbing crayon done in 1965 came up at Sotheby's in 1987,
it brought $187,000. This week the bill was $2.32 million.
The third notable trend in Christie's sale was the spectacular surge
of interest taken in three-dimensional works by postwar avant-garde
artists. In 1984, David Smith's ''Circle and Angles'' executed in
stainless steel in 1959 barely caused a ripple when it sold at
Christie's for $170,500. It made $4.56 million this week.
The great beneficiary of the interest taken in avant-garde
three-dimensional art from the two decades after the end of World War
II was Alexander Calder. ''Lily of Force'' executed in painted sheet
metal, rod and wire the year the war ended set a record for a standing
mobile by the American artist, at $18.56 million. ''Snow Flurry,''
probably done in 1948, climbed to $10.39 million, more than doubling
the previous highest price for a hanging mobile - paid just last
November. Calder's ''Sumac'' then sold for $4.79 million, also at
Christie's.
Among living artists Gerhard Richter is perceived by bidders as a safe
bet, on a par with postwar artists. A vast ''Abstract picture'' from
1993, shimmering in its admirable color scheme, became the most
expensive work by the master sold at auction when it exceeded
Christie's high estimate at $21.81 million.
On Wednesday, the outpour of money went on at Sotheby's along much the
same lines, but the session in which the offerings were thinner than
at Christie's provided a cautionary note. The two paintings that
carried the signatures of artists with a long record of media
celebration duly rose to world record prices.
One was Roy Lichtenstein's ''Sleeping Girl'' done in 1964 in his style
imitating comics on a monumental scale. It brought $44.88 million. At
Sotheby's in 1988, ''Sleeping Girl'' made $1.32 million. Ten years
later prices had not moved much. In 1998, ''Sleeping Girl'' sold at
Christie's for $1.37 million. Nowadays, the initial jocular intention
that inspired the young Pop artists is forgotten.
The other huge world record was elicited by one of Cy Twombly's vast
gray panels with regular lines of white scribbling. At $17.44 million,
''Untitled (New York City)'' from 1970 beat by $2.2 million the
previous record established at Christie's on May 20 last year for
another scribbling exercise, done in 1967 and simply called
''Untitled.''
Utterly different works, also treated as blue chips by virtue of their
decade-long record of media and museum approval, realized gigantic
prices.
Francis Bacon's ''Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror'' painted in
1976 in the English artist's usual expressionistic manner realized the
same price as ''Sleeping Girl,'' $44.82 million. While aesthetics were
evidently not a major consideration in the making of prices, celebrity
was.
Andy Warhol's ''Double Elvis [Ferus Type]'' done in 1963 in silkscreen
and spray paint on linen might not have excited as much enthusiasm in
earlier years. The very large image portraying Elvis Presley, based on
a still from a movie in which Presley played the lead role as a
gunslinger, is painted in pale gray hues. But this week the combined
names of Warhol and Presley were worth gold - $37.04 million to be
precise.
As at Christie's, Richter's work soared sky high. A 1992 ''Abstract
Bild'' went far above the estimate of $8 million to $10 million plus
the sale charge. At $16.88 million, it was arguably more expensive
than Christie's superior work.
Much lower down on the financial scale, activity was strong too.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's cartoon style ''Ring'' dated 1981 did better
than hoped for at $7.64 million.
And yet, 11 lots went nowhere. Arshile Gorky's ''Khorkom'' was painted
in 1938 in the Armenian artist's style reflecting the joint influences
of early Expressionist abstraction and Surrealism. It remained unsold
at $2.4 million. The consignor had bought ''Khorkom'' at Christie's in
2007 for $4.18 million. Highly regarded by many critics, Gorky enjoyed
one-man shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1951, at the
Tate Gallery, London in 1965, and at the Solomon R. Guggenheim in
1981, to mention a few, but never achieved world fame.
Three lots down, Willem de Kooning's ''Untitled'' did not attract a
single bid despite the American artist's celebrity. The hanging mobile
by Calder that followed sold below expectations, for $1.48 million.
The most famous names too can fail to seduce. Seeking a financial
haven in postwar and contemporary art can resemble a roulette game
where fortunes could be made and ruin is equally possible.
May 12, 2012 Saturday
Disconnect in the art market: Celebrity drives buyers, who operate as
if they live on a different planet
by SOUREN MELIKIAN
NEW YORK
ABSTRACT
Two weeks of sales in New York demonstrate that celebrity drives
buyers, who seem to be operating on a different economic planet.
FULL TEXT
The sales of postwar and contemporary art that took in $388.5 million
at Christie's and $266.6 million at Sotheby's this week conclusively
proved that the disconnect of the art market from the broader economy
is now radical.
When a single evening session ends on the highest total ever scored in
any category, as was the case with Christie's on Tuesday, no one can
doubt that those who run after art operate as if they were living on a
different planet. This outburst of hubristic buying occurred less than
a week after Sotheby's registered its highest score ever, $330
million, in a sale of Impressionist and modern art.
Two historic weeks in a row deserve attention at a time when the
economic outlook is so bleak.
Three salient facts emerge from the buying binge that went on in that
sale. Most striking was the series of world auction records set at
extraordinarily high levels for paintings and three-dimensional works
by artists who have long been praised in the media and displayed in
glamorous museum shows.
Mark Rothko, who became the standard bearer of New York Expressionist
Abstraction by the late 1950s, painted ''Orange, Red, Yellow'' in
1961. The glow of its misty orange rectangles framed by carmine red
bands radiates from far away. Christie's reckoned that the monumental
picture would sell for $35 million to $45 million, plus the sale
charge of more than 12 percent.
It brought $86.9 million, beating the previous record for the artist
for ''White center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose),'' sold by
Sotheby's in 2007 for $72.84 million - a world record for any postwar
and contemporary work.
The second highest price down the list of Christie's world records
went to Yves Klein's ''FCI (Fire Color)'' painted in dry pigments and
synthetic resin. The huge panel, nearly three meters long, about 10
feet, was painted in 1962, the year Klein died. Female silhouettes
move about as if dancing in a ballet. Set off by purplish blue halos
on an ochre background, they give the composition a ghostly touch - to
achieve his ''Fire Color'' paintings, the French artist employed
female assistants standing in the nude and pressing their bodies
against a panel. At $36.4 million, ''FCI (Fire Color)'' exceeded by
two thirds the record price paid at Sotheby's in 2008 for Klein's ''MG
9'' in gold leaf on panel, also from 1962.
The third highest record price in Christie's sale, $23 million,
greeted Jackson Pollock's ''Number 28, 1951,'' underlining the new
energy with which bidders were chasing the best works by postwar
artists. Pollock, the most subtle of the New York upholders of
Expressionist Abstraction, died in 1956. In 2004, ''Number 12, 1949''
sold at Christie's for $11.65 million, half this week's price.
The second significant fact in the Tuesday super-sale was the upward
leap made by small-size works that were seen as negligible less than
20 years ago. Now the artists' names are enough to define them as
desirable tokens.
''When Roy Lichtenstein's ''Brush-stroke'' in graphite, pochoir and
lithographic rubbing crayon done in 1965 came up at Sotheby's in 1987,
it brought $187,000. This week the bill was $2.32 million.
The third notable trend in Christie's sale was the spectacular surge
of interest taken in three-dimensional works by postwar avant-garde
artists. In 1984, David Smith's ''Circle and Angles'' executed in
stainless steel in 1959 barely caused a ripple when it sold at
Christie's for $170,500. It made $4.56 million this week.
The great beneficiary of the interest taken in avant-garde
three-dimensional art from the two decades after the end of World War
II was Alexander Calder. ''Lily of Force'' executed in painted sheet
metal, rod and wire the year the war ended set a record for a standing
mobile by the American artist, at $18.56 million. ''Snow Flurry,''
probably done in 1948, climbed to $10.39 million, more than doubling
the previous highest price for a hanging mobile - paid just last
November. Calder's ''Sumac'' then sold for $4.79 million, also at
Christie's.
Among living artists Gerhard Richter is perceived by bidders as a safe
bet, on a par with postwar artists. A vast ''Abstract picture'' from
1993, shimmering in its admirable color scheme, became the most
expensive work by the master sold at auction when it exceeded
Christie's high estimate at $21.81 million.
On Wednesday, the outpour of money went on at Sotheby's along much the
same lines, but the session in which the offerings were thinner than
at Christie's provided a cautionary note. The two paintings that
carried the signatures of artists with a long record of media
celebration duly rose to world record prices.
One was Roy Lichtenstein's ''Sleeping Girl'' done in 1964 in his style
imitating comics on a monumental scale. It brought $44.88 million. At
Sotheby's in 1988, ''Sleeping Girl'' made $1.32 million. Ten years
later prices had not moved much. In 1998, ''Sleeping Girl'' sold at
Christie's for $1.37 million. Nowadays, the initial jocular intention
that inspired the young Pop artists is forgotten.
The other huge world record was elicited by one of Cy Twombly's vast
gray panels with regular lines of white scribbling. At $17.44 million,
''Untitled (New York City)'' from 1970 beat by $2.2 million the
previous record established at Christie's on May 20 last year for
another scribbling exercise, done in 1967 and simply called
''Untitled.''
Utterly different works, also treated as blue chips by virtue of their
decade-long record of media and museum approval, realized gigantic
prices.
Francis Bacon's ''Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror'' painted in
1976 in the English artist's usual expressionistic manner realized the
same price as ''Sleeping Girl,'' $44.82 million. While aesthetics were
evidently not a major consideration in the making of prices, celebrity
was.
Andy Warhol's ''Double Elvis [Ferus Type]'' done in 1963 in silkscreen
and spray paint on linen might not have excited as much enthusiasm in
earlier years. The very large image portraying Elvis Presley, based on
a still from a movie in which Presley played the lead role as a
gunslinger, is painted in pale gray hues. But this week the combined
names of Warhol and Presley were worth gold - $37.04 million to be
precise.
As at Christie's, Richter's work soared sky high. A 1992 ''Abstract
Bild'' went far above the estimate of $8 million to $10 million plus
the sale charge. At $16.88 million, it was arguably more expensive
than Christie's superior work.
Much lower down on the financial scale, activity was strong too.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's cartoon style ''Ring'' dated 1981 did better
than hoped for at $7.64 million.
And yet, 11 lots went nowhere. Arshile Gorky's ''Khorkom'' was painted
in 1938 in the Armenian artist's style reflecting the joint influences
of early Expressionist abstraction and Surrealism. It remained unsold
at $2.4 million. The consignor had bought ''Khorkom'' at Christie's in
2007 for $4.18 million. Highly regarded by many critics, Gorky enjoyed
one-man shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1951, at the
Tate Gallery, London in 1965, and at the Solomon R. Guggenheim in
1981, to mention a few, but never achieved world fame.
Three lots down, Willem de Kooning's ''Untitled'' did not attract a
single bid despite the American artist's celebrity. The hanging mobile
by Calder that followed sold below expectations, for $1.48 million.
The most famous names too can fail to seduce. Seeking a financial
haven in postwar and contemporary art can resemble a roulette game
where fortunes could be made and ruin is equally possible.