Polaroid Auction Commences with $7.2M in Instant Gratification for Creditors
Ansel Adams "Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park," mural sized, est. $300K-$500K, sold for $722,500. Photo: Sotheby's
Sotheby’s conducted the first part of a two-day sale of images from the Polaroid Collection last night. The first session included 99 lots and was front-loaded with some of the collection’s best material. Not surprisingly all 99 lots sold. The estimates were pegged extremely low estimates and, one imagines, so were reserves.
The sale came on the heels of protest and hand-wringing from some members of the photography community who objected to the dispersal of the historic collection.
The session totaled $7.2 million, topping the $4.5 million pre-sale high estimate.
Today Sotheby’s will sell the remaining 473 lots. The auction is by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota. Sale proceeds benefit creditors of PBE Corp., formerly Polaroid, which filed for bankruptcy twice in the previous decade. (My earlier Bloomberg story about the sale here).
Landscapes by Ansel Adams fetched some of the biggest prices. New York collector Sunil Hirani was among the successful bidders for Adams large format images.
“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire some of the most iconic American photography by the best and most well…
Out with the New. Tiffany Lamps Dominate Sotheby’s Design Sale
Tiffany "Dragonfly" table lamp sold for $554,500. Image: Sotheby's
By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views contributor
A circa 1898-1905 Tiffany’s ‘Dragonfly’ table lamp by Clara Driscoll fetched $554,500 today at Sotheby’s in New York, exceeding the $300,000-$500,000 presale estimate. The work was the sale’s top lot.
The lamp, made of leaded glass and patinated bronze and adorned with dragonflies in shades of blue and green, was snatched up by an anonymous phone bidder. The bidder also acquired four other Tiffany fixtures in the sale. The lamp’s design spearheaded a new genre of matched shade-and-base design in the Tiffany’s product line, according to Sotheby’s catalog.
Another ‘Dragonfly’ table lamp, circa 1905, sold at Christie’s New York in December 2009, for $602,500.
The lamp was among 76 lots sold today for $5,121,813. The sale was projected to total $4.3 to $6.4 million. 67 percent of items offered found buyers.
A 1925 three-panel gilt wood screen by Armand-Albert Rateau failed to sell. It was estimated to go for $400,000-$600,000, but the auctioneer was unable to find a single bidder after opening bids at $250,000. A 1926 Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann ‘Cla-Cla’ Reading Desk also did not receive any bids, failing to reach the presale…
Sotheby’s Roman Sells Marble Torso for $7.4M
Egyptian sandstone lintel acquired by Emory's Michael C. Carlos Museum. Image: Sotheby's
An early Roman marble torso of an Emperor sold for $7.4 million on Friday at Sotheby’s in New York, surpassing a $1.2 million high estimate. The torso dates to the first half of the first century A.D. and sold to an unnamed phone bidder. There were seven bidders vying for the piece. Contenders included New York dealer Hicham Aboutaam of Phoenix Ancient Art bidding in the salesroom, the Metropolitan Museum of Art-according to a source–as well as a major European collector.The torso was consigned by an Austrian family, according to Sotheby’s.
Sotheby’s sale totaled $17.5 million, far above the $4.8 million projected high estimate.
Other lots crushed pre-sale expectations. A 2nd century Roman imperial marble bust of Athena Giustiniani was estimated to sell for up to $900,000 and sold for $4.1 million.
The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University snagged an Egyptian sandstone lintel and door jamb relief fragment, dating back to 690 B.C. Estimated to sell for up to $15,000, the museum was compelled to pay $80,500 for the piece.
Bloomberg News: Lehman May Raise $10 Million at Sotheby’s Art Sale in New York
From Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers Corporate Art Collections: Julie Mehretu "Untitled I" 2001, Est. $600-$800,000, Image: Sotheby's
Click here for link to Bloomberg News.
By Lindsay Pollock
June 4 (Bloomberg) — Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the investment bank liquidating in bankruptcy, may reap more than $10 million from an art sale at Sotheby’s this fall, including a Julie Mehretu painting estimated to fetch a near 40-fold profit.
The swirling, abstract by Mehretu, the 2001 “Untitled 1,’’ is estimated to sell for as much as $800,000, according to Sotheby’s. The bank acquired the painting in 2001 for $21,726. Mehretu, who has a show at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, recently completed a mural for the lobby of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s New York office.
Lehman is selling more than 400 contemporary artworks at Sotheby’s in New York on Sept. 25 in a single-owner sale, with the proceeds going to creditors.
“The idea wasn’t to purchase for investment,’’ said Naomi Baigell, a Sotheby’s senior vice president in charge of corporate art services. “They showcased what was going on each year. The idea was to bring new culture to the workplace.’’
The sale’s projected top lot is Damien Hirst’s 1993 “We’ve Got Style (The…
American Art Upswing at Sotheby’s, Horchow sells Hartley, Davis
Georgia O'Keeffe "Black Petunia and White Morning Glory I" sold $4.1 million. Image: Sotheby's
Sotheby’s American paintings, drawings and sculpture sale totaled $31.9 million yesterday, more than double the $15.3 million tally a year ago. The sell-thru rate was less impressive: just 60.7 percent of lots found takers.
Georgia O’Keeffe, the doyenne of American painting, was represented at Sotheby’s by two sublime examples. Both were purchased by a private collector bidding through Robert Simon, a private dealer and consultant. A 1926 black and white canvas with two flowers, Black Petunia and White Morning Glory I, was estimated to sell for $2 million to $3 million and made $4.1 million. It was the sale’s top lot.
The painting bears a label from Steiglitz’s Intimate Gallery, where it was exhibited in 1927. The painting was also included in O’Keeffe solo shows at the Brooklyn Museum in 1927 and MoMA in 1946. A related 1926 painting belongs to the Cleveland Museum.
Another O’Keeffe, the creamy 1930 topographical Inside Clam Shell, is an abstract painting, resembling a parched mountain range. The painting was estimated to sell for $3 million to $5 million and made $3.4 million on thin bidding. Santa Fe’s
Bloomberg News – Warhol Portrait of Gaunt Self Fetches $32.6 Million in N.Y.
Photo: via Bloomberg News
Coverage from Wednesday night follows…
Link to Bloomberg News story here.
By Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff
May 13 (Bloomberg) — A purple Andy Warhol portrait of himself looking wild-haired and gaunt fetched $32.6 million at a New York auction last night, twice the work’s presale estimate, as buyers sought rare art amid financial-market volatility.
The nine-square-foot 1986 “Self-Portrait,” completed a year before the artist’s death, was offered by fashion designer Tom Ford and went to an unidentified buyer. The silkscreen ink, acrylic paint on canvas was the priciest item of Sotheby’s 53- lot sale that tallied $190 million, against the company’s presale estimate of $161.8 million. Just three lots were unsold.
“Self Portrait” ranks among the three most-expensive works by Warhol sold at auction and is the costliest of his latter-year works. The record was the $71.1 million paid in 2007 in New York for his 1963 “Green Car Crash.”
“People are willing to break (price) boundaries with late Warhols,” said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s chief auctioneer and head of the contemporary-art department, after the sale.
Yesterday’s sale brings the two-week total of Sotheby’s…
Art Cuts – Red Rothko, Purple Warhol and other Sotheby’s Contemporary Highlights
Sotheby's Tobias Meyer with Mark Rothko's "Untitled" 1961
Here’s the latest Art Cuts: a look at some of the property coming up for sale at Sotheby’s in a matter of hours.
Click here to watch video.
Bloomberg News – Collector Sues as Rothko Goes on Block Tonight for $25 Million
Photo: via Bloomberg News
Link to Bloomberg News story here.
By Lindsay Pollock
May 12 (Bloomberg) — Marguerite Hoffman, a prominent Dallas art collector, filed suit this week against Mexican financier David Martinez for failing to keep her 2007 sale of a star Mark Rothko painting a secret. The suit stems from the painting’s public sale tonight at Sotheby’s, estimated to fetch as much as $25 million.
Three years ago, after her 59-year-old husband’s death, Hoffman sold the painting to an undisclosed buyer, with the proviso that the details of the sale remain a secret, according to her lawsuit, filed in a Dallas, Texas, district court.
Hoffman sold the Rothko in April 2007, just as the painting came off the walls at the Dallas Museum of Art where it had hung in an exhibition titled “Fast Forward: Contemporary Collections for the Dallas Museum of Art,” featuring promised gifts to the museum. Hoffman is a trustee at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Marguerite and her late husband Robert Hoffman were among three Dallas couples who in 2005 announced a pledge to donate their art collections to…
Basquiat Estate Poised to Raise $8.6 Million at Sotheby’s
Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat "Untitled" 1984, est. $2-$3 million. Photo: Sotheby's
As I reported here in March, the estate of artist Jean Michel Basquiat has taken the unusual step of consigning artworks directly to auction. The estate is selling six works at Sotheby’s. Now that the May contemporary catalogs are out, I wanted to follow up with the details.
The paintings are expected to tally up to $8.6 million and include three paintings in the May 12 evening sale: A nearly 10-foot wide 1984 collaboration between Andy Warhol and Basquiat, priced $2 million to $3 million (lot 40). Warholian elements include a silkscreen ‘Zenith’ TV logo. Basquiat elements include skeleton-like sculls.
The evening sale also includes the 1983 Flash in Naples, depicting a of superhero figure decked out in red suit with a bolt of lightening across the chest. The figure is stands on an unusual gridded background. The painting (lot 39) is estimated to sell for up to $2 million. The seven-foot tall Untitled (Stardust) with a sax-player, is estimate up to $2.5 million (lot 52).
The May 13 day sale includes three more pieces, including a oil stick on board, a monotype and an…
Bloomberg News – Asians Buoy Sotheby’s $196 Million New York Impressionist Sale
Sotheby's Simon Shaw and Emmanuel Di Donna hang Modigliani
Link to Bloomberg story here.
By Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff
May 6 (Bloomberg) — Asian buyers won four of the top ten lots last night in New York, as Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art tally tripled to $195.7 million from a year ago.
The evening’s highest price, $28.6 million, was for a floral 1919 Matisse, “Bouquet de fleurs pour le Quatorze Juillet.” A day earlier, rival auction house Christie’s International took a record $106.5 million for a Picasso in an Impressionist and modern sale that totaled $335.5 million.
“Wealthy investors can see the rebound is real,” said John Rogers Jr., chief executive of Chicago-based Ariel Investments, which held 3.2 million Sotheby’s shares at year-end. “This is a confidence game. They’re more confident,” he said after watching last night’s auction with his 20-year-old daughter, Victoria, an art-history major at Yale University.
The Impressionist evening auctions keep the market on track for a predicted $1.2 billion of spring art sales in New York over two weeks and provide momentum for next week’s contemporary art bidding. Sotheby’s shares have more…
