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Sotheby's auction of 20th-century art raked in $224 million in just a brisk 90 minutes on Monday at their York Avenue headquarters. The collection of 31 items fetched a combined hammer price of $190 million, falling short of the house's initial estimate of at least $200 million.
Six items were removed from the auction, and nearly half of the items received financial guarantees.
Monday's sale marked the second week of the prestigious fall auction season in New York. It was preceded by last Tuesday's successful sale of 31 artworks from the Emily Fisher Landau Collection at Sotheby's, which brought in an impressive $406 million. Additionally, Christie's hosted a noteworthy $640 million auction of 20th-century art last Thursday, which saw the establishment of several artist records.
In contrast to the previous success, Monday's auction displayed a relatively more subdued outcome. Conducted by Sotheby's auctioneer Michael Macaulay, an expert in contemporary art, the auction featured works by renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Alberto Giacometti, and Rufino Tamayo, but many of these works were sold at prices below their minimum estimated values.
Notably, a piece by Hedda Sterne, whose association with the New York School is less recognized in the art market, achieved a new record for the artist.
One of the standout highlights of the evening was the sale of Claude Monet's 1888 painting "Le Moulin de Limetz," which came from the descendants of Chicago industrialist Potter Palmer. Amid fierce competition among bidders, both over the phone with specialists and in the auction room, the painting was hammered at $21.5 million, surpassing its high estimate of $18 million, or $25.6 million including fees. The painting was greeted with applause as it was sold to a phone bidder under the guidance of Simon Shaw, Sotheby's vice chairman of global fine arts.
At a similar juncture during the auction, Jen Hua, Sotheby's Deputy Chairman of Asia, emerged victorious in a bidding war against Scott Niichel, Sotheby's Americas Senior Vice President of Modern & Contemporary Art, for a 1924 painting by Marc Chagall titled "Au-dessus de la ville." This intense battle lasted for several minutes, culminating in the painting being hammered at $13.3 million, exceeding its minimum estimate of $12 million, and ultimately selling for $15.6 million, including fees.
Another notable highlight was "La Patience," a 1948 painting by Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, commonly known as Balthus, which was being deaccessioned from the Art Institute of Chicago. Initially estimated to fetch between $12 million and $18 million, this artwork portrays the young model Jeanette Aldry bent over an antique game table. It was hammered just above its minimum estimate at $12.5 million and ultimately sold for a final price of $14.7 million, marking the third-highest price ever achieved for the French artist at auction.
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Subsequently, a 1968 untitled work on paper by Mark Rothko, part of the holdings of Tennessee philanthropist Pitt Hyde, created an unexpected moment of excitement among attendees. This artwork was hammered at $20.5 million, greatly surpassing its minimum estimate of $7 million. The proceeds from the sale, totaling $23.9 million with fees, were earmarked to benefit the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, which the Hyde family supports through a foundation.
Notably, Philip Guston's 1952 painting "The Bell" was one of the six artworks withdrawn from the sale before it took place. Originally expected to fetch between $6 million and $8 million, this artwork had been prominently featured in the "Philip Guston Now" exhibition during its tours to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The owner, Aaron Fleischman, a Met trustee and collector based in Miami who had held the piece since 1990, had initially considered donating it to a museum but ultimately decided to sell it.
The sale of Hedda Sterne's 1956 canvas "Roads #7," which served as the opening lot of the auction, drew attention to a relatively lesser-known artist in the sale. Sterne, an active member of the New York School painters and a subject in the Centre Pompidou's 2021 exhibition "Women in Abstraction," is not a widely recognized name in the auction world. This sale marked the first appearance of Sterne's work in an evening auction. The winning bid for the painting, competed for by four phone bidders, ultimately went to a woman present in the auction room. The painting was hammered at a price of $650,000, surpassing its high estimate of $600,000. The final result of $818,000 established a new record for the artist.
While the excitement around mid-century female painters, which had been evident in previous seasons, has cooled somewhat in recent times, towards the end of the auction, Julian Dawes, an Impressionist and modern art specialist based at Sotheby's New York, successfully secured the bid for a Remedios Varo oil painting titled "Astro errante" from 1961. The painting, depicting a personified star in the form of a female figure emitting rays of light, exceeded its estimated value of $1.2 million, being hammered at $1.7 million, including fees. It's worth noting that Varo's current auction record stands at $6.2 million, established in 2020.
Selena Mattei