Christie’s postwar and contemporary art evening sale on May 13 totaled $348,263,600, marking the second highest total ever in auction history for the category. Eight new world auction records were established for artists, including Richard Prince, Sam Francis, Leon Gottlieb, with Lucian Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” setting a world auction record for any living artist. The sale was 95 percent sold by value and by lot.
The following day’s results, combined with the evening sale, brought the auctions of postwar and contemporary art to a grand total of $430,816,950.
The collection of three Abstract Expressionist works of art brought record prices for Francis’s “Black,” 1955, which achieved $5,193,000, and Gottlieb’s “Cool Blast,” 1960, which totaled $6,537,000. The glorious red and yellow “No. 15” by Rothko, 1952, commanded $50,441,000, the second highest total for a work by the artist.
Two of the most important British artists were represented by deeply intimate and stunning interpretations of the human subject: Freud’s “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” 1995, and Francis Bacon’s “Study for Self-Portrait,” 1976. The most significant work by Freud to appear at auction, the life-size “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” fetched $33,641,000, eclipsing the previous Freud record set by Christie’s last season for “Ib and Her Husband” (sold on November 13, 2007, for $19,361,000). Bacon’s “Three Studies for Self-Portrait,” 1976, is among the finest of an outstanding series of self-portraits that the artist executed and it achieved $28,041,000.
Striking, sexy and effortlessly cool, Andy Warhol’s “Double Marlon,” 1966, sold for $32,521,000. Taken from a still of Brando’s controversial film, The Wild One , the work exemplifies Warhol’s obsession with celebrity and Hollywood. All the other works by Warhol in the sale performed well, with the “Last Supper” achieving $8,777,000 and “Campbell’s Soup Can (Pepper Pot)” selling for $7,097,000, demonstrating Warhol’s lasting influence on the market.
The catalog’s cover lot, Jeff Koons’s “New Hoover Convertibles, New Shelton Wet/Drys 5-Gallon, Double Decker,” achieved $11,801,000. Conceived and executed from 1981 to 1986, the work forms part of the celebrated series known as “The New.”
Further sale highlights included Clyfford Still’s, “1946 (PH-182),” which totaled $14,041,000, and a spectacular “Abstraktes Bild” by Gerhard Richter, which achieved $14,601,000, the second highest total for a work by the artist. Tom Wesselmann’s “Smoker #9,” 1973, totaled $6,761,000 †a world auction record for the artist.
Additional world auction records were established for Prince’s “Man Crazy Nurse #2,” which sold for $7,433,000; Barnett Newman’s untitled, which achieved $5,193,000; and Robert Indiana’s “USA 666, The 6th American Dream,” which totaled $1,833,000.
The night’s proceedings also included the Christie’s Realty International, Inc sale of Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House. Along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson’s Glass House, Neutra’s Kaufmann House is one of the most important examples of modernist residential architecture in the Americas and remains singular as the most important example of midcentury modernist architecture in the Americas to remain in private hands. It sold for $16,841,000 †and the buyer exercised an option to buy the orchard, taking the total for the house to $19,025,000.
The May 14 morning and afternoon sessions of postwar and contemporary art achieved $82,553,350. Coming after a stellar evening sale, these sessions succeeded in continuing the strong performance of the previous night. Highlights in the morning session included David Park’s “Louise,” $2,729,000, and Louise Bourgeois’s “Quarantania,” $2,505,000. The afternoon session continued to demonstrate strong prices and interest for contemporary artists with Donald Judd’s “(90-3 Donaldon)” selling for $1,721,000 and Sherrie Levine’s “Fountain (After Duchamp)” going out at $713,000, more than seven times its presale estimate.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, 212-636-2000 or www.Christies.com .
