Latin American Art Market watch

Rufino Tamayo
Trovador
1945
$7,209,000
Christie’s New York
May 28, 2008

ART MARKET WATCH
May 30, 2008

$26.6 MILLION FOR CHRISTIE’S LATIN AMERICAN
Christie’s New York evening sale of Latin American art on May 28, 2008, totaled $26,632,850, a record for any sale in the category. Of 80 lots offered, 66 were sold, or 83 percent. Christie’s expert Virgilio Garza called the auction "historic," noting that it demonstrates "the vitality and vigorous ascent of the Latin American art market."

The sale’s top lot was Rufino Tamayo’s Trovador (1945), which sold for $7,209,000 to an anonymous bidder, more than double the presale high estimate of $3 million and a new auction record for any Latin American artwork. The seller was Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA. Christie’s top ten also included works by Alfredo Ramos Martínez ($2,169,000), Claudio Bravo ($1,273,000) and Lenora Carrington, whose El Juglar (1954) sold for $713,000, a new record for the artist.

New records were established for Mario Carreño ($541,000), Jesús Rafael Soto ($481,000), Pedro Coronel ($457,000), Francisco Toledo ($265,000), Juan Soriano ($217,000), Gonzalo Fonseca ($157,000) and Kati Horna ($16,250).

With the results of Christie’s day sale of Latin American art on May 29 added in, the total jumps to $33,861,360, with 82 percent of the lots finding buyers.

$21 MILLION FOR SOTHEBY’S LATIN AMERICAN
Sotheby’s New York evening sale of Latin American art on May 29, 2008, totaled $21,033,500, well above the presale high estimate of $17,945,000 and the highest total ever for a Latin American evening sale at the firm. Of 77 lots offered, 68 found buyers, or more than 88 percent.

Sotheby’s expert Carmen Melián called the market "buoyant," and noted that the sale featured five works by Rufino Tamayo, including the top lot, El Comedor de Sandias (1949), which sold to an anonymous buyer for $3,625,000. All five Tamayo works sold for a total of $6.3 million.

A new auction record was set for Joaquín Torres-García, whose Constructif Mysterieux (1932) sold for $1,721,000 (est. $1.1 million-$1.4 million) to Cavaliero Fine Arts, a private dealer with offices on West 36th Street in Manhattan. New auction records were also set for Argentine Cubist Emilio Pettoruti ($629,000) and the port-scene realist Benito Quinquela Martín ($421,000), as well as for kinetic artists Alejandro Otero ($409,000) and Carlos Cruz-Diez ($169,000). Additional records were set for Julio Le Parc ($313,000), Francisco Matto ($43,000) and Martha Boto ($37,000).

Sotheby’s New York day sale of Latin American art continues today.

$310.7 MILLION AT CHRISTIE’S HONG KONG
Christie’s Hong Kong sales totaled $310.7 million, the highest in the category and a dramatic increase of 57 percent over Christie’s spring series in Hong Kong in 2007. No fewer than 50 lots sold for more than $1 million in the series of six sales, which were held May 25-29, 2008, and included auctions of jewelry and watches as well as ceramics and classical, modern and contemporary art. Christie’s CEO Edward Dolman noted that Hong Kong is a key global sales center alongside New York and London.

In the contemporary category, Christie’s sale totaled $104.6 million, a 33 percent increase over last year. The sale’s top lot was Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask Series 1996 No. 6, which sold for $9,662,114, a new record for any work of Chinese contemporary art. Records were also set for Yue Minjun, whose Gweon-Gweong sold for $6,934,018, and Subodh Gupta, whose Saat Samundar Paar sold for $1,190,658. In all, records were set for 29 Japanese artists, 10 Indian artists, 10 Korean artists and five Chinese artists.

$87 MILLION FOR SOTHEBY’S AMERICAN
Sotheby’s New York sale of American art on May 22, 2008, totaled $87,006,200, with 176 of 214 lots finding buyers, or more than 82 percent. Seventeen works sold for over $1 million, and new auction records were set for 14 artists. The market "is hungry for high quality works," said Sotheby’s expert Dara Mitchell. (Christie’s New York sale of American art on May 21 totaled $72.8 million).

Top lot was Edward Hicks’ The Peaceable Kingdom with the Leopard of Serenity (ca. 1846-48), which sold after extended bidding -- five minutes -- to an anonymous American buyer for $9,673,000, above the presale high estimate of $8 million. The price was a record for a work of American folk art at auction. This painting is clearly a particularly good example of one of more than 60 variants on the theme.

Other new records were set in the top ten for William Merritt Chase, whose I Think I Am Ready Now (The Mirror, the Pink Dress) sold for $6,649,000 (est. $1,500,000-$2,500,000), almost twice the artist’s previous auction record, and Frederic Remington, whose bronze cast of The Wounded Bunkie, sold to benefit an unnamed charity, went for $5,641,00 (est. $3,000,000-$5,000,000). William Sidney Mount’s The Ramblers sold for $2,281,000, and Charles C. Coleman’s Azaleas and Apple Blossoms sold for $2,281,000, both records for the artists.

More artist records were set for Blanch Lazzell ($505,000), Edmonia Lewis ($301,000), Francis Coates Jones ($181,000), Rubins Peale ($145,000), Margaretta Angelica Peale ($91,000), E. William Gollings ($169,000), Ray Swanson ($97,000) and Maria Peale ($40,000).

For complete, illustrated auction results, see Artnet’s signature Fine Art Auctions Report. by W. Robinson at Artnet

BONHAMS EXPANDS IN AUSTRALIA
Bonhams has acquired the Melbourne-based auction firm Leonard Joel, Australia’s third oldest auction house. Tim Goodman, chairman of Bonhams & Goodman, noted that he had long planned to consolidate the Australian auction business, a goal that he has achieved over the last four years by acquiring Bruce’s of Adelaide (established in 1878) and Stanley & Co. as well as Leonard Joel. The head of Joel, Warren Joel, is remaining as CEO under contract.

Learn about Art & Art Collecting at Sotheby's

Sotheby’s has an outstanding collection as an auction house and has been at the centre of the Fine Art industry since its conception in London in 1744, when founder Samuel Baker sold off an acquisition of ‘…several hundred scarce and valuable books’. In the 20th Century Sotheby’s expanded from being a purveyor of rare books, to becoming a handler and dealer of all fine and decorative arts.

Due to incredible business acumen and a strong understanding of the arts, Sotheby’s have weathered both financial crises and upheavals in the art world with great success. Accordingly, they now stand as one of the biggest forces on the art market, and one that is likely to go unchallenged, except for the ongoing rivalry offered by Christie’s auction house.

In 1964 Sotheby’s acquired leading U.S. auction house ‘Parke Bernet’ (in New York), giving them a vital outlet in what they realised to be a growing international market.

As well as the main New York and London (both Olympia and Bond Street) locations, Sotheby’s have many other auction locations worldwide, including Toronto, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Singapore and Sydney.


Of the five most expensive paintings of all time, four were sold by Sotheby’s. The highest selling is ‘Portrait of Adele Boch Bauer’ by Gustav Klimt, which sold for 135 million USD at Sotheby’s New York Gallery in summer 2006.

At the turn of the century, both the New York and London auction houses expanded massively making Sotheby’s an unstoppable force on the international scene. It is liable that expansion into the Far East, India and China will seal their dominance of the art market. However, with so many unexplored market areas, the way is left open for entrepreneurs to at least infringe on some of their territory.

Additionally, there are many representative and associate galleries across the world, including eighteen in the United Kingdom and Ireland alone.

A Range of Services
Sotheby’s offers a range of services, listed on their website: www.sothebys.co.uk. Amongst these are auctions, which are advertised well in advance, ‘advanced viewings’, valuations, a loan service and financial advice (including tax and heritage advice).
Buying and Selling
In order to bid at Sotheby’s you must register in advance and get a numbered paddle. You can also arrange to make absentee bids, or telephone bids. In order to bid in person and buy, you must have a passport or driving licence. The New York auction house do occasional internet bidding, conducted via e-Bay. If this is successful, this is something that is likely to become more common in the future, though as with all internet purchases it is wise to make some guarantee as to the quality/condition of the product before buying.
When offering something to sell you must arrange an initial consultation, where a valuation will be made, followed by a decision as to whether your artwork(s) is suitable for auction.

Sotheby’s Institute of Art
Sotheby’s run their own arts education programme in London, New York and Singapore, with courses ranging from ‘Art Business’ bachelors and masters programmes, to art historical programmes and evening classes.
With the range of services that Sotheby’s offer, they clearly pander to a market that appreciates having everything at hand. Obviously, considering the large amounts of money that change hands at auction, it follows that buyers are well looked after.

Josef Albers
Title 1-S a
Medium color silkscreen
Size 21.5 x 21.5 in. / 54.5 x 54.5 cm.
Year 1968 -
Edition 5/75
Cat. Rais. Danilowitz, 184
Misc. Signed
Sale Of Germann Auktionshaus: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 [Lot 102]
Moderne Druckgraphik und Multiples
Estimate 1,100 - 1,400 CHF (1,100 - 1,400 US$)
Sold For Currency Converter
Auction Info. Germann Auktionshaus
Zeltweg 67
Zurich , CH-8032 Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0)44 251 83 58
Fax: +41 (0)44 261 53 87


Josef Albers (March 19, 1888 – March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist, mathematician and educator whose work, both in Europe and in the United States, formed the basis of some of the most influential and far-reaching art education programs of the 20th century.

Albers was born in Bottrop, Westphalia (Germany). He studied art in Berlin, Essen, and Munich, before enrolling as a student at the prestigious Weimar Bauhaus in 1920. He began teaching in the preliminary course of the Department of Design in 1922, and was promoted to Professor in 1925, the year the Bauhaus moved to Dessau.
With the closure of the Bauhaus under Nazi pressure in 1933, Albers emigrated to the United States and joined the faculty of Black Mountain College, North Carolina, where he ran the painting program until 1949. At Black Mountain his students included Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Ray Johnson and Susan Weil. Weil remarked that as a teacher, Albers was "his own academy" and said that Albers claimed that "when you’re in school, you’re not an artist, you’re a student", though he was very supportive of expressing one's self and his or her own style when one became an artist and began his or her journey.[2] In 1950 Albers left Black Mountain to head the Department of Design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, until he retired from teaching in 1958. In 1962, as a fellow at Yale, he received a grant from the Graham Foundation for an exhibit and lecture on his work. At Yale, Richard Anuszkiewicz and Eva Hesse were notable students. Albers also collaborated with Yale professor and architect King-lui Wu in creating decorative designs for some of Wu's projects. Among these were distinctive geometric fireplaces for the Rouse (1954) and DuPont (1959) houses, the façade of Manuscript Society, one of Yale's secret senior groups (1962), and a design for the Mt. Bethel Baptist Church (1973). In 1963 he published Interaction of Color which presented his theory that colors were governed by an internal and deceptive logic. Also during this time, he created the abstract album covers of band leader Enoch Light's Command LP records. Albers continued to paint and write, staying in New Haven with his wife, textile artist Anni Albers, until his death in 1976.


Josef Albers, Proto-Form (B), oil on fiberboard, 1938, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Accomplished as a designer, photographer, typographer, printmaker and poet, Albers is best remembered for his work as an abstract painter and theorist. He favored a very disciplined approach to composition. Most famous of all are the hundreds of paintings and prints that make up the series Homage to the Square. In this rigorous series, begun in 1949, Albers explored chromatic interactions with flat colored squares arranged concentrically on the canvas.
In 1971 (nearly five years before his death), Albers founded the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation[3], a not-for-profit organization he hoped would further "the revelation and evocation of vision through art." Today, this organization not only serves as the office Estate of both Josef Albers and his wife Anni Albers, but also supports exhibitions and publications focused on Albers works. The official Foundation building is located in Bethany, Connecticut and "includes a central research and archival storage center to accommodate the Foundation's art collections, library and archives, and offices, as well as residence studios for visiting artists."[4] The U.S. copyright representative for the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation is the Artists Rights Society[5].


Albers' work represents a transition between traditional European art and the new American art.[6] His work incorporated European influences from the constructivists and the Bauhaus movement, and its intensity and smallness of scale were typically European.[6] However, his influence fell heavily on American artists of the late 1950s and the 1960s.[6] "Hard-edge" abstract painters drew on his use of patterns and intense colors,[7] while Op artists and conceptual artists further explored his interest

Gustav Courbet - Art Market Performance

Realism

Best known as an innovator in Realism (and credited with coining the term), Courbet was a painter of figurative compositions, landscapes and seascapes. He also worked with social issues, and addressed peasantry and the grave working conditions of the poor. His work belonged neither to the predominant Romantic nor Neoclassical schools. Rather, Courbet believed the Realist artist's mission was the pursuit of truth, which would help erase social contradictions and imbalances.


Plage de Normandie. (c. 1872/1875). Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art.
For Courbet realism dealt not with the perfection of line and form, but entailed spontaneous and rough handling of paint, suggesting direct observation by the artist while portraying the irregularities in nature. He depicted the harshness in life, and in so doing, challenged contemporary academic ideas of art, which brought the criticism that he deliberately adopted a cult of ugliness.
His work, along with the work of Honoré Daumier and Jean-François Millet, became known as Realism.


Portrait of Countess Karoly (1865)
Born in Ornans (Doubs), into a prosperous farming family which wanted him to study law, he went to Paris in 1839, and worked at the studio of Steuben and Hesse. An independent spirit, he soon left, preferring to develop his own style by studying Spanish, Flemish and French painters and painting copies of their work.
His first works were an Odalisque, suggested by the writing of Victor Hugo, and a Lélia, illustrating George Sand, but he soon abandoned literary influences for the study of real life.
A trip to the Netherlands in 1847 strengthened Courbet's belief that painters should portray the life around them, as Rembrandt, Hals, and the other Dutch masters had done.
Among his early works, he painted his own portrait with his dog, and The Man with a Pipe, both of which the Paris Salon jury rejected. However, the younger critics, the Neo-romantics and Realists, loudly sang his praises, and by 1849 Courbet was becoming well known, producing such pictures as After Dinner at Ornans (for which the Salon awarded him a medal) and The Valley of the Loire.
[edit]Burial at Ornans



Gustave Courbet. Burial at Ornans. 1849-1850. Oil on canvas. 314 x 663 cm. Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
One of Courbet's most important works is Burial at Ornans, a canvas recording an event which he witnessed in September 1848. Courbet's painting of the funeral of his grand uncle became the first masterpiece in the Realist style. People who had attended the funeral were used as models for the painting. Previously, models had been used as actors in historical narratives; here Courbet said that he "painted the very people who had been present at the interment, all the townspeople". The result is a realistic presentation of them, and of life, in Ornans. The painting caused a fuss with critics and the public. It is an enormous work, measuring 10 by 22 feet (3.1 by 6.6 meters), depicting a prosaic ritual on a scale which previously would have been reserved for a religious or royal subject. Eventually the public grew more interested in the new Realist approach, and the lavish, decadent fantasy of Romanticism lost popularity. The artist well understood the importance of this painting; as Courbet said: "The Burial at Ornans was in reality the burial of Romanticism."


Portrait of Jo (La belle Irlandaise), a painting of Joanna Hiffernan, the probable model for L'Origine du monde
The Salon of 1850 found him triumphant with the Burial at Ornans, the Stone-Breakers (destroyed in 1945), and the Peasants of Flagey. Other figurative works, with common folk and friends as his subjects, included Village Damsels (1852), the Wrestlers, Bathers, and A Girl Spinning (1852).
Courbet associated his ideas of realism in art with anarchism, and, having gained an audience, he promoted democratic and socialist ideas by writing politically motivated essays and dissertations.
To a friend in 1850 he wrote,
“ ...in our so very civilized society it is necessary for me to live the life of a savage. I must be free even of governments. The people have my sympathies, I must address myself to them directly.[2] ”
He displayed his monumental The Artist's Studio in 1855. It is an allegory of his life as a painter, seen as a heroic venture, in which he is surrounded by friends and admirers, among them Charles Baudelaire.
[edit]Notoriety



The Origin of the World (L'Origine du monde). (1866). Paris: Musée d'Orsay.
Towards the end of the 1860s, Courbet painted a series of increasingly erotic works such as Femme nue couchée. This culminated in The Origin of the World (L'Origine du monde) (1866), depicting female genitalia, and Sleep (1866), featuring two women in bed. While banned from public display, the works only served to increase his notoriety.
On 14 April 1870, Courbet established a "Federation of Artists" (Fédération des artistes) for the free and uncensored expansion of art. The group's members included André Gill, Honoré Daumier, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Eugène Pottier, Jules Dalou, and Édouard Manet.
His refusal of the cross of the Legion of Honour offered to him by Napoleon III made him immensely popular with those who opposed the current regime, and in 1871 under the revolutionary Paris Commune he was placed in charge of all the Paris art museums and saved them from looting mobs. For his insistence in executing the Communal decree for the destruction of the Vendôme Column, he was designated as responsible for the act and accordingly sentenced on 2 September 1871 by a Versailles court martial to six months in prison and a fine of 500 francs.
In 1873, the newly elected president Mac-Mahon wanted to resurrect the Column, and Courbet was singled out to pay the expenses. He then took refuge in Switzerland to avoid bankruptcy. On 4 May 1877, the estimate of the costs was finally established: 323,091 fr 68 cent. Courbet was allowed to pay the fine in yearly installments of 10,000 francs for the next 33 years, until his 91st birthday.
Courbet died, age 58, in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, of a liver disease aggravated by heavy drinking on 31 December 1877, a day before the payment of the first installment was due. (Bernard Noël, 1978)

ART MARKET WATCH Nov. 13, 2008

Roy Lichtenstein
Collage for Two Nudes
1995
passed
(est. $3.5 million-$4.5 million)
Christie’s New York
Nov. 12, 2008




$113.6 MILLION AT
CHRISTIE’S CONTEMPORARY
Christie’s New York sale of contemporary art on the evening of Nov. 12, 2008, totaled $98,480,000 ($113, 627,500 with premium), with 51 of 75 lots finding buyers, or 68 percent. Although several new auction records were set (see below), as a rule the hammer price of sold lots was less than the presale low estimate. Overall, the sale came in at about half of its total presale low estimate of $227 million.
The total for the current auction compares unfavorably to Christie’s 2007 fall contemporary sale, which amounted to $325 million, and to Sotheby’s New York sale last night, Nov. 11, which totaled $125 million. It’s been awhile since Sotheby’s has had the lead in this category.

Buyer breakdown was 60 percent American, 18 percent European and Russian, zero percent Asian and 24 percent "other," leading Sotheby’s auction expert Amy Cappallazzo to proclaim that "America is back and strong." As for the large percentage of "other" buyers, Christie’s is vague -- perhaps they include international fugitives, space aliens and Ernst Stavro Blofeld, or simply clients who insist on total anonymity.

The sale itself was crowded, with people and with lots, and seemed long, lasting just under two hours. Auctioneer Christopher Burge was noticeably suffering from nasal congestion (if Burge catches a cold, does the sale get pneumonia?), but pursued every last bid nevertheless, which eats up the minutes.

Further bogging down the proceedings in the middle of the sale was the auction of 16 recently acquired drawings owned by Museum of Modern Art trustee Kathy Fuld, wife of disgraced Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld. The total for the collection, which included drawings by Arshile Gorky, Barnett Newman, Agnes Martin and Willem de Kooning, was $13,552,500 (with premium), rather less than the secret guarantee, which has been put variously at $14 million and $20 million.

Though dubbed "Master Drawings of American Post-War Art: A Private Collection," the callow nature of the undertaking is revealed in its quick turnaround. Gorky’s Study for Agony I (1946-47), for instance, is a preparatory drawing for a painting now at MoMA. Fuld bought it at auction in 1996 for $370,000 at the hammer, and sold it this time around for $1.9 million ($2,210,500), making a nice profit, even if the auction house may not have. The buyer was New York dealer Matthew Marks, who also won several other drawings from the Fuld collection.

Less profitable was the resale of an untitled Barnett Newman ink-on-paper "zip" that had been purchased more recently: at Christie’s New York in May 2007, for $2,760,000 (with premium). This time around, it sold to a phone bidder for $2.6 million ($2,994,500). Other works in the Fuld collection were bought from Gagosian Gallery and L&M Arts in New York, and Anthony Meier in San Francisco. Larry Gagosian himself was not in the salesroom; speculation in the press queue had him with Fuld in one of Christie’s skyboxes -- though no one actually spotted them.

As for the major lots, the bad news first. Francis Bacon’s Study for Self-Portrait (1964), estimated at $40 million, drew hardly a bid, as did Brice Marden’s loopy oil painting, Attendant 5 (1996-97), estimated at $10 million-$15 million. Other works that failed to sell included a Gerhard Richter abstraktes bild (est. $10 million-$15 million), Peter Doig’s Pine House (est. $4.5 million-$6.5 million), Georg Baselitz’ Ein Grüner (est. $4 million-$6 million), Roy Lichtenstein’s Two Nudes (est. $3.5 million-$4.5 million) and Mark Tansey’s classic 1980s-era painting, Modern/Post-Modern from 1981 ($600,000-$800,000).

A small (40 x 16 in.) Andy Warhol double Jackie failed to sell (est. $1.8 million-$2.2 million) as did a tiny (26 x 22 in.) Mao (est. $4.5 million-$6.5 million) and an even smaller (24 x 24 in.) image of four poppies (est. $2 million-$3 million). This last work had the flowers in black, making the picture look either unfinished or like anti-matter, depending on your mindset. "The weakest group of Warhols I’ve ever seen in an evening sale," said Richard Polsky, author of I Bought Andy Warhol (Bloomsbury).

The top lot was Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (710) from 1989, which was acquired from Marian Goodman Gallery and compared in the auction catalogue to Max Ernst’s frottage paintings. It sold for $14,866,500 to a phone bidder, somewhat more than its presale estimate of $13 million. The painting carried an undisclosed guarantee.

Another top lot was Jean-Michel Basquiat’s oversized (74 x 96 in.) painting of a triumphant boxer that was being sold by Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Though tracing its provenance to the late dealer Vrej Baghoomian, who had been embroiled in a Basquiat forgery controversy, this picture nevertheless sold for $12 million ($13,522,500 with premium) to a phone bidder.

In the catalogue, the work was impressively compared to photographs of Muhammad Ali in the ring, the U.S. sprinters giving the Black Power salute at the Mexico City Olympic Games, a ca. 1807 drawing of a slave being whipped, an Egon Schiele self-portrait as St. Sebastian, and Mattias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece. The picture had a presale estimate of about $12 million, and did not carry a guarantee.

The auction did have its moments of theater and, in its small way, of comedy -- supplied by the irrepressible Robert Mnuchin, a principal of L&M Arts. During a long bidding duel over Yayoi Kusama’s early, rare and large (72 x 108 in.) white "infinity net" drawing, No. 2 (1959), which was once owned by Donald Judd, Mnuchin and New York dealer Philippe Segalot fought it out, in $100,000 increments, from around $3 million at the start to the winning bid of $5.1 million ($5,794,500 with premium).

Both men were on cell phones. Early in the bidding, Mnuchin disrupted the usual even back-and-forth by shouting out his next bid, jumping a level to $3.5 million, and then, to indicate $3.8 million, held up eight fingers in what could be called an interesting configuration. "Surprise me sir," said the auctioneer.

The bidding and the banter continued -- with Segalot bidding more conventionally by raising his index finger -- until Segalot lost his cell line, leading to a pause after Mnuchin had bid $5 million. Burge kept taking, proclaiming "reconnected!" when Segalot bid $5.1 million, winning the lot, as Mnuchin shook his head and punned, "I’ve lost it!" The price is a new auction record for Kusama.

The other interesting bidding battle came two lots earlier, when several bidders fought it out for Joseph Cornell’s Pharmacy (1943), a wooden shelf construction containing 20 vials, each filled with romantic flotsam -- a butterfly wing, a shell, a picture. Clearly predictive of Damien Hirst’s own "Pharmacy" series, the Cornell had belonged to Teeny Duchamp, and carried a presale estimate of $1.5 million-$2 million. It sold for $3.3 million ($3,778,500 with premium), a new auction record for Cornell. The buyer was identified by the Baer Faxt as Daniel Varenne, an art dealer with a gallery in Geneva.

Other buyers of note included Giancarlo Giammetti, Valentino’s business partner (the maestro himself was absent), who bought Richard Prince’s Lake Resort Nurse (2003) for $2.9 million ($330,500 with premium, well below the presale low estimate of $5 million).

Philippe Segalot and Franck Giraud, who are partners in GPS Partners, Inc., an art dealership with addresses in Paris and on East 70th Street in Manhattan, were big players in the sale. In addition to the record-setting Kusama, they bought Takashi Murakami’s sculpture of DOB in the Strange Forest (Red DOB) (1999) for $3 million ($3,442,500, against a presale low estimate of $5 million) and Robert Irwin’s untitled orange canvas from 1963-64 for $880,000 ($1,058,500, with premium, within the presale estimate of $700,000-$1,000,000), a new auction record for the artist. They also bought an Agnes Martin painting for $1,202,500.

New York art consultant Stefano Basilico won Arshile Gorky’s untitled drawing, Study for Betrothal (1946) for $266,500, and Ed Ruscha’s Hollywood Study #4 (1968) for $722,500. Jose Mugrabi bought the very first lot in the sale, Tom Wesselman’s Study for Great American Nude #20 (1961) for $986,500 (est. $600,000-$800,000).

The buyer’s premium is 25 percent of the first $50,000, 20 percent of any amount up to $1 million, and 12 percent on anything above that

For complete, illustrated results, see Artnet’s signature Fine Art Auctions Report.


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A Six-Step Guide to Caring for Photos

Published: December 27, 2006
NEW YORK— The packing instructions on your newest art acquisition read: “Handle with Care.” But how much do you really know about how to maintain and preserve your personal collection?
“I certainly think custodians of works of art, artifacts and material of historic or cultural value should do what they can, given their particular resources,” said Lee Ann Daffner, conservator of photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Yet for collectors of photography and other new media, the challenge of conservation is compounded by the ever-evolving nature of the medium, which can surpass even most preservationists’ understanding.

To that end, ArtInfo offers this six-step instruction guide with valuable information gathered from two of the leading experts in the field of photo conservation. Not only will these tips help maximize the longevity of your artwork, but also protect its appearance for future generations.

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Step 1: Get Informed

Photography may be a popular choice for emerging collectors, but the mistake many newcomers make is not knowing what they are getting, warned Nora Kennedy, conservator of photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Large contemporary color photographs are often treated like paintings, which they are not,” she said. “Most color images are made from dyes which are inherently unstable, often both in the light and dark. This does not mean that they will disappear in a matter of weeks or months, but it does mean that a greater awareness is required to preserve [them] into the future.”

So before making a purchase, obtain all the details possible about the work. A dealer should have access to the specifics: the type of work, whether a chromogenic photograph, inkjet print, or other; the manufacturer of the materials; the conditions under which the work is expected to last; and the name of the person researched the specifications.

And to take your research even further, Kennedy suggests going straight to the source.

“[The Met] also asks the artist for their view on the preservation of their work,” she said. “This information will be instructive over the short term, but should also travel with the work into the future, as it will be critical to its long-term preservation as well.”

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Step 2: Seek Smart Storage

“The storage facility and storage enclosures are really important,” said MoMA’s Daffner. “Cool and dry are the best conditions.”

Both MoMA and the Met have special temperature-controlled storage rooms for photography (MoMA maintains a “cool” room at 50 degrees Fahrenheit with 40 percent relative humidity, and a “cold” room at 32-34 degrees Fahrenheit with 35 percent relative humidity).

“Obviously, cold storage is not an option yet for many private collectors,” Kennedy said. “This will be a solution that the private sector turns to increasingly in the future, just as museums internationally have done.”

She recommends instead using a special storage facility outside the home. (But before handing over your artwork, request temperature and humidity records covering at least a year and check those to make sure proper levels are being maintained.)

But for collectors who want to keep works in their home, there are still options, offered Daffner. “With temperature, go as low as you can go. If you can only cool a room with an air conditioner, certainly that’s better than room temperature.” And never store photographs an area that might get damp or moldy, such as a basement, she cautioned.

Collectors should also look for products that have been subjected to a photographic activity test (PAT), and, when in doubt, consult with an expert at an archival supply store.

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Step 3: Go Easy on the Light

Most collectors don’t store their photographs 100 percent of the time—after all, half the fun of acquiring them is showing them off. But the more light the photographs see, the more they will deteriorate.

“They are sensitive to light and they will change over time; there’s no getting around that,” Daffner said. “Direct light is the death toll of photography.”

To minimize fading and color shifts, make sure photographs are always framed under UV-filtering Plexiglas; exhibit them under low light levels; and rotate your collection periodically.

“Museums tend to rotate their photography exhibitions every three or four months,” Kennedy said. “UV light filtration is important, but keep in mind that all wavelengths of light are damaging to color images. Although color is best seen under bright lighting conditions, these will be the most damaging over time.”

And, of course, for an obvious tip: Always avoid direct sunlight.

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Step 4: Don’t DIY

You might have framed those family snapshots just fine, but when it comes to fine art photography, matting and framing is best left to the experts, Daffner explained.

“Call a museum conservation department and ask them what framer they use, if they don’t have an in-house framer,” she said. “Even if they do have an in-house framer, they can recommend someone based on their reputation. Dealers can also make recommendations.”

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Step 5: Deter Damage

If the worst happens—a photograph gets wet, moldy or scratched—don’t panic. Instead, get in touch with a photography conservator and leave the difficult job of repair to an expert.

But do act fast, cautions Kennedy. “Photographs have gelatin and paper in their composition, materials that are very attractive to mold and mildew. If the damage proceeds to this stage, very little can be done to reverse it.”

If you don’t know of a conservator, contact the American Institute for Conservation, which has an online referral service at http://aic.stanford.edu/.

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Step 6: Rally Your Resources

In addition to the AIC, these other organizations offer up-to-date advice and care guidelines, news on cutting-edge technology and publications from the experts.

Nine Tips for Collecting Photography

NEW YORK—“The difference between someone who collects and someone who doesn’t collect,” says WM Hunt, cofounder of Chelsea’s Hasted Hunt gallery and a 35-year collector himself, “is committing. You like a picture, you’ve got the money, buy the damn thing. Commit.”

Hunt offered this tough-love call to action at a panel called “Collecting Photography: What’s Hot,” at the debut New York Photo Festival, which took place in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood May 14–18. Joining him were fellow gallerist Yancey Richardson, collector (and record exec) Kent Belden, and Patrick Amsellem, who is associate curator of photography at the Brooklyn Museum. The discussion was organized by AIPAD (the Association of International Photography Art Dealers).

Like many of photo-world professionals and enthusiasts who attended the new festival, dedicated to “the future of contemporary photography,” these four talked about finding that perfect work — a work that compels you to collect — as a visceral, pulse-raising experience.

“Look at the hair on the back of your hand,” advises Hunt. “Listen to your heart. Commit.”

Here are some more tips from the panel to help you get started.

1. No Trust Fund? No Problem
You might not be a nouveau riche Russian billionaire or the heir to a family forture, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a collector. “There are many areas of the market to collect in," says Richardson. "You can buy Struth and Gursky and be ready to spend a hundred thousand to half a million dollars, but you can also buy strong young artists for, say, $2,000 to $3,500.”

2. Let Dealers Help
“A lot of dealers are collectors at heart, so they share this excitement and enthusiasm for finding a piece that’s fabulous and wonderful and right for you,” says Richardson — even if that fabulous piece is in another gallery. “Part of the excitement of the photographic community is that a lot of sharing goes on.”

3. Be Sneaky
If you find a work that you love but can’t afford, look around a bit, advises Belden. You may be able to find a smaller version of it being offered somewhere else. Belden does most of his searching online, trying auction house, gallery, and artist Web sites.

4. Look in the Closet
If you go to an art fair, says Richardson, look in the closets. “I’ve found some of the best pieces for myself and my clients in the closets of the exhibition booths. They’re for sale, but they’re tucked away for one reason or another.”

4. Don’t Rely on Fairs
Go to art fairs to see a range of work, but go to exhibitions at galleries to learn about a particular artist’s range, says Richardson. “You’ll have a much better understanding of who that artist is.”

5. And While You’re There…
If you find an artist you like at a particular gallery, ask to see work by other artists it represents, since it could be that your taste overlaps with the gallerist’s. You can also browse through a gallery’s stable of artists online, though Richardson warns that there’s a good chance the images posted there are not necessarily the newest work.

6. Do Not Fear the Gallerina
Those chic, bespectacled young aesthetes behind the desk at the gallery may not be the most welcoming, but they’re there to help. “I know people find galleries intimidating,” says Richardson, “but we’re always trying not to be.” She suggests the following approach: “If you’re interested in something, walk up to the gallerina at the desk and say you’d like some help, or point to something on the wall and say, ‘Who is that, can you tell me about that?’ In many galleries, someone will happily get up and talk to you about the artist.”

7. Stop By in the Summer
“Summertime’s a great time to look at photographs,” says Hunt, “because many galleries will do a summer show that features talent that the gallery’s trying on to see the response. The price point is pitched a little lower, because you get a different kind of traffic in summer. And I think dealers behave a little differently.”

8. Give a Little, Get a Little
Charity auctions can be a great place to find bargains, says Richardson. Galleries are unlikely to offer up their very best gems, but “often a lot of very good pieces are donated. It’s also a great way to get exposed to a lot of work.” Hunt adds that it’s also “a great way to see a mix of photographs that may otherwise never be seen together.”

9. Be a Joiner
If you can afford it, join the support group for patrons of the photography department of your local museum, suggests Richardson. “Curators and directors will talk with you about work they’ve seen that they think is important. They’ll take you through the art fairs and help you understand what you’re looking at.”

Price Realized (Set Currency)
$1,142,500
Price includes buyer's premium
Estimate
$1,200,000 - $1,800,000


Lot Description
Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920)
Napa Valley Ridge
signed 'Thiebaud' (lower right); signed again and dated 'Thiebaud 1986 1997' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm.)
Painted in 1986-1997.
Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM A NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLECTION
Provenance
Gift of the artist to the present owner
Lot Notes
Recreating the late afternoon sunshine on a tree-tipped Napa precipice, Wayne Thiebaud's Napa Valley Ridge is a masterwork of contemporary American landscape painting. Knowingly painting in the tradition of the early American landscape painters like Albert Bierstadt, Thiebaud uses the extreme Californian topography to his advantage, shrinking the human scale against the awe-inspiring precipices that are unmistakably of this region.

Thiebaud's work is inseparable from its Californian origins. From his sun-filled pastry-shop windows to his San Francisco streets to the Sacramento-area landscapes he began painting in the late 1960's, each of his works are at once vivid exaggerations of west coast style and exercises in realism. Easily identifiable to locals, Thiebaud's landscapes depict pin-point geographies and mappable destinations. First painting his study en situ, and then retiring to his studio to complete the work, one can imagine Thiebaud stationed on the ridge across from this one, and in all likelihood, visit its exact location.
In Napa Valley Ridge the soft, mountainous topography and the rich farming fields that have made the region a culinary destination are unmistakable. Spending time as a child on his grandfather's ranch in southern California, Thiebaud himself had tried his hand at farming and the experience was a major influence on his painting. As the artist would recall: "I plowed, harrowed, dug, and hitched up teams. and planted and harvested alfalfa, potatoes, corn and I loved it it was such a great way to grow up. These paintings have something to do with the love of that and in some ways the idea of replicating the experience." (W. Thiebaud quoted in S. Dalkey, "Wayne Thiebaud's Rural Lanscapes," Wayne Thiebaud, Rural Landscapes, exh. cat., San Francisco, Campbell- Thieubaud Gallery, 1997, n.p).

But while Thiebaud's Napa is undeniably real, the artist cannot resist the influence of art history before him. His wont is to depict the ordinary with a myriad variety of sources, and the result is a singular style of abstract realism which, at the time that his colleagues on the east coast were engrossed in theories ranging from pop to minimalism, Thiebaud pioneered and refined in his own, quiet reactionary way. That Thiebaud was once a cartoonist himself is no surprise. Like his rows of perfect confections, the towering bluffs and the helium-filled clouds of Napa Valley Ridge are romanticized, simplified versions of themselves. Meanwhile the ground, reduced to a bold series of colorful shapes and shadows and compressed into a single tilted plane that squeezes out the sky-- is a study in both impressionist color theory and cubist abstraction.

Theibaud owes debt too, to the great British painters before him; the cloud studies of Constable, and the romantic Joseph Mallard William Turner, who personified the British landscape with an aura of mystery. Finally, his treatment of the trees and the line of the ridge itself is derived from the Persian notion of miniature painting as well as Japanese ink drawings. He devotes his scenery to the depiction of a purified nature that despite being shaped by the markings of man, is placidly devoid of human presence. He has explained: "I tried to steal every kind of idea - Western, Eastern - and the use of everything I could think of-atmospheric perspective, size differences, color difference, overlapping, exaggeration, linear perspective, planal and sequential recessions-and to do that with the kind of vision I talked about before with as many ways of seeing the same picture-clear forms, hazy, squinting, glancing, starting, and even an inner seeing." (S. A. Nash, "Unbalancing Acts," exh. cat., Wayne Thiebaud, a Paintings Retrospective, San Francisco, Fine Arts Museum p.33).

The real and the imagined combined, Thiebaud reproduces not only what can be seen; but also the halo that he senses his subject to project. That the bluffs of Napa Valley Ridge glow at the edges with his signature rainbow of oil paint is fitting. The technique is at once an ingenious means of showing us the refracted light of sun's setting, and on the other hand, a metaphor for describing the unique aura that leads Thiebaud to choose, again and again, an exclusively Californian subject matter.

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Price Realized (Set Currency)
$902,500
Price includes buyer's premium
Estimate
$900,000 - $1,200,000

Lot Description
Damien Hirst (b. 1965)
Afterworld
signed, titled and dated 'Afterworld 2007 Damien Hirst' (on the reverse)
Butterflies and household gloss enamel on canvas
diameter: 48 in. (121.9 cm.)
Executed in 2007.
Provenance
White Cube, London
Department Information
Post-War & Contemporary Art
Keywords
Hirst, Damien (b. 1965)
2000s
Paintings
Great Britain
Contemporary