Art

What’s Selling Best In New York Evening Art Auctions

Ainhoa Barcelona Reporter London 29 May 2013

What’s Selling Best In New York Evening Art Auctions

Post-war and contemporary art evening sales in last week’s New York auctions raised a staggering total of just over $759 million, the second highest total ever reached after $764 million was collected in November 2012, and an indication of continued hunger for fine art from ultra high net worth investors.

The sales were 19.9 per cent higher than May 2012, and sat in the middle of the pre-sale estimate of between $685 million and $906 million.

For the third consecutive season of New York contemporary sales, Christie’s secured the top spot by exceeding its November 2012 record by 19.8 per cent, reaching a historic sales total of approximately $435 million. In comparison, Sotheby’s fell 12 per cent short of the low pre-sale estimate with a total sale of approximately £256 million.

The darling artists of the auctions were Jean-Michel Basquiat, worth $101.8 million of sales, Roy Lichtenstein worth $79.3 million, Andy Warhol worth $77.55 million, Jackson Pollock worth $70.5 million and Gerhard Richter worth $55.4 million.

These top five artists accounted for a total of $384.5 million, representing 50.6 per cent of the overall evening sales value.

The top end of the art market is fuelling sales, with nine lots sold above $20 million, compared to 14 works in November 2012. Strong confidence in this end of the market was confirmed by ArtTactic’s last US and European Art Market Confidence Survey in January 2013, which revealed that more than 80 per cent of experts surveyed felt confident about the price segment above $1 million.

However, the move into the ultra-high end, representing lots valued at $10 million plus, could carry significant risks when failure to sell one or two pieces could have serious consequences for the outcome of the overall auction, said art investment house, The Fine Art Fund Group.

This was especially true of Sotheby’s when two of its top lots failed to sell, and such failure is symptomatic of a market now heavily reliant on mega sales and record prices, said the investment house.

The competition between Christie’s and Sotheby’s signals signs of strain in the auction market; unless they can pull in top consignments at the ultra-high end of the market and also consistently sell at these prices, market confidence could quickly change, warned the investment house.

The Fine Art Fund Group provides art advisory services to banks and their clients, and advises on over $200 million of assets under contract.

Register for WealthBriefing today

Gain access to regular and exclusive research on the global wealth management sector along with the opportunity to attend industry events such as exclusive invites to Breakfast Briefings and Summits in the major wealth management centres and industry leading awards programmes