Art
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.