By Carter B. Horsley

This large day auction of Contemporary Art covers a wide gamut of styles and subject matter with 295 works being offered. Given the high buy-in rates at this season’s Impressionist sales, this auction fared relatively well with about 71 percent of the offering lots selling.

Lot 357, "Burst II," by Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974) is a 90-by-60-inch oil and acrylic on linen, shown above, that is a good example of this artist’s work. It is estimated at $200,000 to $250,000. It sold for $225,750 including the buyer’s premium as do all results in this article.

Lot 320, "Henry Geldzahler," by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is a 40-inch square synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas that is dated 1979 and depicts the famous art critic and curator. It has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 and is very colorful. It sold for $81,250.

Lot 275, "Anchor Stuck in Sand," by Edward Ruscha (b. 1937) is a 60 ¼-by 112 ¼-inch acrylic on canvas, shown at top of this article, that is very haunting. Dated 1990, it has an estimate of $65,000 to $85,000. It sold for $69,750.

Neil Jenney (b. 1949) has a couple of good works in the auction, Lots 256 and 274. The former is entitled "Piano Pianist" and measures 58 by 76 inches and has an estimate of $60,000 to $80,000. It was executed in 1969. It sold for $110,000. The latter, shown above, is entitled "Man + Thing" and measures 71 ½ by 44 ½ inches. Also dated 1969, it has an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. It sold for $72,625.

Lot 269 is a nice folding screen that is abstractly painted in a dark palette, 72 by 151 inches, by Sol LeWitt (b. 1928). It has an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000. It sold for $41,000.

A fun work entitled "Model For In Civil War," by Robert Longo (b. 1953) combines a silkscreen on aluminum with a steel outline of the United States and 18 baseball bats. Lot 249, it is dated 1986 and is number 2 from an edition of 3. It measures 34 by 34 by 1 ½ inches. It has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. It failed to sell.

Another three-dimensional piece is Lot 299, "Elimination of Nostalgia, ABC," a mixed media construction by Larry Rivers (b. 1923) that is 84 by 64 ½ by 25 ¾ inches. Executed in 1967, it has an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 227, "The Sun’s Luxury," is a very good oil on linen, 84 by 72 inches, by Ross Bleckner (b. 1949). It has an estimate of $35,000 to $45,000. It sold for $43,875.

Cindy Sherman has many works in this auction. The most striking is Lot 176, "Untitled #122," a 40-by-30-inch color photograph, dated 1983 and numbered 16 of an edition of 18. It has an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.

The catalogue provides the following commentary:

"In 1983 the designer and owner of a Soho boutique, Diane Benson, commissioned Cindy Sherman to produce a series of works for Interview magazine. For this project, the Diane B. photographs, designers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Comme des Garcons supplied Sherman with clothes. Through artful manipulations of cost8me, makeup, light and set, Sherman subsumes the strong fashion component of the clothing into a greater whole, creating decidedly unglamorous images that portray the artist as an ungainly ‘every-woman’ whose physical and emotional awkwardness is paramount."

The lot sold for $52,500.

The catalogue’s cover illustration is a detail of Lot 180, "Untitled #119," a 30-by-40-inch color photography by Sherman of herself apparently as a chanteuse. The 1983 work is number 16 of an edition of 18 and has an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000. It sold for $64,000.

Another popular photographer in the market in recent years has been Nan Goldin (b. 1953). Lot 122, "Self-Portrait in Kimono With Brian," is much more pensive than most of her oeuvre although it retains the same intense, saturated lighting of most of her intimate interior pictures. Many of her other works tend to focus on the stridency, or blatancy, or mere sexuality of her subjects. This work is very appealing in its warmth and interesting composition. It has an estimate of $10,000 to $15,000. It sold for $8,400.

One of the auction’s most interesting works is Lot 114, "Years/Months/Weeks/Days/Hours/Minutes/Seconds," by Tony Oursler (b. 1957). The work consists of a 9 ¾-by-27 ½-by-16 ¾-inch suitcase that is opened with a cloth doll at one side on whose face is projected a video of a human face talking. While indebted of course to Joseph Cornell’s little boxes, this work is both delightful and eerie. It has an estimate of $20,000 to $25,000. It sold for $38,125.