By Michele Leight
Highlights of Sotheby's November 11, 2008 Post War and Contemporary Art evening sale in New York include an example of Yves Klein's Relief Eponge series, "Archisponge RE 11," (estimated in the region of $25 million), Lucian Freud's "Naked Portrait Standing" (estimated $9,000,000 to $12,000,000), Roy Lichtenstein's "Half Face with Collar" (estimated $15,000,000 to $20,000,000), and an important abstract painting by Philip Guston, "Beggars' Joys." (estimated in the region of $15 million).
All the estimates, of course, reflect sunnier economic times back in the spring and summer. It remains to be seen whether buyers will meet prices that sellers - the owners of the artworks - have become accustomed to receiving in the recent art market. Last season's prices are a tough act to follow, when a triptych by Francis Bacon sold at Sotheby's for $86,281,000, at the best sale in Sotheby's 264-year history (see The City Review article), a sale that totalled $362,037,000 including buyer's premiums. That said, however, last week a Russian Suprematist painting by Kasimir Malevich sold for $60,002,400 at Sotheby's, at the auction's high pre-sale estimate.
This auction's "big ticket" painting, "Archisponge (RE11), Lot 12, by Yves Klein (1928-1962), was once owned by Francis de Menil of NewYork. It has an estimate of around $25 million. It sold for $21,362,500 including the buyer's premium. The sale sold 43 of the offered 63 lots for $125,131,500. Tobias Meyer, worldwide head of Contemporary Art at Sotheby's, said after the auction that"Tonight we saw a seasoned, smart collecting community responding to great material at levels that were achievable. The American collecting community bought works of quality with intelligence, for the right price." Alex Rotter, the head of the Contemporary Art Department in New York added that "the market has gone up more than 250 percent in the past two yeas, and the global financial turmoil obviously has brought a correction. Tonight's sale...brings us back to the levels of the autumn of 2006, when the evening sale also brought $125 million."
Klein was influenced by Japanese stone gardening and the Zen philosophy of physical and spiritual harmony, which shows in his mysterious, otherworldly "Archisponge (RE11)," executed in his patented IKI (International Klein Immaterial) blue. The granular additive in Klein's paint mixture adds to the planetary, cosmic feel of the artwork with its pigment encrusted sponges jutting out from the pitted surface of the canvas. The color blue is quite amazing. Sotheby's catalogue describes other influences for Klein's extraordinary vision: "Growing up on the Mediterranean Coast, Klein was deeply affected by the void of sea and sky as uninterrupted spatial fields. Underlying his boundless creativity was an innate desire to venture beyond that which was concrete."
Phillip Guston's "Beggar's Joys," painted a few years before Klein's "Archisponge (RE11)," is an important work representing the artist's transition from the figurative painting of Social Realism in the 1930s towards abstraction. Guston (1913-1980) was a "painter's painter," who pursued his own individualistic style, epitomized in this calmly beautiful painting that paradoxically possesses a compelling internalized energy the more one looks at it. It has an estimate of about $15 million. It sold for $10,162,500 far above the artist's previous world auction record of $7,296,000. Artist's records were also set for John Currin, whose "Nice 'N Easy" sold for $5,458,500, way above his previous record of $847,500, and for Richard Serra whose "12-4-8" sold for $1,650,500, just over his previous record of $1,497,000.
Landscape has been a strong influence on many of the artists whose works feature prominently in this sale, including Cy Twombly (b. 1928), who said it was one of his favorite things in the world. In "Untitled (A Painting in Two Parts) (Bassano in Teverina)," Lot 11, Twombly's visceral approach, smearing, dripping, punctuated by globs of three dimensional pigment in rosy pinks, orange and blood reds, evokes fertility, life and pulsating energy. This is an extraordinary work of art when viewed in person that will be included in the supplement to the catalogue raisonne of the paintings of Cy Twombly edited by Heiner Bastian. It has an estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000 and would hang nicely next to the Guston. The lot sold for $4,786,500.
Ed Ruscha's "Desire," Lot 21, a 1969 oil on canvas entitled "Desire" that measures 60 by 55 inches, is illustrated above. It is by Ed Rusha (b. 1937) and has an estimate of $4-6 million. It sold for $2,434,500.
On the left is Lot 20, "Set of Four Boxes: Brillo Soap Pads; Campbell's Tomato Juice; Del Monte Peach Halves; Heinz Tomato Ketchup" by Andy Warhol, (1928-1987), one of several works by him on offer at this sale. It has an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 15, also shown above, is a mobile by Alexander Calder (1898-1976) entitled "Deux Dates." It measures 43 by 109 by 55 inches and was executed in 1964-9. It has an estimate of $1,200,000 to $1,800,000. It sold for $2,490,500.
Lot 17, Roy Lichtenstein's iconic Pop Art graphic cropped from a comic book "Half Face with Collar," is one of three paintings by the artist on offer at this sale, illustrated at the top of this story. It has an estimate of $15,000,000 to $20,000,000. It failed to sell.
Sotheby's catalog offers insight into his creative process from an interview with John Coplans in a 1967 exhibition catalogue at the Pasadena Art Museum:
"As in 'Half Face with Collar," Lichtenstein magnified and transferred his images to canvas by hand - and later by stencil as in the present work - in a painstaking process that distanced him from both the expressionistic details of brushwork and the naturalistic representation by heightening the heavy stylization of the comic book source. 'I want my painting to look as if it has been programmed. I want to hide the record of my hand.'"
Lot 9 is a very fine and impressive work by Lichtenstein. Entitled "Study for New York State Mural (Town and Country)," it is oil and magna on canvas and measures 82 1/2 by 58 1/2 inches. It was painted in 1968 and has an estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. It sold for $3,489,500.
The catalogue provides the following commentary:
"Known for his comic strip-sourced canvases, primary colors and Benday dots, Lichtenstein worked from a pictorial vocabulary wedded to modes of mechanical reproduction. Although it was executed with the same simpified color scheme and graphic formalities, Study for a New York State Mural (Town and Country) demonstrates a break from Licthenstein's trademark comic-book iconography of early 1960s. The work, originally designed for a proposed large-scale mural for the Empire State Plaza Art Commission, exemplifies a transition in Lichtenstein's style, a shift in focus from the world of comics to that of geometry and architecture. 1967 and a new series entitled Modern Paintings marked the beginning of this new phase, characterized by a strong Art Deco influence and geometric division of space."
A third Lichtenstein, "Interior with Red Wall," Lot 47, is an oil and magna on canvas. Created in 1991, it measures 118 by 134 inches and has an estimate of $8,000,000 to $10,000,000. It sold for $7,026,500.
Sotheby's will offer another Pop Art "threesome," one from each of Tom Wesselmann's three hallmark series from the 1960s and early 1970s. Lot 19 is "Great American Nude #21," from 1961, formerly from the Abrams Family Collection, and it is a hallmark of Wesselmann's signature series. This painting was censored from an exhibition at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art in 1963 because the image of a president was presented alongside a nude - soon after Marilyn Monroe died - which may or may not have been intentional. The grandiose title is deliberately ironic, and references the Great American Novel, and the American Dream. It has an estimate of $6,000,000 to $8,000,000. It sold for $4,114,500. An oil and collage on board, it measures 60 by 48 inches.
A stunning, monochromatic Stella in gray, black and white, Lot 14, "Untitled," with an estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 is shown here with Lot 8, Donald Judd's richly textured brass "Untitled," with an estimate of $900,000-1,200,000. Anish Kapoor's organic alabaster "Untitled," Lot 13, which is not illustrated here, is a masterful counterpoint to both these works of art, with an estimate of $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. Lot 14 did not sell. Lot 8 sold for $746,500. Lot 13 did not sell.
Powerful, sinuous "Untitled VI," Lot 35, by Willem de Kooning 1904-1997) was created towards the end of his sixty-year career. It was exhibited in the memorable show "Willem de Kooning: The Late Paintings, the 1980s" at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, October 1995-April 1997 (see The City Review article). "Untitled VI" has the rhythms of Matisse's floating dancers, anchored by exquisite control of color and line. In the closing chapter in his prolific and brilliant artistic career, this supremely painterly artist said: "I feel that I have found myself more, the sense that I have all my strength at my command. I think you can do miracles with what you have if you can accept it....I am more certain the way I use paint and the brush." It has an estimate of $5,000,000 to $7,000,000. It sold for $4,562,500.
Lot 28, "Ocean Park No. 44," by Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993), is an atmospheric, earth-toned gem - also inspired by nature - that is to be included in the forthcoming catalog raisonne of the artist. An oil on canvas, it measuires 100 by 81 inches and was painted in 1971. It has an estimate of $6,000,000 to $8,000,000. It sold for $5,234,500.
Robert Rauschenberg's small-scaled "Bantam," Lot 39, has a surprisingly hushed palette. The "combine" consists of oil, paper, printed reproductions, cardboard, fabric and pencil on canvas. It measures 11 5/8 by 14 5/8 inches and it was created in 1955. It has an estimate of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. It sold for $2,602,500.
Lot 33 is a small but powerful composition by Mark Rothko (1903-1970). An oil on paper mounted on canvas, it measures 29 by 22 inches and was painted in 1958. It is entitled "Untitled (Red/Black)." Despite its relatively diminutive size, it has real wall-power. The price tag is hefty of course, $4,000,000 to $6,000,000, for this incomparable master of Abstract Expressionism, but that goes with the territory. It sold for $4,170,500.
High estimates are on everyone's mind, but the first few auctions of this season has indicated that the auction houses have been fairly successful in convincing some consignors to significantly reassess their estimates. Of course, such estimates should never be misinterpreted as a reflection of their true artistic worth....
Lot 32 is a painting by Lucian Freud (b.1922) of a standing naked woman. An oil on canvas, it measures 43 by 30 1/2 inches and was executed 1999-2000. It failed to sell.
People either don't have the confidence to spend big money now, or feel it is a little unseemly to spend at this level when many are facing hard times. Big sums have been spent however - almost half a billion dollars on Impressionist and Modern Art at both Sotheby's and Christie's last week alone - demonstrating more confidence in the art market than Wall Street. Great art, however, is not a commodity, or a stock, or bond. It can be lived with, enjoyed - and shared with others. It will be interesting to see what happens this week, in a city that has always been the pre-eminent showcase for the greatest Post War and Contemporary Art in the world. Many of the works represented here were created by artists in New York City studios - not far from the auction houses that now command such jaw-dropping prices for their work.