By Carter B. Horsley

This evening sale of Contemporary Art at the recently renovated Chelsea headquarters in Manhattan of Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg was extremely successful in terms of the percentage of lots sold. Of 42 lots offered, 38 were sold, a very healthy 90.47 percent, considerably better than the results at Christie's (see The City Review article) and Sotheby's (see The City Review article) earlier in the week. Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg had originally planned to hold the auction this past Monday and be the first of the major houses to have an evening Contemporary Art auction this season, but subsequently decided to change the date and be the last. Michael McGinnis, the head of Contemporary Art at the auction house, said after the auction that it was a good decision.

Being last enables an auction house to "read" the market in the results of the other sales and in some instances to alter or lower reserves on certain lots and the fact that several of the lots sold were at prices considerably below their low estimates indicates that reserves were probably lowered.

Indeed, prices generally were not high and the sale only realized $11,675,170 against a pre-sale low estimate of $19,870,000. In comparison, Christie's evening sale realized about $69 million and Sotheby's about $27 million.

Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg did set new auction records for Neo Rauch for Lot 5, "Gegenlicht (Back Light)," and for Jack Pierson (b. 1960) for Lot 42, "Stardust." The Rauch, a 98 3/8-by-78 3/4-inch oil on canvas, dated 2000, sold for $196,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article. The previous Rauch record was $134,500 set at Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg a year ago. The Pierson sold for $158,000, breaking the previous record of $134,500 set at Sotheby's in November, 1999.

Another Rauch, Lot 38, "Lokal," a 55-by-39 1/4-inch oil on canvas executed in 1998 sold for $136,000, almost double its high estimate.

This season Phillips decided not to hold an Impressionist & Modern Art auction after its disastrous auction last season (see The City Review article). Furthermore, it also decided not to hold an American Paintings auction this season despite the fact that its recent American Paintings auctions have been very successful. Simon de Pury, the auctioneer, said in an interview after the Contemporary Art auction, however, that the auction house will be holding an American Art auction next season. Mr. de Pury said he was pleased with the results of the Contemporary Art auction.

The auction season has been rather weak in the wake of the continued recession in the nation's economy and collectors' uncertainties about the impact of the Iraq war. Many of the auctions this season have been much smaller than in recent years because of the difficulties of obtaining consignments. Apart from general concerns about the art market, there has been considerable speculation about the future of Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg, which had quickly become a major player with the backing of Bernard Arnault who subsequently sold a large portion of his holdings in the company prior to its disastrous Impressionist sale. The company had moved into the limestone building just to the west of Bergdorf Goodman on 57th Street but several months ago relocated to 450 West 15th Street, where it has now expanded.

Mr. de Pury noted that the auction house had a very successful photography auction this Spring of material from the Seagram Collection and on May 13, 2003 had held a "private" auction of jewelry in Geneva, Switzerland and that the auction house planned to hold more such "private" auctions, which he described as sealed bids opened only at the auction.

The Contemporary Art auction was held in a very large first floor room with a large window overlooking a car wash and the attendees were quite young and stylish in keeping with the loud disco/techno music that was playing in the space until the auction began.

The "star" of the auction was expected to be Lot 22, "RE21," by Yves Klein (1928-1962), shown at the top of this article, a 78-by-65-inch, deep blue monochromatic sponge, stones and deep blue pigment on board, reportedly being sold by Roland S. Lauder, the chairman of the Museum of Modern Art. It had an estimate of $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 and failed to sell and was passed at $4,800,000. Mr. McGinnis suggested after the auction that this disappointment was probably a reflection of the fact that another very similar work was sold Wednesday night at Christie's for $5.2 million, nicely above its high estimate of $4,000,000. The Klein at Christie's had been consigned by François Pinault, who owns Christie's.

The lavish and large Phillips catalogue provided the following commentary about its Klein:

"A pioneer of the monochrome, Yves Klein began making paintings of uniform color in 1955, when he discovered the incredible vibrancy of freshly ground pigments. In an effort to preserve this chromatic brilliance, Klein avoided traditional oil mediums and mixed his powdered pigments with a special, colorless binding agent. Using paint rollers rather than brushes, he covered rectangular panels with this unique substance, creating grainy fields of raw and radiant color. In the summer of 1956, while spending a long vacation in Nice, Klein decided to restrict his palette to a deep ultramarine blue that evoked the Mediterranean coast.As RE21 vividly demonstrates, Klein's trademark color often transcended the objects that it covered.In the late 1950s, Klein expanded his artistic repertoire by introducing natural sea sponges to his work."

After the quite lively auction, one veteran auction-goer was heard remarking to a colleague that "this was a good auction except for the Klein, which was a lousy work and should not have been put up."

A dark but quite nice and subtle untitled tempera on paper mounted to canvas by Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Lot 21, sold for $669,500. Its low estimate had been $800,000. It was executed in 1969.

One of the better works in the auction was Lot 18, "Soft Light Switches," a classic orange vinyl sculpture, 41 1/4 by 41 1/4 by 11 inches, by Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929). Phillips sold it for $574,500 in May, 2001 setting an auction record for a sculpture by Oldenburg but this time it only sold for $405,000. The work was executed 1963-9.

The Oldenburg was one of several works in the auction that had been consigned by the Enron Corporation, the troubled energy concern. Another Enron work was Lot 31, "In Attendance," a large 1993 painting by Bridget Riley (b. 1931). It sold for $130,500, more than double its high estimate. It measures 65 by 89 inches. After the auction, Mr. McGinnis was asked at the press conference whether Enron's notoriety had helped or hurt its consignment. He responded that it probably did not hurt, but the works in question were of high quality and would have fared well one way or another.

A pleasant oval painting with butterflies, Lot 37, by Damien Hirst (b. 1965) sold just over its low estimate for $207,500.
The auction had two works by Cy Twombly (b. 1928). Lot 13, "Untitled (Bolsena)," sold for $1,934,500, the highest price of the sale. It had an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000. Executed in 1969, it was a house paint, oil, crayon and graphite on canvas that measured 78 3/4 by 98 3/8 inches. Lot 25, "Untitled (Rome)," a 1961 graphite, oil paint, house paint and crayon on canvas, 40 3/8 by 58 3/8 inches, failed to sell and was passed at $1,500,000. It had an estimate of $2,000,000 to $2,500,000.

Lot 2, "Substrat 11," an inkjet on paper by Thomas Ruff (b. 1958) mounted with Diasec face in artist's wooden frame, 94 1/2 by 73 5/8 inches, sold for $74,090. Its high estimate had been $60,000. It was from an edition of three with one artist's proof.

The largest work in the auction was Lot 6, "Magic Ball II (Negative)," by Takashi Murakami (b. 1962). An acrylic on canvas mounted on board in seven parts, it measured 94 1/2 by 248 inches. Executed in 1999, it had an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000 and sold for $295,500.

A huge photograph of a boxing match by Andreas Gursky (b. 1955), Lot 7 was entitled "Klitschko," and illustrated the back cover of the catalogue. One of the artist's best works, it was executed in 1999 and measures 81 1/2 by 102 3/4 inches. The chromogenic color print was from an edition of six and had an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $460,500.

A group of eight photographs of water towers by Bernd & Hilla Becher (b. 1931 and 1934) sold for $97,990, nicely above the high estimate of $80,000. Each work measures 23 by 19 3/4 inches and was from an edition of five.

Lot 16, "Vesuv (Vesuvius)," was an oil on wood, 26 by 37 3/8 inches, by Gerhard Richter (b. 1932). Painted in 1976, the landscape had an estimate of $1,800,000 to $2,500,000 and sold for $1,329,500.

Lot 34, "The Red Band," by Alex Katz (b. 1927), failed to sell and was passed for $220,000. It had an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. An oil on canvas, it measures 72 by 144 inches and was painted in 1975. It is one of the artist's finest works and apparently shows two views of the same woman seated at a table wearing a white wide-brimmed hat with a large red and white polkadot band. It is quite lyrical and a very good composition.