Tobias Meyer on the art market

I really enjoyed getting this candid look inside Sotheby's contemporary art department, now a month after the November sales. I absolutely agree with what Tobias Meyer said -- that if the right piece comes up, something that is rare, from a pivotal point in the artist's oeuvre, and with the right provenance and condition -- then the market will respond. And I love that my pick of favorites last night included the Currin, which is shown here.

Looking at Art -- MoMA

Sent to me by my fellow blogger Ashleigh, with just one person standing in front of Warhol's iconic work:


And this was as close as I got:

Sold: From Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Here are a few pieces that did manage to sell - which were among my favorites this Fall - although take a look at the hammer price of the Judd:

Cy Twombly, Untitled, Painting in 2 Parts (Bassano in Teverina)
Estimate: $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold: $4,786,5000














John Currin, Nice 'N Easy
Estimate: $3,500,000 - 4,500,000
Sold: $5,458,500














Donald Judd, Untitled (90-14 Bernstein)
Estimate: $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold: $1,142,500

The Results Are In...

And apparently not great, as reported by ArtInfo. I don't think any of us are surprised, yes?

A Bad Year for Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s and Christie’s

December 5, 2008

NEW YORK/LONDON—Annual sales of contemporary art at Sotheby’s and Christie’s flagship auctions in New York and London have dropped 17 percent in 2008, according to Bloomberg. The significant drop from a total of $2.4 billion last year to just below $2 billion this year comes after two years of more than doubling in sales.

The ongoing international economic crisis hit the two premier auction houses in the last quarter of 2008. In November, Sotheby’s and Christie’s evening contemporary art auctions in New York raised $125.1 million and $113.6 million respectively, with fees, far below their presale lower estimates. Almost a third of lots failed to sell at both houses.

“Next year’s going to be very tricky,” said Philip Hoffman, chief executive of the London-based Fine Art Fund and a former Christie’s employee during the last major art market recession, in the early 1990s. “People aren’t going to put things up for sale. Volumes at auction could be 30 or 40 percent down on this year. It’s going to hit the auction houses badly.”