Evening Sale Total: $276.6 Million
Sell-Through Rate: 94%
Ames Collection Part I Brings $122.8 Million
Bidders from 38 Countries,
Asian Participation Up 11% Year-on-Year
The Steven & Ann Ames Collection featured superb groupings of works by Gerhard Richter and Willem de Kooning: o Purchased 25 years ago at Sotheby’s New York for $264,000, Gerhard Richter’s A B, Still
achieved $33,987,500 (estimate $20/30 million).
A B, St. James, the only large-scale horizontal abstract by Gerhard Richter still in private hands, sold for $22,737,500 (estimate $20/30 million).
Willem de Kooning’s Untitled, an oil on canvas from 1976-77, fetched $10,362,500 (estimate $8/12 million). Other highlights from The Triumph of Painting included:
Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (French Grey Fan 10-90% Butterfly with Warm Grey 90% Between) was sought after by four bidders before selling for $1,872,500, an auction record for a work-on-paper by the artist (estimate $600/800,000).
Jim Hodges’ Untitled (Study for Gate) was chased by five bidders, going on to fetch $1,332,500 (estimate $600/800,000).
Both works by Andy Warhol offered this evening performed well:
Self-Portrait (Fright Wig) became the top Warhol price of the week when it sold for $24,425,000, many multiples of the $387,500 it fetched when it last appeared at auction in 1997.
Lenin, which had been in the same collection since shortly after it was created in 1986, realized $8,112,500, against a $4/6 million estimate.
Jean-Michel Basquiat:
Brother’s Sausage, made up of six panels, achieved $18,650,000;
St. Buzzard drew four bidders to sell for $1,692,500, over 17 times the $96,000 it fetched when it last appeared at auction in 1997;
These results follow a series of strong prices for the artist achieved by Sotheby’s, with Hannibal leading the recent London Frieze Week season, and Infantry topping the most successful sale of western art ever held during a major Hong Kong sale series this October.
Auction records were established for David Hockney and Njideka Akunyili Crosby:
Ten years after Sotheby’s redefined the market for the artist with The Splash, Woldgate
Woods, 24, 25 and 26 October 2006 achieved $11,712,500, nearing the high estimate.
Making her Contemporary Art Evening Auction debut, Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Drown drew
at least 10 bidders, finally selling for $1,092,500 (estimate $200/300,000).
