Francis Bacon Work Sells for $142.4 Million By Kelly Crow When it comes to contemporary art, collectors and investors clearly know what they want: More. Christies in New York made auction history Tuesday when it sold well over half a billion dollars worth of contemporary art in less time than it takes to watch a football game. The auction houses $691.6 million total exceeded its $495 million landmark sale in May—and reset records for artists like Jeff Koons and Francis Bacon, whose $142.4 million Three Studies of Lucian Freud became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction Christies total easily met the auction houses own $500 million expectations, with collectors in designer suits and fur coats chasing nearly everything on offer—and applauding and whooping on occasion. The sales marquee piece was Bacons $142.4 million triptych, a three-panel portrait of the artists friend-turned-artistic-foil Lucian Freud sitting, cross-legged, in a wicker chair against a taxicab-yellow background. Bacon painted the triptych in 1969 and was irritated to learn that each one had been sold separately because he wanted them kept together. Years later, the panels were reunited by a Roman collector, mineral-water magnate Francesco De Simone Niquesa, whose quest which may have added to its appeal. (Mr. De Simone Niquesa later sold the work to the anonymous U.S.-based seller who put it up for auction now.) The stakes were high heading into the sale because Christies gave the Bacon an $85 million estimate, the highest asking price in auction history. The work bested the nearly $120 million that New York financier Leon Black paid Sothebys BID +1.72% last year for Edvard Munchs The Scream. When the Bacon came up for bid about 20 minutes into the sale, at least four collectors took the bait. New York dealer Larry Gagosian and Korean collector and dealer Hong Gyu Shin bid in the saleroom against telephone bidders from the U.S. and China. Seconds into the bidding, Mr. Hong tried to spook his competition by lobbing a $100 million bid, but the telephone bidders remained undaunted and in the end, he bowed out at $126 million. New York dealer Bill Acquavella, bidding by telephone on behalf of a client, placed the winning bid of $127 million, or $142.4 million with Christies commission. Mr. Hong, a young man with dimples and scruffy, black hair, said afterward that he was bidding for his own collection and was amazed that he lost out. He said he began collecting Japanese and Impressionist art four years ago, but he started adding more contemporary art to his holdings last year after he opened a gallery for Korean contemporary art on New Yorks Lower East Side. He called Bacon one of my favorite artists. The bidding tonight was just so much stronger than I expected, he said, adding, My parents dont even know Im here. Maybe its good I didnt win it. Three Studies outperformed a sea-green Triptych by the same artist from 1976 that Sothebys sold to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for $86.2 million in May 2008, the peak of the last market cycle. The Bacon triptych at Christies was more brightly colored than Mr. Abramovichs version and it was also painted seven years earlier, a factor that may have added to its allure since collectors often pay more for an artists earlier milestones. Connecticut paper magnate Peter Brant scored big selling off Jeff Koonss shiny, shipping container-size replica of an orange balloon animal to another telephone buyer for $58.4 million—making Mr. Koons the priciest living artist at auction. The sculpture, Balloon Dog (Orange), was priced to sell for $35 million to $55 million. Christies also sold Andy Warhols Coca-Cola (3) to a telephone buyer from the U.S. for $57.3 million. Activist investor Daniel Loeb, who is also Sothebys largest shareholder, sat in the third row and paid $46 million for Mark Rothkos Creamsicle-colored abstract, No. 11 (Untitled). The Rothko was only expected to sell for up to $35 million. After the sale, Mr. Loeb grinned but declined to elaborate on the buy. Of the sales 69 works, only six failed to sell—a rarefied result for a segment of the art market that tends to veer into speculation when collectors feel confident enough to splurge, or sell their trophies at steep markups. Whether Tuesdays sale represents a new high point for the art market—or the next step in a developing run-up—remains to be seen. But dealers said Christies success on Tuesday could go a long way toward redressing its underwhelming sale last week of Impressionist and modern art when several pricey pieces by Pablo Picasso and others stalled and went unsold. The difference between these two contrasting sales underscores the white-hot appeal for newer art now, dealers added. Case in point: Jean-Michel Basquiat, a former graffiti artist who rose to fame in 1980s New York before he died of a drug overdose. Basquiat has enjoyed a blistering rise in recent years, with asking prices for his frenetic early 1980s paintings climbing from $5 million a decade ago to nearly $50 million now—driven largely by baby boomer collectors who regard him as the street-art icon of their generation. On Tuesday, collectors competed hard for his untitled 1982 painting of a barefoot figure wearing a golden crown, with the Chinese winner bidding by phone and paying $29.2 million. Christies priced it to sell for between $25 million and $35 million. Other hits for the night included Jackson Pollock, whose drippy, 1949 abstract, Number 16, 1949, sold for $32.6 million, over its $35 million high estimate, and Willem de Koonings $32 million Untitled VIII, which sold to art adviser Nancy Whyte and reset the artists auction record. Christies also garnered $26.4 million for Christopher Wools Apocalypse Now from 1988, which sold to dealer Christophe van de Weghe for $26.5 million. A Lucio Fontana also sold for $20.9 million. Bidders must have felt flush because they didnt murmur after a Roy Lichtenstein, Interior with Woman, failed to garner any takers and went unsold. The 1997 painting was priced at $7 million or more. Wow, wow, wow, said Pace dealer Susan Dunne, walking out of Christies. What a staggering moment for the art market. Rival Sothebys rounds out New Yorks two weeks of spring art auctions Wednesday with its sale of contemporary art. The Wall Street Journal Selection Artprice
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 13:05:44 +0000
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