Contemporary art: lots of new records in New York

[09/11/2005]

 

In New York, after the success of the impressionist and modern art sales, the auction world has again been rocked by record sales, this time of contemporary art at Christie’s and Sotheby’s. In total, the two evening sales generated USD 272 million, including USD 21,250,000 for Cubi XXVIII, a monumental sculpture by David SMITH. Created in 1965 and measuring almost 2.8 metres in height, the work had been estimated by Sotheby’s at between USD 8 and 12 million.
Since yesterday, this piece has become the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold at auction, dethroning Mark ROTHKO‘s major work from 1954, Homage to Matisse, which sold the previous day at Christie’s for USD 20 million.

While Sotheby’s now holds the auction price record for a work of contemporary art, Christie’s is ahead of its rival in terms of total turnover generated. The Christie’s sale on 8 November produced 18 new records in only a few hours and generated USD 157.5 million. Ninety-four percent of the works presented found buyers, and a Cowboy by Richard PRINCE, the iconographic symbol of Marlboro advertising campaigns, became the dearest photograph of all time at USD 1.1 million.
Among the most important sales of the evening of 8 November, we note Francis BACON‘s Study for a Pope I which fetched USD 9 million, and Roy LICHTENSTEIN‘s In the Car which generated USD 14.5 million.