The Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Christie’s New York  had already been anticipated as one of the most important sales of this period. So it was and even more than expected. The evening totalled 33,641,000 dollars, the second highest total ever realized in auction history for the category with 95% of the lots sold. The sale has established eight new world records for Richard Prince, Sam Francis, Leon Gottlieb, Tom Wesselmann, Robert Indiana, Barnett Newman but particularly Lucian Freud, whose painting “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” is the new world record for any living artist. The auction had been accurately organized to be the best response to the needs of the international market, with carefully selected lots and estimates studied with precision. 70% of the buyers were American, 26% European (including Russians) and 4% Asian. The total realized exceeded the lowest estimates (282 million) but was below the best prospects (398.6 million).
The highest price was achieved for the work “No. 15”, a fantastic red and yellow painting executed by Mark Rothko in 1952, which sold for 50,441,000 dollars. Two collectors contended for the work by telephone. The painting was sold by the collector from San Francisco Roger Evans who had bought it at Sotheby’s for 11 million dollars. It is the second best result for the US artist, who achieved his record in an auction held exactly a year ago at Sotheby’s, when  “White center (yellow, pink and lavender on rose)” sold for 72,840,000 dollars. The auction presented works by two of the greatest British artists. The most important work by Lucian Freud was presented for the first time ever at auction, the life-size painting entitled  “ Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” which, with its 33,641,000 dollars
(estimate 25 - 35 million dollars), realized the record for a living artist. Also the work “Three Studies for Self-Portrait” executed in 1976 by Francis Bacon was extremely important, selling for 28,041,000 dollars (estimate 25 - 35 million). The work belonged to the collectors from Seattle Richard and Elizabeth Hedreen, who had bought it at Sotheby’s New York for 5.1 million in 2005.
A piece of rare intensity by Andy Warhol was at auction, “Double Marlon”, fetching 32,521,000 dollars. The same work had been acquired in 1992 at Sotheby’s for 850,000 dollars, below the estimates (1 – 1.5 million) but limited compared to its current value.
Important prices also for “Abstraktes Bild” by Gerhard Richter, sold for 14,601,000 dollars (estimate  5 – 7 million), “1946 (PH – 182)” by Clyfford Still, sold for 14,041,000 (estimate 8 – 12 million) and Willem de Kooning with “Untlited IV”, which realized 12,081,000 dollars.
“Man-Crazy Nurse #2”, selling for 7,433,000 dollars (estimate 6 – 8 million), is the work that achieved the highest price ever for Richard Prince.
A record was set also for Tom Wesselmann with “Smoker  #9”, which totalled 6,761,000 dollars (estimate 4 – 6 million) and broke the record set last year at Sotheby’s with “Smoker #17”, which had been bought for 5,864,000 dollars.
The other records were for Barnett Newman with “Untitled”, sold for 5,193,000 dollars (estimate 4.5 – 5.5 million) and Robert Indiana with “USA 666, The 6th American Dream”, which realized 1,833,000 dollars (estimate 1.5 – 3 million).
In the same evening, Christie’s Real Estate, the division that deals with important real estates of the auction house, sold a residence in Modernist style for a record price. It is the Kaufmann House, designed by Richard Neutra and sold for 15 million dollars.

 

 

(translated by Giorgina Arcuri)