The artworks of Park Avenue widow Rita Hillman and property heiress Alice Lawrence fetched about half the low estimate at Christie’s International’s New York sale last night, as the top end of the art market continues to sag.
The auction tallied $47 million, against a presale estimate of $103 million to $150 million. Bidding was sparse as collectors resisted paying up for anything but a handful of top works. Paintings by Edouard Manet and Mark Rothko didn’t draw any bids, while many works sold for half presale estimates.
The projected top lot of Hillman’s collection was Manet’s verdant “Filette sur un banc,” an 1880 portrait of an open- faced young girl on a bench, which had hung above the Hillman’s marble mantle for decades and was expected to sell for up to $18 million. It had no bids.
Auctioneer Christopher Burge struggled to inject some energy in an otherwise somber salesroom full of collectors, dealers and art advisers who appeared to have lost confidence.
“Prices are at the levels of two years ago,” said New York dealer David Nash.
Buying was also tempered by the falling U.S. stock market, which posted its biggest plunge following a presidential election yesterday as reports on jobs and service industries stoked concern the economy would worsen.
Last night’s sale was an addition to the usual calendar, an auction comprised of fresh-to-the-market, but uneven estate material.
“In a bull market, they would have got away with this,” said London dealer Guy Jennings, of Theobald Jennings Fine Art. “It was overly ambitious.” Jennings said that when these sales were organized in the summer, it was “a different world” and art prices were better. (Bloomberg)