After profitable gross sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s this week, Phillips Trendy and Modern Night Sale on Wednesday (20 November) yielded practically $54.8m ($67.3m with charges). That is practically 25% greater than the identical sale in November final 12 months.
Out of 33 tons, solely two didn’t promote, for a sell-through charge of 94 % by lot. Following public sale homes like Sotheby’s and Christie’s however a primary for Phillips, the superb artwork sale additionally included a number of pure historical past objects, with blended outcomes.
“There have been only a few surprises for me,” Chicago-based artwork advisor Laura Lester advised The Artwork Newspaper. “I believe they did very well with the fabric that they did have. I believe the truth that individuals have been bidding on these items they usually have been promoting for wholesome numbers was actually encouraging.”
Regardless of the absence of huge estates—just like the Lauder assortment at Sotheby’s the night time earlier than—the night sale nonetheless generated a number of bidding wars, a brand new artist document (briefly), and lots of works promoting for greater than the home’s excessive estimates.
The highest lot was Francis Bacon’s Research for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne and George Dyer (1967), which hammered at $13.5m ($16m with charges) on a excessive estimate of $18m. It was adopted by an untitled work by Joan Mitchell from 1957-58 which hammered at $12m ($14.3m with charges) in opposition to a $15m excessive estimate.
Cera, the juvenile Triceratops Courtesy Phillips
Early within the night, a juvenile Triceratops skeleton from the Late Cretaceous interval (roughly 66 million years in the past) hammered at $4.35m ($5.4m with charges) in opposition to a excessive estimate of $3.5m. Known as Cera, the fossil went to a shopper on the telephone with pure historical past marketing consultant Christian Hyperlink after 14 bids between Hyperlink; Phillips’ chairman of personal gross sales Meity Heiden; director of personal gross sales Alexander Weinstock; and Scott Nussbaum, the public sale home’s deputy chairman for the Americas and senior worldwide specialist for Trendy and up to date Artwork.
Feminine artists did effectively, particularly for works that began the sale. Ruth Asawa’s copper wire sculpture Untitled (S.230, Hanging Single-Lobed, 5-Layered Steady Type inside a Type) kicked off the sale with excessive vitality, prompting two dozen bids over greater than 4 minutes to hammer at $780,000 (greater than $1million with charges) on a excessive estimate of $600,000. One other Asawa work, Untitled (S.443, Hanging Single-Lobed, 5-Layered Steady Type inside a Type) additionally prompted 20 bids over two minutes and bought for $903,000 on a excessive estimate of $500,000.
Lester mentioned she wasn’t shocked by the outcomes, given the artist’s critically-acclaimed present exhibition on the Museum of Trendy Artwork in New York after the San Francisco Museum of Trendy Artwork, and restricted provide within the major market. “They’re very arduous to get and really costly to get from Zwirner,” Lester mentioned, including Asawa is “a universally interesting artist”.
The second lot was Olga De Amaral’s 5-foot-long Alquimia 62 (1987) from the property of Samuel J. and Eleanor T. Rosenfeld, which additionally prompted 21 bids, hammering at $580,000 or $748,200 with charges, on a excessive estimate of $500,000.
Firelei Báez’s Daughter of Revolutions (2014) Courtesy Phillips
That momentum continued for the third lot, Firelei Báez’s Daughter of Revolutions (2014), which set a brand new document for the artist after hammering for $500,000, or $645,000 with charges, on a excessive estimate of $500,000. It additionally had a home assure and irrevocable bids. Nevertheless, that document would solely final a couple of hours—Báez’s 2021 portray Untitled (Colonization in America, Visible Historical past Wall Map, Ready by Civic Schooling Service) bought for greater than $1.1m with charges, at Christie’s twenty first Century night sale on Thursday night.
An untitled acrylic work on paper by Alma Thomas additionally bought for $477,300 together with charges on a excessive estimate of $350,000. And an untitled art work by Martha Jungwirth from 2017 bought for $516,000 with charges on a excessive estimate of $300,000.
A notable exception to the night was an untitled portray by Jadé Fadojutimi from 2022, with an estimate of $800,000 to $1.2m. After 5 bids, it was purchased in. The opposite merchandise that didn’t promote was The Thunderbolt, the longest gold nugget ever discovered at practically 50 centimeters lengthy. The 114.6 troy ounces (3,565 grams) of crystallised valuable steel had an estimate of $1.3m to $1.5m, however was purchased in after 5 bids. (One other gold object, Maurizio Cattelan’s America (2016), additionally didn’t seize broad curiosity, promoting for $10m ($12.1m with charges) after one bid to Ripley’s Imagine It or Not!)
Heaps that exceeded their excessive estimates included Mark Tansey’s Revelever (2012), Max Ernst’s Dans les rues d’Athènes (1960) and Robert Motherwell’s A Sculptor’s Image, with Blue (1958), two of which prompted prolonged bidding wars.
Revelever (2012) hammered at $3.76m ($4.6m with charges) on a excessive estimate of $3.5m after 24 bids over seven minutes, involving two individuals within the room and three specialists on the telephone, prompting applause on the finish; whereas A Sculptor’s Image, with Blue (1958) hammered at $950,000 ($1.2m with charges) in opposition to a excessive estimate of $1m.
Max Ernst’s Dans les rues d’Athènes (1960) Courtesy Phillips
Probably the most intense bidding warfare of the night was for Dans les rues d’Athènes (1960), which noticed in 31 bids over seven minutes between 5 Phillips staffers competing for his or her respective shoppers. Dans les rues d’Athènes hammered at $1.2m ($1.5m with charges), blasting previous its excessive estimate of $600,000. The bronze sculpture got here from the household of American artist Dorothea Tanning, and one of many different 5 editions is within the everlasting assortment on the Peggy Guggenheim Assortment in Venice.
“I’m certain they knew that curiosity was far outstripping the estimate and it could do effectively,” Lester says. “I believe it goes to indicate how that historic materials that has proven the take a look at of time is protected and there are at all times consumers for artwork even in a down market.”
