Tag Archives: Sotheby’s

Addendum: On Sale this Spring For What?

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Well, dear reader, the auction results from our little game of match the estimate to the artwork are in. Sotheby’s had a terrible night on Tuesday, not selling some of its bigger works. To add insult to injury, Christies had a pretty good night on Wednesday selling the same artists.

Sotheby’s couldn’t sell its Picasso (estimated at $16-24M) or its Giacometti at the Impressionist and Modern auction. Giacommetti’s The Cat ($16-24M) at Sotheby’s went nowhere, even though the next night at Christies Giacometti’s “Bust of Diego (Stele III)” sold for more than its high estimate of $6.5 million.

On the other hand, Sotehby’s Monet sold for well over its estimate. Six bidders fought for “Sailboat on the River Seine, Argenteuil” that was originally estimated to fetch $1.2-1.8M. It was purchased for $3.4M.

Why art auctions might not meet their reserves

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On one hand, great hope of new leadership and a seachange in the fortune of the U.S. is in the air, and on the other hand, we have visual confirmation of the art market’s decline. The below is estimated to sell for 2 to 3 thousand GBP. What exactly is it, you may ask? As Art News Blog put it, bold mine:

An item of interest in Sotheby’s upcoming London auction on the 6th of February is a piece of shit, literally. It’s called CLOACA FAECES (NEWYORK, 26.01.2002, 2.30 P.M.) by the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye.

Is it any wonder that the art market’s not doing so hot? More disgusting than interesting, it’s called Cloaca Faeces, it’s art, and it’s on sale at Sotheby’s in early Febraury. Sure, shit has been done before in the art world, in cans and other places, but that’s no reason to repeat the feat.
Maybe President Obama can add to his agenda for change: don’t let the failing art market commit suicide.

News Alert! Obama Cannot Save Art

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Yesterday the stock market dropped 486 points, despite the fact that most of the world is excited to have a new president coming into office. The economy seems to be entering the big “R” (recession) despite all that hope and change rigmarole. Let’s relate this to the art market.

Without actually reading any of the articles below, what can we surmise from their headlines?

New York Times:
Bleak Night at Christie’s, in Both Sales and Prices

BBC:
Top art fails to sell at auction

Yesterday’s headlines from The Art Newspaper:
Auction houses embark on damage limitation exercise as market slumps
After years of growth, a long way to fall?
“Hot” categories cool rapidly as crisis bites

Anyone have an idea what this means? Any wild guesses? No…well, let’s look at this chart from The Art Newspaper’s “After Years of Growth” article, which ends in September 2008:

Note how the lines, representing different prices points, went way up. Now see my graph, using advanced scientific formulas and graphing software, to irrefutably predict the future:

Countless people, like your prudent parents, and articles will be telling you how to save money in the upcoming recession, stretch your dollar, etc. Well, I won’t tell you that. I’m telling you

BUY BUY BUY!

Buy what you love. Do it now if you are at all in a position to do so. Snatch up that cheap Chinese masterpiece or contemporary cutting edge foot statue you’ve been eyeing. This is your chance.

I would if I could.