Archives des News

This bid however saved a disappointing sale as only 58% of lots were sold, the main reason being that pre-sale estimates were exaggerated.

The main problem encountered by most auction houses is that masterpieces and even great quality works are rare while buyers seem mature enough not to simply jump on big names when paintings or sculptures lack a certain touch a genius.

Picasso's previous record stood at $ 51,67 million for the “Noces de Pierrette” (Pierrette's wedding) sold in Paris at Drouot-Montaigne on November 30th 1989. His Blue period “Woman with folded arms” enabled Christie's to escape disaster while a painting by Cézanne titled “Bords de Marne” (The banks of the Marne river, a 1892 unsigned landscape with three trees by Gauguin were unsold respectively at $ 5,5 million and 10 million.

Buyers are much cautious nowadays as a result of greedy pre-sale estimates and despite the conducting talent of Christie's auctioneer Christopher Burge, the November 8th sale did not reach a steady momentum.

A winter landscape by Cézanne was unsold at $ 850,000, far from its low pre-sale estimate of $ 1,2 million and the naughty Mona Lisa by Duchamp and Picabia was bought in at $ 450,000, half-way from its high pre-sale estimate. It now seems urgent for auction houses to apply estimates corresponding with the reality of the market if they don't want to meet disaster soon.

The present economic situation is not so strong following the upheavals on the Nasdaq stock exchange and the uncertainties concerning the result of the U.S presidential election. People are waiting for better days and are not ready to bank on the future at random in auction sales.

Still, there were some American buyers apparently ready to take risks as Giacometti's “Standing Woman 1”, an impressive bronze sculpture, fetched a record $ 14,3 million. Such work was only worth $ 4 million eleven years ago.

A superb “Bouquet of flowers” by Fantin-Latour was sold for a record $ 3,5 million while a pastel by Degas titled “Woman wiping her hair” went for $ 2,98 million. Most of the strongest bids were put by American buyers who dominated that sale as they represented 52% of those who clinched lots offered for sale.

Christie's did not manage to sell Picasso's 1909 bronze head of Fernande, estimated at $ 6 million and unsold at $ 3,2 million though it was negotiated at $ 3,6 million privately after the auction. Meanwhile, Sotheby's sold a superb painting by Edouard Manet titled “Young Woman in a Garden” for $ 20,7 million.

These sales in fact came too soon and coincided with the U.S presidential election, the result of which has been left pending. Had they been organised early in December things might have been different as most millionaires want to know where they will stand with a new president.

PHILLIPS LEFT PANTING

Meanwhile, Phillips' sale held on November 6th was far from meeting expectations as out of 29 lots offered for sale only 16 were sold. Moreover, Phillips had vested interests in nine lots like a poor “Standing Woman in White” by Matisse while many lots belonging mostly to Saudi tycoon Wafic Said or to Sammy Offer, an Israeli navy fleet owner, were really not of high standards.

A Cézanne painting was sold for $ 8,5 million to the Wildenstein Gallery and a work by Pissarro fetched a surprising price of $ 2,5 million while a Renoir canvas went for $ 6,7 million, a bid equivalent to that recorded in 1993.

The French daily Le Figaro suggested that Christie's and Phillips, owned respectively by François Pinault and Bernard Arnault, were somewhat penalised by American collectors for being owned by two Frenchmen but one simply feels that the main reason behind their poor performances lies in the fact that good quality pieces are difficult to find.