Phillips met disaster regarding a sale of Impressionist and Modern art held on November 4th 2002 in New York. This Fall has been marked by recession and buyers have been more than ever cautious on the art market. Such fact was alas confirmed at Phillips and the disaster that this auction house met has been unmet so far as only 19 lots out of 44 were sold for a total of 7 million dollars far from the 65 million expected.
A 1901 woman's bust by Picasso estimated at $ 4,2 million and a 1913 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner wood sculpture titled “Head of Erna”, estimated at $ 720,000 notably remained unsold during this nightmarish sale.
Sotheby's and Christie's fared however better during the week with respective turnovers of $ 81,45 million (140 million expected) and $ 67,5 million (120 million expected).
Most lots offered for sale were however of average quality according to professionals apart from an exceptional Monet representing nympheas, bought for $ 22,5 million in 1999, which sold only for $18,7 million on November 5th at Sotheby's. However a nude painted in 1898 by Cézanne remained unsold at $ 9 million.
The atmosphere in the salesrooms was rather dull and biddings were mostly made by telephone. Among the best works offered for sale was Belgian artist Theo Van Rysselberghe's “Sailing Boat on the Escault river”, a pointillist painting sold by Sotheby's for $ 2,65 million at three times its estimate while Christie's obtained a record $ 3,4 million for Julio Gonzales' iron sculpture titled “ Gothic Man”.
Meanwhile, Sotheby's sold a superb bronze sculpture titled “Morning” by Henri Laurens for $ 1,2 million against a high estimate of $ 1,6 million.
Picasso's bronze sculpture representing a she-monkey and its baby created in 1951 went for $ 6,7 million at Christie's on November 6th. During the same sale, Fernand Léger's 1918 painting titled “Acrobats” sold for $ 5,5 million, however 500 000 dollars under its low estimate.
Modigliani's “Black dress” remained unsold at $ 7,5 million but a 1910 painting by Von Jawlensky with a blue background went for a record price of $ 3,3 million while Lionel's Feininger's “Newspaper readers” produced in 1909 sold for $ 2,2 million at Phillips.
Adrian Darmon
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