The Modern art market met ups and downs during December 1997, a situation which was explained by the simple fact that buyers wanted exceptional works with great provenance, both criteria being compulsory. On December 9th 1997, Christie's sold just over 60% offered in its London sale while the previous night Sotheby's recorded 58% of lots sold. Still, some good prices were hammered down, notably at Christie's with Claude Monet « Sur les Planches à Trouville » fetching £ 3,8 millions (not inclusive of buyer's premium) (US $ 6,247 millions) whereas all the 27 works by Italian painter Giorgio Morandi were sold by Sotheby's for a total of £ 6,73 millions (US $ 11,06 millions) against a pre-sale estimate of between £ 3 and 3,7 millions. Overall the London results were somewhat disappointing compared with those recorded in New-York where the market now seems quite active. It may well be that Christie's and Sotheby's will have second thoughts about the future organisation of major Impressionist and Modern art sale as it appeared that New York offers the best prospects in terms of tax advantages there and also the percentage of rich collectors mostly originating from the U.S. In fact, not many American buyers were in London for both sales which occurred at an inconvenient time. All the more, the quality of some works bearing the signature of prominent artists was more than once questionable. A landscape at dawn by Gustav Klimt painted in 1901 was not really a masterpiece at £ 3 millions (US $ 4,93 millions) way under the Sotheby's top estimate of £ 4 millions while a still life by Matisse only reached £ 2,5 millions (US $ 4,11 millions) against a top pre-sale estimate of £ 4 millions.
One good consequence is that buyers are no longer rushing for signatures but mainly for quality as this happened for a 1968 Picasso, «Naked Man and Woman » which fetched £ 1,3 million (US $ 2,148 millions) despite the fact that such aggressive theme was hard to sell. One explanation is that Picasso's late works correspond more and more with actual tastes. In addition, his name alone is mesmerising enough. For example, Christie's sold a Picasso work of 1942 representing a woman with a round hat for £ 2,35 millions (US $ 3,937 millions) and another of 1953, « Le Bouquet » for £ 1,25 million (US $ 2,09 millions).
One « UP » was Soutine's « Man with a red scarf » of 1921 which was sold in Drouot in 1990 by Guy Loudmer, one of Paris big auctioneers now in jail for breach of trust after mishandling funds from the Bourdon sale. The painting, which came originally from that Bourdon collection, was sold by Christie's for £ 1,4 million (US $ 2,34 millions) against a top pre-sale estimate of £ 600,000. Such price was in fact a new record for Soutine.
Finally the best « UP » was for Morandi (1890-1964), an artist who lived almost in seclusion in his home-town of Bologna and whose works, mostly still lifes, caused heated battles between bidders in the packed Sotheby's salesroom. One of these fetched £ 793,500 (US $ 1,329 million) while a landscape was bought for £ 386,500 (US $ 647,700). The 27 Morandi works came from the Caracas Plaza couple who collected his paintings with great passion. The fact that such love was instilled in this collection probably had some magic effect over the sale. Meanwhile, Paris has been trailing behind as usual though some interesting prices fetched during December 1997 but most modern works were sold under 5 millions francs (US $ 862,000) meaning that the French are still playing in a second division league.
Home
