News

The May 10 evening sale of Post-War and Contemporary Art held by Christie's in New York only realized US$318,388,000 with 6 new world auction records for artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Agnes Martin, Mike Kelley, Richard Prince, Kerry James Marshall and Barry X Ball.

The results of this sale brought the week's running total to $396.5million, which included the price achieved by the May 8 evening auction of Bound to Fail. In comparison, last year, Christie's realized almost 706 million USD for its "Looking forward to the Past" sale and 658.5 million USD for its postwar and contemporary venue.

Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled , an acrylic work on canvas,painted in 1982 fetched a record price of 57,3 million USD 

(the former record had been established for "Dustheads" (1982) sold for 48.8 million at Christie's New York in May 2013.

Untitled last appeared at auction a dozen years ago, at Sotheby's London in June 2004, where it sold

for $4.5 million. The second-highest lot of the night, was Mark Rothko's 1957 color field painting, No.

17.,a blue-toned work estimated at $30–40 million failed to go beyond 32.6 million USD with premium.

While Clyfford Still's "PH-234" (1948) went for 28.2 million against an estimate between 25 and 35 

million

Agnes Martin's "Orange Grove" (1965) was hammered down at a record price of 10.7 million USD 

(4.2 million over the previous record set in 2013 at Sotheby's for "The Beach" (1964)

Joan Mitchell's Noon, (1969), went for 9.8 million on an estimate of $5 to $7 million while Jeff Koons'

"Smooth Egg with Bow" (Magenta/Violet) executed in 1994-2009 reached 7.4 million USD against a low 

estimate of 6 million and his giant stainless steel Lobster sold for $6.9 million.

Christopher Wool's word painting "If You" (1992) rose to 13.6 million USD against a lowestimate 

of 12 million and Richard Prince's "Untitled" (Fashion) (1982) sold for 2.8 million on an estimate of