That was the year that was. With more than €16 billion worth of sales at the worlds three biggest auction houses – Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips – 2022 broke all sorts of records. Consolidated sales at Sotheby’s are projected to reach $8 billion, the highest in its 278 year history. One single owner sale at Christie’s made $1.5 billion and millions of people all around the world tuned in to livestreamed auctions to see paintings like Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn sell for $195 million at Christie’s in May to become the most expensive 20th Century artwork ever sold at auction. The market was driven by fresh to market single owner collections like that of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen whose collection – not yet entirely sold – has already made $1.5 billion. Phillips’s total sales reached $1.3 billion. Its highest-valued lot was an untitled painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat of a horned devil which sold in New York for $85 million in November.
It is an exciting time for the market as the year turns. The burning question is: What will 2023 bring?
A VELVET DRESS ENTIRELY EMBROIDERED BY LESAGE WITH “TUDOR” PATTERNS AND REMOVABLE COLLAR WITH A BROWN SATIN UNDERSKIRT €4,000-6,000 | US$4,300-6,300 | £3,500-5,200 CHANEL BY KARL LAGERFELD HAUTE COUTURE AUTUMN-WINTER 1988-89. UPDATE: THIS MADE €56,700
The exceptional know-how, creativity and glory of Haute Couture will feature at an online sale by Christie’s Paris from January 11-25. The sale during Paris Fashion Week will highlight designers like Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Jean-Louis Scherrer, Valentino and others. There are 115 haute couture pieces including cocktail dresses, day dresses, evening outfits, embroidered garments, skirt and trouser suits dating mainly to the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Estimates range from €400 to €4,000-€6,000.
UPDATE: THE SALE BROUGHT IN €694,890 OVER A PRE SALE ESTIMATE OF €101,100
Christie’s Adrien Meyer, Co-Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art, selling GEORGES SEURAT’s (1859-1891) – Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) for $149,240,000
Global sales at Christie’s reached $8.4 billion in 2022, the highest annual sales total in art market history. In November Paul G Allen’s landmark sales maDe $1.62 billion to become the most valuable collection sale of all time. Five works sold above $100 million and there was four million online viewers. in 2022 the auction house sold Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn for $195 million, the second highest price ever achieved for an artwork at auction. They sold the top three collections of the year, Allen, Ammann ($359.2 million) and Bass ($363.1 million) as well as the top collection outside the US this year, Hubert de Givenchy (€118 million) in Paris.
In 2022 35% of all buyers in 2022 were new to Christie’s, and 34% of these new buyers were millennials (up from 31% in 2021). A total of 46,322 lots were sold at auction. Altogether the Americas accounted for 40% of buyers, Europe, the Middle East and Africa for 34% and Asia-Pacific for 26%.
THORNTON DIAL, JR. (B. 1952) – Untitled (Animal Bench in Red and White). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $9,450
Things Grow in the United States: Works from the Collection of Jane Fonda will come up at Christie’s in New York on January 18. A group of 14 objects to be sold at the Outsider and Vernacular Art auction during Americana Week consists of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and assemblages by Thornton Dial, Arthur Dial, and Thornton Dial, Jr.
Jane Fonda is an avid collector and champion of the Dials’ art. She is on the board of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation & Community Partnership, an organisation dedicated to promoting the work of Black artists from the American South and supporting their communities by fostering economic empowerment, racial and social justice, and educational advancement. Representing of two generations of southern vernacular artists these artworks include figurative and abstract examples and address a range of historical and sociopolitical issues.
UPDATE: JANE FONDA’S COLLECTION TOTALLED $277,956,
A letter with the seal of an Irish bishop UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £7,560
A February 1261 letter with the seal of an Irish bishop relaxing twenty days of penance for those praying for the soul of Ralph de Sumertone, formerly canon of St Mary’s Priory, Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire, and the souls of his parents is lot 77 at Christie’s online sale of the Collection of Marvin L Colker. The sale runs until December 12 and the letter is estimated at £2,500-£3,500. Written in Latin on vellum it contains the large green wax vesica-shaped pendant seal of William de la Hay, bishop of Connor [Ireland] (1260–62), depicting a full-length standing bishop holding a crozier and blessing, with the legend ‘Willelmi dei g[ratia Con]nerensis episco[pi]’.
Marvin L Colver (1927-2020) was Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia, world-renowned palaeographer, classicist and author of the first comprehensive catalogue of the manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin (a herculean endeavour that took over 30 years), and collector of manuscripts. This sale is a testament to the breadth and depth of his collecting, spanning more than 1,500 years of written history and subject matters ranging from astrology to music, literature, medicine, Church history, humanism, liturgy, Hebraica, law and theology. There are leaves from important manuscripts such as the St Albans Abbey Bible, the Hungerford Hours, the Chester Beatty Book of Hours; manuscripts in Catalan, Picard, French, Italian and Hebrew; examples of Beneventan, Carolingian, Visigothic and Scandinavian script; and rare and unusual texts and authors.
HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER (1497-1543) AND WORKSHOP – PORTRAIT OF DESIDERIUS ERASMUS (1466-1536)
Led by Hans Holbein the Younger and Workshop there was five new records at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London last night. The auction brought in £13.1 million and the Holbein made £1,222,000. Records were also established for Jacob Savery the Elder (£544,400), Antonio Stom called Il Tonino (£138,600), Barnaba Agocchiari called Barnaba da Modena (£882,000) and Sebastiano Conca (£378,000) in a sale which attracted registered bidders from 15 countries and four continents.
Leading the sale was Jean-François de Troy’s tableaux de mode Reading Party which achieved £2,922,000 bringing the combined total for the Collection of Lord and Lady Weinstock to £8,082,595 and Anthony van Dyck’s Portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria which achieved £2,442,000. There was strong competitive bidding throughout and 33% of lots sold above the estimate.
AMEDEO MODIGLIANI (1884-1920) – Beatrice Hastings (devant une porte) Painted in 1915 Price Realised: $17,565,000
In eight days of art sales in New York Christie’s has so far achieved $2 billion. The 20th Century evening sale and the 21st Century evening sale which ran consecutively at Christie’s in New York last night made $421,976,700. When combined with the results of the Paul Allen collection the total reached an unprecedented $2,044,226,200.
The 20th Century sale made $307,945,300 and was 96% sold by lot and 88% by value. Mark Rothko’s Untitled and Amedeo Modigliani’s Beatrice Hastings each sold for $17,565,000. Additional highlights included works by notable female artists. A massive canvas by Joan Mitchell made $14,130,000, and a rare self-portrait by Frida Kahlo made $8,634,000.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Sugar Ray Robinson, was the top lot at the 21st century sale and made $32,679,000. Results for female artists and artists of colour were strong. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Minjung Kim, Noah Davis and Rashid Johnson all set new records.
UPDATE: The two weeks of sales concluded having achieved $2,170,537,204 over seven live auctions and one online.
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (1887-1986) – White Rose with Larkspur No. 1 sold for $26,725,000
On Thursday, November 10, 2022, Christie’s concluded Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, a landmark philanthropic event. Visionary comprised 155 masterpiece objects spanning 500 years of art history. It was sold over a two-day series of auctions. In total, the collection realised $1,622,249,500, well in excess of the total high estimate. It was 100% sold. The regional breakdown by value was 33% Americas, 28% APAC, and 39% EMEA. There was great strength and depth in bidding across the collection, with an average of 5.6 bidders competing for each lot. Of all the registrants for the sales, nearly 15% were new to Christie’s.
Seven artists records were set in the second part of the sale:
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X – $8,405,000
Joseph Kosuth, ‘Titled (A.A.I.A.I.)’ [text-context] – $289,8000 – for work on paper
PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906) – La montagne Sainte-Victoire Painted in 1888-1899 sold for $137,790,000
The most valuable private-collection sale of all time broke the world-record for a sale just halfway through the bidding at Christie’s in New York last night. The first part of the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen – just 60 lots – made $1,506,386,000. One highlight after another saw five paintings – the most ever in one sale – bringing more than $100 million each, with each one setting a world record.
Three of the lots were among the top lots sold of all time. Georges Seurat’s groundbreaking statement on pointillism, Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) led the evening at $149,240,000. Paul Cezanne’s monumental landscape, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire brought $137,790,000. Vincent van Gogh’s Verger avec cyprès, which captures the artist’s early encounter with the South of France, achieved $117,180,000. Paul Gauguin’s Maternité II from 1899, one of his most important years, made $105,730,000. Gustav Klimt’s evocative depiction of a Birch Forest, made $104,585,000. The number and size of the record prices set was unprecedented. 60 masterpieces were sold and 20 artists records were set.
The auction broke the world-record for a sale just halfway through the bidding when the auctioneer, Jussi Pylkkänen, knocked down Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture, Femme de Venise III, for $25,007,500. The auction was 100% sold, and 122% sold against low estimate. All of the estate’s proceeds from this historic sale will be dedicated to philanthropy, pursuant to Mr. Allen’s wishes. The second part of the sale takes place later today.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for November 2 and August 26, 2022)
RECORDS
Seurat, Les Poseuses Ensemble(Petite version) – $149,240,000
Cézanne, La montagne Sainte-Victoire – $137,790,000
Van Gogh, Verger avec cypres – $117,180,000
Gauguin, Maternite II – $105,730,000
Klimt, Birch Forest – $104,585,000
Freud, Large Interior, W11 (After Watteau) – $86,265,000
Johns, Small False Start – $55,350,000
Signac, Concarneau, calm de matin – $39,320,000
Ernst, Le roi jouant avec la reine – $24,435,000
Wyeth, Day Dream – $23,290,000
Rivera, TheRivals – $14,130,000
Francis, Composition in Blue and Black – $13,557,500
Steichen, The Flatiron – $11,840,000
Cross, Rio San Trovaso, Venise – $9,550,000
Brueghel, The Five Senses – $8,634,000
Hepworth, Elegy III – $8,634,000
Benton, Nashaquitsa – $5,580,000
Sidaner, La Serenade Venise – $2,100,000
Singer Sargent, The Façade of La Salute, Venice – $3,660,000 – for work on paper
Klee, Bunte Landschaft – $4,860,000 – for work on paper
LUCIAN FREUD (1922-2011) – Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) made a record $86,265,000
THE Fortune Pink which sold for US$28.2 million led Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva on November 8. Weighing an auspicious 18.18 carats The Fortune Pink is the largest pear-shaped fancy vivid pink diamond ever to be sold at auction. The sale made a total of $57,340,888 and was 96% sold by value and 87% sold by lot. There wa global participation with registrants from 20 countries, across 4 continents.
Rahul Kadakia, International Head of Christie’s Jewellery remarked: “A historic week of auctions kicked off in Geneva where Christie’s Luxury auctions totalled CHF113,482,763 / $114,244,370, highlighted by the Fortune Pink, Legendary and Unique Watches, as well as the Domaine Ponsot 150th anniversary auction. Geneva Luxury sales offered 572 lots, with collectors from 50 countries active across the live sales. The second half of this momentous week will continue at Rockefeller Plaza in New York, where 150 masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Collection will be offered on Wednesday and Thursday, expected to realise US$1 billion, all of the estate’s proceeds from the sale will be dedicated to philanthropy, pursuant to Mr. Allen’s wishes.”
