Stebbins powder horn, $2,587.

Christie’s Offering of Post-War Art Realizes $25.2 Million

NEW YORK CITY – Christie’s evening sale dedicated to art created during the dynamic Post-War period realized $25,154,500 at Rockefeller Center November 13. Andy Warhol’s “Holly,” 1966 a nine-panel portrait of art dealer Holly Solomon, and Willem de Kooning’s 1951 drawing “Women,” from the artist’s seminal series exploring the female form, shared top honors, each realizing $2,096,000.

Nine lots sold for over $1 million in a sale that was 76 percent sold by value and 70 percent sold by lot.

Eleven of the 15 works of art offered in the single-owner session Property From The Hans Grothe Collection sold. The top lot of the collection was Gerhard Richter’s “1024 Farben,” 1974, the largest (118 inches square) color chart painting by the artist ever to come on the market, which fetched $1,766,000. Also of note was Georg Baselitz’s early masterpiece “Der Hirte,” 1966, from the artist’s acclaimed series “The Heroes,” which realized $1,106,000, a world auction record for the artist.

Additional highlights included Tom Wesselmann’s “Still Life #28,” 1963, a genre painting for modern America that combines an austere portrait of Abraham Lincoln, fruit and plants from a Cezanne painting, promotional cardboard cut-outs of beer bottles, and a working television set. The work sold for $798,000, a world auction record for the artist.

Works on paper performed well, led by the de Kooning drawing. In addition, Mark Rothko’s “Untitled,” 1968, a richly colored acrylic on paper, fetched $1,216, and Ed Ruscha’s “Honk,” 1962, realized $198,500, well above its high pre-sale estimate of $150,000.

Thus far, Christie’s fall 2001 sales of Impressionist & Modern and Post-War art total $160,982,840.