Sotheby’s sales of Impressionist and Modern art on May 5 and 6 totaled $84.4 million.
The evening sale on May 5 brought a total of $61,370,500 and was 80.6 percent sold by lot. The sale was led by Piet Mondrian’s “Composition in Black and White, with Double Lines,” which brought $9,266,500, well above its high estimate of $5 million. Tamara de Lempicka’s “Portrait de Marjorie Ferry” sold for $4,898,500, and the three paintings from the esteemed Havemeyer collection nearly doubled their high estimate, bringing a total of just over $9 million.
“Achieving a strong sell-through rate was an important goal for this auction,” said Simon Shaw, head of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art department in New York, “and therefore the fact that 80 percent of our lots found buyers is a very positive message for the market. This was our highest sell-through rate in the category in New York in two years. As the spirited bidding on a number of lots indicated, there are clearly buyers participating in our market today. The two disappointments of the evening, Picasso’s portrait of his young daughter and Giacometti’s ‘Le Chat’ are both extraordinary works with tremendous provenance and of great quality and each was much admired before the sale.”
Commenting on the evening sale, Emmanuel Di-Donna, vice chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art department worldwide, said, “There were a number of successes. The remarkable price achieved for the Mondrian can be attributed to its provenance, freshness on the market and its attractive estimate. The same applied to the property from the Havemeyer collection, which generated an enormous amount of bidding with each work achieving a price well above its high estimate. Four works by Tamara de Lempicka from the collection of German fashion designer Wolfgang Joop attracted strong competition and sold for a total of $13.8 million.”
The three lots from the esteemed H.O. Havemeyer collection were very enthusiastically received, with all selling well above their high estimates. The total estimate for the group was $3.5/4.8 million and they achieved a total of $9,039,500. Claude Monet’s “Voilier sur Le Petit Bras de la Seine, Argenteuil,” which had been on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the past 15 years, sold after spirited battle involving six different bidders in the room and on the phone, for $3,498,500.
Four works by Tamara de Lempicka from the collection of Wolfgang Joop were also 100 percent sold, bringing a total of $13,826,000. In addition to the price achieved by the Ferry portrait, the others †”Arlette Boucard aux Arums,” “Portrait de la Duchesse de la Salle” and “Portrait de Mademoiselle Poum Rachou” †came in within or above estimates.
The Impressionist and Modern art day sale on May 6, which brought a total of $23,073,500, nearly reached the high estimate of $25 million. The sell-through rate of 86.6 percent was the highest achieved in the category at Sotheby’s in at least a decade.
The salesroom was very active with multiple bidders competing for several works. Among them was the top lot, Tamara de Lempicka’s “Le Téléphone II” from the collection of Wolfgang Joop, which took more than four minutes to sell and brought $1,986,500, close to two and a half times its low estimate, a continuation of the results achieved the previous evening for works by Lempicka from Joop’s collection. The enormous amount of interest in the day sale †more than 250 clients registered to bid †included a number of new clients from around the globe who bid and bought aggressively.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, 212-606-7000 or www.sothebys.com .
