In the Wake of Trump Victory, New York’s Auction Week Perseveres With Solid Results

Edvard Munch, Pikene på broen (Girls on the Bridge), 1902, oil on canvas, 39 3/4 x 40 3/8 in. (101 x 102.5 cm). Estimate: on request, in excess of $50 million. Price Realized: $54,487,500 million. While there was much speculation about the effect that the United States’ upset presidential contest might have on the art market, this week’s New York sales proved that the auction market remains as impervious to politics as it does to criticism. The Picassos, the Warhols, and the Richters were bought and sold, like any other day, regardless of who is advancing to the White House and who is marching in the street. And while the market is certainly experiencing a contraction from the spectacle of just a few years prior, overall the sales were solid and steady, though a touch subdued. László Moholy-Nagy, EM 1 Telephonbild, conceived in 1922, executed in 1923, porcelain enamel on steel, 37 1/2 x 23 3/4 in. (95.2 x 60.3 cm). Estimate: $3,000,000 – 4,000,000. Price Realized: $6,087,500. Courtesy of Sotheby’s. At least one glass ceiling was ruptured: Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale started off the week on Monday, November 14, with auctioneer Helena Newman -the first female auctioneer to lead a major evening sale in New York – commanding the room. The star lot of the sale, Edvard Munch’s Girls on a Bridge (1902), started at $43 million and quickly rose until stalling at $50 million for what felt like an excruciating length of time. Imploring looks and queries were cast across the room, until Newman finally gave in, settling for the hammer price of $50 million ($54.5 million all told). It’s the third time the painting has been sold at Sotheby’s, and it set records each time it was auctioned previously. This week’s result would have made it a three-for-three record-setter, were it not for The Scream, which set the all time record for the artist at $119.9 million in 2012. Recently on view at the Guggenheim retrospective of László Moholy-Nagy, EM 1 Telephonbild (1922-23), billed as an early conceptual work of art, was another highlight of the evening, selling for a record-setting $6 million. Not all were winners, however; a highly anticipated Tamara de Lempicka portrait of a male subject, from the collection of fashion illustrator Kenneth Paul Block and textile designer Morton Ribyat, failed to sell. Overall, the auction was a success, however, with the evening sale total coming in at $157.7 million, with $38.8 million resulting from the Tuesday’s Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale, bringing Sotheby’s total to $196.5 million – a reassuring result given the charged political climate. Willem de Kooning, Untitled XXV, 1977, oil on canvas, 77 x 88 in. (195.7 x 223.5 cm). Estimate in the region of $40 million. Price Realized: $66,327,500. Courtesy of Christie’s. Jean Dubuffet, Les Grandes Artères, 1961, oil on canvas, 44 3/4 x 57 1/2 in. (113.7 x 146 cm). Estimate: $ 15,000,000 – 20,000,000. Price Realized: $ 23,767,500. Courtesy of Christie’s. Christie’s started […]

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