New York in the last two weeksauctionA total of over US$2 billion worth of art was sold at the venue. Although it is much less spectacular than last year, it can still be said to be unsatisfactory when it is still plagued by geopolitical turmoil.
There are several ways to interpret this auction figure. The first is to look at the huge transactions achieved at each auction: Phillips’s transaction was approximately $175 million, Christie’s was $864 million, and Sotheby’s was $139 million, to Sell in US DollarspicassoWith the help of paintings, the total transaction volume exceeded 1 billion US dollars.
Art consultant Abigail Usher, who was bidding at last Wednesday night’s Sotheby’s auction, said that while the rest of the world seems fragile and turbulent, there you are, with so many works of art being easily bought and sold. , It can simply be said that this market is actually quite stable.
But from a more serious point of view, this year’s auction total is much lower than last year.The deceased was sold at the New York auction last yearMicrosoftThe auction totaled a record $3 billion, with co-founder Paul Allen’s family foundation collecting more than $1.5 billion worth of art. Compared with last year’s excellent results, this year’s total transaction volume decreased by 33%, indicating that the downward trend in the art market is still continuing.
Some art dealers believe that the current situation is worrying, and for various auction houses to achieve such results is considered excellent. Still, inquiries about the most expensive auction item at the venue seemed to be low. Jude Hayes, another art consultant who participated in this year’s auction, pointed out: Compared with previous years, the objects that have become less popular at auction are the high-end objects on the market. Compared to previous years, auction items with high estimated volumes and “guaranteed” prices are less attractive to the market.
At Wednesday’s auction, there was a masterpiece by Basquiat that was considered a best seller by many art dealers. However, the final transaction price was slightly higher than its low estimate, including handling fees. The work sold for just $42 million. The auction record for a Basquiat masterpiece was US$110.5 million in 2017. A similar situation occurred at a Christie’s auction on November 9: a very fine Francis Bacon painting from 1976, unofficially estimated at $50 million, ultimately sold for $45 million. And it looks like someone has achieved it. Guaranteed Buyer. After adding handling fees, the final amount reached US$52 million. However, this amount is far less than the record of 70.2 million yuan for a single painting set by Bacon in 2014; This is also negligible compared to his auction record of 142.4 million yuan for three consecutive paintings sold in 2013.
The most intense bidding on the platform happens only for those rare items. One of them, Richard Diebenkorn, had an unofficial estimate of US$25 million and was later sold at Christie’s for US$46.4 million after a fierce bidding war. At Sotheby’s, a richly colored oil painting by Mark Rothko had an original price of US$10 million. After a round of bidding, it was eventually sold for a little less than US$24 million. Intensive bidding brought the final price of Agnes Martin’s masterpiece to nearly US$19 million, far exceeding its high estimate of US$8 million.
Summarizing the auction’s results, Usher said: “When there are not many high bids at auction, it may mean that our current view of art and the future direction of the art market is in a more probable state.” Because no matter what, there are still many collectors in the market who want those rare, beautiful and great works of art.
The ten top-grossing works at the November auction totaled a relatively modest $562 million.
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