Tom Wesselmann
Blonde Vivienne,
1988

Morris Louis
Number 43,
1962

Helen Frankenthaler
Crete, 1973

Jean Dubuffet
Concomitances,
1979

Andy Warhol
Black Flowers, 1964

Christo
Wrapped Magazines,
1966

Richard Artschwager
Doors II, 1973

Barbara Kruger
Untitled 
(Worth Every Penny),
1987

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #66, 1980

Andy Warhol
Untitled (Daisy),
1969-71

Gustav Klimt
Seated Woman,
1897-98

Egon Schiele
Squatting Woman,
1914

Frida Kahlo
Congress of People
for Peace, 1952

 
to market, 
to market... 

six-figure sales 
at tune-up auctions, 
adaa art show 
by Judd Tully
 

 

Topped by Blonde Vivienne, Tom Wesselmann's 
tondo-shaped oil painting on cut-out aluminum 
from 1988, the contemporary art 
market woke up from its winter snooze at 
Christie's New York on February 22. The
Wesselmann hit a lusty $111,400 (est. $70,000-
$90,000) and coupled with 119 other sold lots, 
turned in a workman-like $2.46 million 
performance (vs. pre-sale est. $2.6 million-
$3.6 million).

Even with the two pricey buy-ins of Morris
Louis' Number 43 that fizzled at $65,000
and Helen Frankenthaler's pink Crete that
died at $48,000 (both carried $80,000-$100,000 
estimates), the sale still made an impressive 
83% by dollar value (77% by lot). "Things 
were selling at the top end of the estimates 
or above," commented Christie's expert Alison 
Buscher, "and we haven't seen that for a 
couple of years."

Traditionally, the February sales are 
tune-ups for the major spring auctions, 
which begin at Christie's on the evening of 
May 7. During the market gloom of the early 
`90's these appetizer sales were cancelled 
as descretionary selling virtually ceased 
and buyers vanished.
	
This round, anyway, the market perked up
with works such as Concomitances, Jean 
Dubuffet's late acrylic and paper collage
which brought $110,300 (est. $40,000-
$60,000) and Andy Warhol's 1964 Black
Flowers, realizing $54,050 (est. 
$40,000-$50,000).

Of special interest was Willem de Kooning's
Untitled, 1977, an oil on newspaper abstraction
deaccessioned by the Denver Art Museum (for 
future acquisitions). It fetched $47,150 
(est. $25,000-$35,000).

A snappy twine-tied Christo object, 
Wrapped Magazines, dated 1966 and sold 
from the collection of Christo chronicler 
David Bourdon, brought $21,850 (est.
$15,000-$20,000).
	
The market was decidedly more picky and
downbeat the next day at Sotheby's second
multi-discipline contemporary sale of
paintings, photographs, prints and multiples. 
Only 118 of the 204 lots found buyers (58% 
sold by lot and 61% by dollar value) for a
$585,557 tally (vs. est. $477,300-$672,500).
	 
"I think it's a good idea to enter into the 
21st century," said Sotheby's specialist 
Tracy Williams, referring to the more 
cutting-edge content of their sale and 
attempt to reach new collectors, "but I 
don't know if people are ready for it yet."
Sotheby's debut of its three-department 
collaborative format made a more impressive 
$1.08 million in October 1993. Now it makes
more sense why they waited so long.
	 
Doors II, a conservatively estimated 
Richard Artschwager from 1973 and framed 
in six parts, made the top lot at $51,750
(est. $30,000-$50,000)
	
Barbara Kruger's screaming monkey and text
in photographic silkscreen from 1987,
Untitled (Worth Every Penny), sold for 
$28,750 (est. $15,000-$20,000). The low
estimates made the results look rosier than
reality.
	
The best example of low-ball estimates was
Cindy Sherman's Untitled #66 C-print from 
1980 that brought $19,550 (est. $5,000-
$7,000). The recent buzz from MoMA's 
important seven-figure acquisition of 
Sherman's "film-stills" series no doubt
sparked additional interest. Sherman is 
sold in both the Contemporary Part II 
and Photographic auction arenas.

Even so, European and American private 
buyers dominated, much like the buying
pattern at Christie's. An exception was the 
strong price realized for Andy Warhol's 
circa 1969 Untitled (Daisy) color 
photograph that went to an otherwise 
unidentified Asian private collector for 
$9,200 (est. $5,000-$7,000).
	
An unusual offering of "Portfolio, For 
Joseph Beuys," comprised of 29 prints by 
artists ranging from Arakawa to Warhol and 
published by Bernd Klüser and Editions 
Schellmann, hit $20,700 (est. $20,000-
$25,000).
	
THE ART SHOW
An even richer assortment of contemporary 
and modern works were on view and primed 
for sale from February 22-26 at "The Art 
Show," the annual market fest presented by 
The Art Dealers Association of America at 
the Seventh Regiment Armory. Now in its 
eighth year, "The Art Show" was first hatched 
during the booming `80's and timed to 
coincide with the February auctions. The 
hope then was to transfer auction fever 
to the high-wattage booths at the Armory.
	
Unlike the auction houses where prices and 
percentages from sales are tallied and
published for public record, the Art Show 
results are a different matter and much
harder to measure. Chicago dealer Richard 
Gray, whose handsome booth was singled out
in a New York Times piece on the fair, 
scored in both modern and contemporary 
offerings, selling "almost a million," 
according to Paul Gray, director of the 
gallery. He declined to be more specific. 
Their top contemporary work was a large and 
late Willem de Kooning. More importantly, 
though, Gray said, "last year we didn't make 
any sales."
	
In a casual sales survey of participating
dealers, Galerie St. Etienne said it had 
sold Seated Woman, a Gustav Klimt charcoal 
drawing from 1897-98, for $50,000 and a 
striking Egon Schiele etching from 1914, 
Squatting Woman, for $6,000. It was 
published posthumously in 1990 from an 
edition of 100. "We've made a profit already," 
said Jane Kallir, co-director of the gallery, 
"but buyers can take a long time to make 
up their minds so it will be three or four 
months until we really know how well 
we've done."
	
Veteran dealer and raconteur, Allan Stone 
bristled at the sales query: "The trouble 
with the art world," said Stone, "it's all 
deteriorated into a big bottom line." Even 
so, he couldn't help adding, "Business is 
at the top-end and they're not buying much 
stuff out in meatloaf land."
	
The atmosphere was buoyant at Susan Sheehan 
Gallery after twin opening night sales of 
Andy Warhol's Blue Airmail Stamps from 
1962 in the $200,000 range and a 24 x 24 
inch Flowers painting at "just over 
$100,000," according to Sheehan. "I could 
have sold both of them five times over," 
marvelled Sheehan.
	
Photography was of unusual interest this 
time around as evidenced by strong sales at
San Francisco's Fraenkel Gallery. Edward 
Weston's vintage 1925 Nude (Anita Brenner) 
and Imogen Cunningham's famous still life, 
Magnolia Blossom, from the same year, both 
sold for six figures, according to Jeffrey
Fraenkel.
	
At Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, a modest oil 
and tempera landscape by Frida Kahlo with a
decidedly Marxist title, dated from 1952, 
Peace Congress for the People, sold for 
$85,000.

The overall mood was summed up by Joe 
Helman after reporting serial sales of 
gallery artists Joe Andoe and Jose Sicilia.
"If this is reality, I'm thrilled." 
JUDD TULLY lives and works in New York.