New York's fallauctions will highlight lesser known artists next week as the market searchesfor diversity amid an absence of works set to make astronomical amounts.Christie's set a record price for a living artist during its spring sale thisyear, two years after selling Leonardo de Vinci's "Salvator Mundi"for $450 million, the most expensive artwork ever sold.
Unless there isan unexpected surge in interest neither Christie's nor Sotheby's are likely toget anywhere near the crazy highs that they have set over the past three yearsthis time around. Instead, the sales, which begin on Monday, are expected toset individual records for artists with lower profiles, with a number of rare worksthat have never before been offered to the public hitting the auction block.
Auctioneers atChristie's are particularly excited about "Hurting the Word Radio #2"by American pop-art artist Ed Ruscha, who has long lived in the shadow of themovement's leader, Andy Warhol. The 1964 painting -- considered Ruscha's bestwork -- is priced between $30 million and $40 million. "The market wantsto know it has one of the best paintings which is a change from before when itwas more like, 'Jeff Koons is hot, I have to have a Koons," said AlexRotter, chairman of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's. "Now it'sabout, 'I'd rather have the best Ed Ruscha than an average Warhol,'" headded.
The previousrecord for a Ruscha, who lives in California, was $30.4 million for"Smash" which sold at auction in 2014. Among the other highlights atChristie's this season is British painter David Hockney's "Sur laTerrasse", estimated to go for anywhere between $25 million and $45million.
Hockney
At Sotheby's thebig sales are expected to be "Untitled XXII" by Willem de Kooning,priced between $25 million and $35 million, and Mark Rothko's "Blue OverRed", which has the same estimate. A proven selling point is the freshnessof a lot of the paintings on offer. Hockney's painting, which features the samelover that is in "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" thatsold last November at Christie's for $90.3 million, has not been publiclyexhibited since the early 1970s.
"It'simportant to have this fresh material. It's what generates excitement frombuyers," said Johanna Flaum, head of post-war and contemporary art forChristie's in New York. Sotheby's is on a similar quest. This season it isoffering "Charing Cross Bridge" by Claude Monet, estimated at between$20 and $30 million) and "Richard Gallo and his Dog at PetitGennevilliers" by Gustave Caillebotte. Neither have been at auctionbefore.
"You can'teven say it made this much 20 years ago. You can't anchor it to anything andyou can't have any expectations of a ceiling," said Julian Dawes, head ofevening sales at Sotheby's in New York. "It's exciting. There's going tobe price discovery," he added. In addition to Ruscha, the Italian PieroManzoni and France's Yves Klein, who all rarely make headlines, auction housesare diversifying their offerings. Women painters, mainly belonging to theabstract expressionist movement, continue their ascent.
'Transformation'
Lee Krasner's"Sun Woman I" sold for $782,500 in 2011. On Thursday, it could reachten times that price with a pre-sale estimate of between six and eight milliondollars. "There is an incredible enthusiasm and demand for female artistsright now," said David Galperin a senior vice president at Sotheby's. Thesales will also feature African-American artists, among whom Jean-MichelBasquiat is no longer the only reference.
This seasonCharles White and Norman Lewis are expected to set new benchmarks at auction.Less than a decade ago, they were selling for tens of thousands of dollars butcould exceed $1 million this time. "These are reappraisals. We're in thisgreat moment of transformation right now and I think our sale reflectsthat," said Galperin.
Despite the lackof a superstar work of art and the threat of a global economic slowdown,Sotheby's and Christie's are entering the week with confidence. "We keepwaiting for it (a downturn) and it doesn't happen," said Julian Dawes aSotheby's senior vice president. "I feel a little bit of seller reluctancyin the market," because they feel they might not get the best price,"but the buyers are there," said Rotter. -- AFP