USA: Christie's and Sotheby's gear up for their upcoming post-war and contemporary art sales in New York

On the heals of the most successful New York sale yet of impressionist and modern art, the two big auction houses in New York are expecting the wave of enthusiastic bidding to continue in this week's sale of post-war and contemporary art. Last week Christie's fall Impressionist sale lived up to its billing as it brought in a record 491 million dollars (USD) for the auction house. Sotheby's had a more modest auction with 240 million dollars, not a record but a solid result. With Sotheby's evening sale on Tuesday night (November 14), and Christie's on Wednesday (November 15), both houses are hoping the success carrys over from last week. Again Christie's has garnered the most expensive collection, as least if judged by their pre-sale estimates. They are calling it the most valuable auction ever organized in the field, with work by Andy Warhol leading the way. Warhol's 'Mao', a 1972 work by the American pop artist is Christie's cover lot and it is expected to garner between 8 to 12 million dollars (USD). With an even higher price tag comes Warhol's 1964 'Sixteen Jackies', estimated to sell upwards of 15 million dollars (USD). According to Brett Gorvy, international co-head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie's, there is a global demand for recognisable and well known images by Warhol. "We have new bidders coming from China, we have new bidders coming from Russia, we have old collectors from America, across Europe and Warhol speaks to them at every level and that is the most amazing thing about Warhol, he really communicates to a huge number of nationalities and the images are truly iconic and I think that's what people are buying," said Gorvy. A small Warhol of movie icon Marilyn Monroe called 'Orange Marilyn' is also on the block for an estimated 10 to 15 million dollars (USD). Also in the pop art field, Christie's is selling Roy Lichtenstein's 'Yellow and White Brushstrokes' for 7 to 9 million. Other top lots at Christie's include Williem de Kooning's 'Untitled XXV', estimated to sell for 15 million dollars (USD), and a small Jackson Pollock painting called 'Number 21', priced at between 7 to 9 million dollars (USD). "We really believe that the prices achieved last week will move towards our category, also because the quality is of the same par. We're dealing with material, as with the impressionist and modern field, of the highest quality and also extremely rare and that just creates fantastic prices," said Gorvy. Christie's also has a Damien Hirst to sell, a collection of six life sized plastic skeletons called 'Yes, but how do you really feel. That work is priced at 1.5 to 2 million dollars (USD). At Sotheby's works by de Kooning, Francis Bacon and Lichtenstein top their sale. British Artist Francis Bacon's 1968 painting 'Version No. 2 of Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe' is Sotheby's top lot, with a pre sale estimate of 9 to 12 million dollars. The painting is reportedly based on Henrietta Moraes, a friend of Bacon's. Lichtenstein's large pop canvas 'Head, Yellow and Black', painted in 1962, is expected to bring in 8 to 10 million dollars (USD). The head of Sotheby's Contemporary art department in New York, Anthony Grant, says Lichtenstein found the inspiration for this painting from an unusual place. "Roy was obviously very much interested in the popular images of the time and of the culture, very interested in film, very interested in cartoon and in illustrations he would find in magazines. And this one particularly he found actually in a telephone book and we never really been able to find the exact source for this particular image, but it is know by the foundation to have been from a telephone directory," said Grant. Also going under Sotheby's hammer is a Warhol self portrait for about 4 million dollars (USD), and a large de Kooning painting from 1977 called 'Untitled XXX', for an estimated 7.5 to 9.5 million dollars (USD).

ITN Source | November 14, 2006

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