USA: Christie's takes in 325 million U.S. dollars at contemporary art auction contradicting fears that the art market is cooling down

Christie's fall contemporary art sale showed strong results despite some high profile paintings selling for less than the low estimate. A Mark Rothko fetched more than 34 million U.S. dollars while Andy Warhol's "Liz" owned by actor Hugh Grant sold for more than 23 million (USD). The red hot contemporary art market showed its strength on Tuesday (November 13) with a solid sale at Christie's, which achieved the second-best auction result ever with a 325 million U.S. dollars total that saw saw 16 artists' records broken. With some 93 percent of the 67 lots of post-war and contemporary works finding buyers, most all selling within or above their pre-sale estimates, the auction was likely to calm fears of a stumbling art market in the face of recent financial world woes, as well as a poor showing at rival Sotheby's (BID.N) Impressionist sale last week. The top lot was Mark Rothko's untitled ("Red, Blue, Orange") from 1955, which sold for 34.4 million (USD), well above its high pre-sale estimate of 30 million (USD) and the second-best price for a Rothko at auction. "One of the reasons why the market is so strong and we haven't been so susceptible to sub-prime or any of these economic factors is that we're not reliant on one economy," said Brett Gorvy, Deputy Chairman at Christie's "This is a global market. We were seeing bidding from Asia, we were seeing bidding from new buyers in Russia." He also said that their American buyers are so well off that the sub-prime mortgage crisis has not affected their financial clout. Christie's said half the buyers were American, with one-quarter European and the remainder Asian and "other." Americans have traditionally dominated the contemporary art market. If there was a downside, bidding was generally conservative at the uppermost echelons, yielding somewhat disappointing prices for some of the sale's spotlighted offerings including Andy Warhol's "Liz," being sold by actor Hugh Grant Warhol's portrait of Elizabeth Taylor sold for 23.56 million (USD) including commission, less than the low estimate of 25 million (USD). But Christie's denied that the art market is cooling down. "This was a painting - 2001 - only six, seven years ago - it cost four million dollars. So, you're talking about a market which is really on fire and our problem as auctioneers is really anticipating where to start the bidding." Another work that set a record but fell just shy of estimates was Lucian Freud's "Ib and her Husband," which fetched 19,361,000 (USD). The auctions wrap up on Wednesday (November 14) at Sotheby's.

ITN Source | November 19, 2007

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