Contemporary sales: still some things to smile about

A week of contemporary art sales that ended last Friday proved that, for the right artists, the market is remarkably stable, unaffected by global economic uncertainties. Nearly 186 million was spent in nine sales at four auction houses, comfortably within the pre-sale estimate of 142 to 214 million. This time last year, before the eurozone crisis and talk of a double dip, the equivalent sales made only about 1.5 million more.

Although Bonhams had a rough ride earlier in the week, that was because the company has yet to find its feet at the deep end of this market. Its top-selling lot was a rare drawing of a young Lucian Freud by his friend, Frank Auerbach, which sold for a healthy 481,250 to the London dealer Pilar Ordovas, bidding for a private collector.

What the sale was missing was a few pictures by Gerhard Richter. At the other three salerooms, there were 25, mostly colourful abstract paintings of the kind that had sold so well in New York in November, and all but two sold for 33.8 million, easily surpassing the minimum 20 million expected; that’s 18.4 percent of the series spent on just one artist. I can’t remember any other contemporary artist, apart from Andy Warhol, dominating to such an extent.

The highest Richter price was 9.9 million for the large abstract which was illustrated in this column two weeks ago. Although it is these colourful, squeegee-executed works that are most widely sought after, other, less obviously commercial works from his extensive repertoire are also performing well. A painting of a blank piece of paper, curled at the corner for turning, was one of a series of only 11 of this subject made in 1965. When it was last sold in 2002, it was bought by a British collector for 53,000. Last week, the collector sold it for 1.5 million.

American art took a back seat – apart from a large stencil-style painting by hedge-fund favourite Christopher Wool of the word FOOL, which sold for a record 4.9 million, and a vibrant Orange Sports Figure by graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat that sold for 4.1 million. The price for the Basquiat wasn’t huge by 2007 standards, but for the seller, who bought it in 1992, four years after the artist’s tragic suicide, for $66,000, it was a good return.

British art was led by a full-length portrait of Henrietta Moraes reclining on a bed by Francis Bacon, which took the top price of 21 million. It had been sent for sale by Sheldon Solow, the New York real estate developer and toast of Christie’s who had sold the record-breaking Henry Moore and Joan Miró a week earlier. Experts think Lucian Freud will be at the same level when one of his many masterpieces in private hands comes on to the market. Last week, though, it was Freud’s drawings appearing out of the woodwork because three made over 1 million for the first time last year.

At Sotheby’s, five drawings from the collection of his former dealer James Kirkman sold for 2.4 million – some to his last dealer, Acquavella Galleries in New York, and a fine late drawing of Lord Goodman to the Richard Green Gallery in London. Damien Hirst, though, was still struggling with the residue of his famous one-man Beautiful sale at Sotheby’s in 2008. A butterfly painting bought there for 253,250 could find no buyer last week at 100,000.

Photography has also been dragging its heels at auction, except, that is, for the two most expensive artists in this genre, Andreas Gursky and Cindy Sherman. In 2004, Sherman showed her latest photographs of herself – as a clown – in London, and they all sold priced from 35,000 to 50,000.

Last week, as she prepares for the opening of her major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, two clown photographs came up for sale, and the most expensive was sold by Phillips for a hefty 433,250 – not a record for Sherman, but the highest price to date for one of her clown photographs.

In spite of the profit-taking, this was not a market out of control. The auction rooms had largely got their estimates right – not an easy task in what is perceived as a volatile market. Most artists in these sales experience a price spurt at some point, and then it calms down. Last week, two of the latest market phenomena, Jacob Kassay and Ged Quinn, saw their prices stabilise. Sooner or later, Richter’s abstracts will level off, too. But for the moment, the auctioneers are enjoying the ride.