Posted on May 31, 2011 by Daniel Schnapp

Review of the Contemporary Art Auctions: Part II

Warhol was a rock star in life and now in the afterlife.

According to the Journal, Warhol's Pop silkscreens from 1963-64 garnered the top prices at each of the three houses during the contemporary art auctions, with Christie's getting $38.4 million for his "Self-Portrait"; Phillips $27 million for "Liz No. 5"; and Sotheby's $20.2 million for "Sixteen Jackies."

Also, his 1978 "Shadow-Red" sold for $4.8 million at Sotheby's, more than five times its high estimate.

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Posted on May 31, 2011 by Daniel Schnapp

Review of the Contemporary Art Auctions: Part I

The week of May 9 was an important one for the art auction market.

According to the Wall Street Journal, New York's week of contemporary art auctions came resulted in collectors taking home more than $700 million of new art at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips de Pury & Co.

According to the article, the total beat the previous week's $400 million series of Impressionist and modern sales and highlighted the leading role contemporary sales are playing in the overall recovery of the art market.

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Posted on May 31, 2011 by Daniel Schnapp

New Whitney to Open

The groundbreaking for the new Whitney Museum in downtown New York has commenced.

Here is an article about the festivities that accompanied the groundbreaking.

Here is an article about the Museum.

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Posted on May 31, 2011 by Daniel Schnapp

Latin American Auction Sets Record

According to this Reuters article, strong demand for Brazilian abstract art and works by Colombia's Fernando Botero propelled Sotheby's to its best-selling auction of Latin American art with more than $21.6 million in sales.

The article also states that Botero's painting "A Family," which fetched $1.4 million, was the top seller at Wednesday's sale and his "Man on a Horse" set a record for a bronze sculpture for the artist at auction -- at $1.17 million.

According to the article, Botero works accounted for a third of the total sale, which topped Sotheby's $21 million Latin American sale record, set in the spring 2008 before the financial crisis sent art markets into a tailspin.

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