“An encouraging result for the end of the year” – Kommersant FM

Kommersant FM columnist Dmitry Butkevich tells which lots became the most profitable for auction houses at recent auctions in New York.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s earned nearly $1.2 billion in contemporary art sales in New York last week. An encouraging result for the end of the year. Christie’s earned a total of $759.35 million over the two sessions. The auction house said it was very pleased that the auction apparently attracted more than 2.5 million viewers across multiple platforms, including strong international participation, in addition to bidders on the packed sales floor.

Christie’s has made clear progress in the segment of so-called young artists. Well, about 40 years old – such youth! A painting by Berliner Stephanie Heinze (born 1987) “The Third Date,” which debuted at auction last month, sold for $239.4 thousand against an estimate of $80 thousand. Nude woman by Jenna Gribbon (born 1978) “Regarding Me, Relating to You” and me” brought her a new record of almost $500 thousand.

The painting “Carnal Field” by the Russian artist Sanya Kantarovsky (1982), living in New York, was sold for more than $200 thousand. About Sanya, who is forty, they write: “An artist, a curator. Known for his work in various media and curatorial projects.” Maybe someone knows it, but I don’t. The most expensive lot at Christie’s was Claude Monet’s “Pool with Water Lilies” for $74 million.

Sotheby’s looked more modest. $424.5 million, almost all of it for the Landau Fischer collection. In principle, about a third of the total amount went to the portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter “Woman with a Clock” by Pablo Picasso from 1932, which was sold for $139.4 million. Nine lots exceeded the “10 plus” mark – more than $10 million.

New auction records were also set for two top-notch artists: $11.8 million for Mark Tansey’s Triumph of Mastery II (1987) and a staggering $18.7 million for Agnes Martin’s The Gray Stone II.