Records secured for SI Newhouse collection at Christie's

Thefirst catalogue of Christie's long evening of auctions in New York on 18 May took just 40 minutes, an average of two and a half per lot, to realise $630.8 million with commissions, well above the pre-sale estimate, dispersing 16 million-dollar works collected by S I Newhouse, the publishing magnate known for his love of art and support of museums such as the Metropolitan in New York. This was the fourth sale since his death nine years ago and the richest to bring the total collection to over a billion dollars.
All lots were protected by third-party guarantees, which in three cases probably saved the work from going unsold in the absence of other bids. Only three lots exceeded their high estimates before commissions were added, six confirmed them, and seven went under their respective low estimates. Only four lots triggered real bidding contests, including two of the three records of the evening for Mirò and Pollock, while the third record for Brancusi was due to the guarantee.
In general, guarantees provide an incentive to move up the low estimates, depressing the competition in the room, which was mainly conducted by 'American' phones.

Contradicting this logic, Jackson Pollock's work started from an asking estimate of around $100 million, in line with the previous record but, in reality, contained if one considers the size of the painting, well over 3 metres long, its historical relevance revealed by its title and year of execution, Number 7A, 1948, which places it at the dawn of Action Painting, and the characteristic expressiveness of the dripping process that characterises it. All factors that prompted five potential buyers on the phone and in the room to vie for it in a rapid sequence of bids of one million dollars each, until reaching 157 million dollars, which with the addition of commissions becomes 181.2 million, the fourth auction adjudication ever for a work that deserves to be in a major museum.

The rare sculpture by Brancusi in the catalogue also started from the same estimate at $100m, but the reception was quite different, stopping after a single bid at $93m which, thanks to commissions alone, exceeded the estimate at $107.6m, most likely ending up in the hands of the bailor. This is 'Danaëd', a gilded bronze on plinth dated 1913, an example therefore executed in his lifetime by the artist himself, unlike the works that usually arrive on the market with significantly lower values, and the only one with a gilded patina in private hands; Newhouse had obtained the work at auction for $18.2 million in 2002, approximately one fifth of the current realisation. In any case, this is one of the highest prices ever for a sculpture that, at the time, represented a major break with the figurative tradition of contemporary Rodin.
The issue of the copies issued later is also back on the agenda due to the agreement announced on the same day as the auction whereby the Pace mega-gallery will take over the commercial representation of the Franco-Romanian artist's heirs.

The third record of the evening, the one for Mirò, also multiplied its value at auction: the large two-tone canvas composition on a grey background depicting an avant-garde 'Portrait of Madame K' from 1924 was fought over until it exceeded its estimate of 25-35 million to stop at 46 million, which became 53.5 million dollars with commissions, four times what was paid at auction 25 years earlier (12.6 million dollars, also at Christie's New York).

“Homme à la guitare” di Pablo Picasso

An important contribution also came from the four works by Picasso in the catalogue, one of Newhouse's most highly regarded and collected artists, which together realised $126.2m (within estimate), led by another bronze representing a crucial moment in the development of the Avant-gardes and, in particular, Cubism: the portrait of Fernande executed in 1909 stopped just short of the $40-60 million estimate, at $48.4 million with commissions, almost ten times the 2001 auction estimate, confirming the price achieved by another example in 2022. Another Cubist work, a 1913 painting 'Homme a la guitare' of large dimensions and variegated palette, supported by a stellar provenance from Kahnweiler to Gertrude Stein at the Met, only reached the low estimate of $35m, or $40.9m with commissions, probably ending up at the guarantor, while the catalogue's first lot, a 1907 oil on cardboard portrait related to the Cubist composition of "Les demoiselles d'Avignon", triggered a series of raises that took it over its $6-8m estimate to $14.4m with commissions.
The catalogue also featured three works by Jasper Johns that struggled to reach the low estimate, stopping at a total of $43.5 million with commissions. Also sold just below their respective low estimates were a distinctive geometric composition by Mondrian from 1921 at $34m from an estimate of $35-55m, or $39.7m with commissions, and a composition with two female figures painted by Matisse in 1938, which stopped at $34.6m from an estimate of $30-50m.