Sotheby's: million-dollar results for post-war American collections

The first evening of auctions in New York, at the same time as the current fairs, Frieze and Tefaf, and their multiple 'satellites', confirmed the interest in the great names of post-war American art and the importance of the added value of provenance from important collections. Sotheby's presented two catalogues during the evening of 14 May, with the first one dedicated to the Mnuchin collection, and the second "Now & Contemporary" dedicated to several properties including works from the Gunzburg and Gunter Sachs collection. The total result for the evening was $433m, towards the overall high estimate after the addition of commissions, up significantly on last May's similar catalogues. As many as $166 million came from the 11 works in Robert Mnuchin's collection catalogue, surpassing the high estimate with commissions, while the 40 lots sold out of 44 in 'The Now & Contemporary' general catalogue brought in nearly $267 million, reaching the high estimate.

The start of the auctions was rather reassuring, thanks in part to the guarantees protecting all 11 lots from the collection of the well-known art dealer and financier, who died last year at the age of 92. These guarantees, however, did not play a decisive role in the realisations, thanks to the active participation of several buyers on half of the lots, and at least two contenders on the others.

As much as $106.6m is owed to two works by Rothko, including the second highest ever realisation for the imposing 1957 composition 'Brown and Blacks in Red', which clocks in at $74m from an admittedly optimistic estimate of $70-100m, or $85.8m with commissions. Munchin bought it at auction in 2003 for less than a tenth of the current realisation, after a long stay in the Seagram collection, the name with which the 1958 series of works now on view at Tate Modern London is associated. The superlative exhibition organised in Paris by the Louis Vuitton Foundation contributed to this upward realignment of the master's dramatic abstract compositions, so much so that a 1949 work 'No.1' in sunny colours reached a high estimate at $20.8 million; it too had been bought at auction in 2017 for the equivalent of $13 million. While Rothko's works solicited only two to three buyers each, two of De Kooning's three works elicited protracted bids, with a total realisation of over $27m led by a 1970 work at $10.8m from an estimate of $4-6m, and a 1983 work at $12.4m. Two European pre-war works were also hotly contested: a 1921 Picasso from the Classical period and a 1939 Mirò on paper exceeded estimates at 1.5 and 6.5 million respectively, while a 1986 steel sculpture by Jeff Koons 'Louis XIV' stopped at 8.6 million within estimate.

Guarantees also played an important role in the overall catalogue: 20 of the 44 lots remaining after the withdrawal of one work were guaranteed by third parties, including seven of the top 10 realisations, and in six cases would appear to have been decisive, including the second realisation, a large composition by De Kooning from 1975 which stopped at $23.5m below its estimate of $25-35m, most likely ending up at $26m with commission. It fetched just over the $45m asking estimate after a couple of raises for Basquiat's 1983 work 'Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)' which fetched $52.7m with commissions, over three times its 2013 auction estimate, exceeding the guarantee but without particular momentum. The third Rothko of the evening found a more dynamic reception than the previous two, finishing above the high estimate at $16.5m with commissions, despite being a work on paper from 1969 with a purple-black palette of great elegance but certainly not to everyone's taste.
The provenance of the collection ofJean & Terry de Gunzberg, whose design collection realised nearly $100 million last month, brought all five lots in this catalogue to a realisation of $50.7 million, above the overall high estimate, without needing the intervention of the bondsman protecting the three main lots.
In addition to Rothko, the collection also included a rare work from the series dedicated by Lucio Fontana in Venice in 1961, all unique works with the same one-and-a-half metre square format: 'Spatial Concept, the sky of Venice' exceeds its high estimate at $16.4m with commissions, eight times its 2002 purchase price, after sustained contention leading to a new record for works in this highly sought-after series.

Pop Art also made an important contribution, thanks to a portrait of Brigitte Bardot on a green access field commissioned in 1974 by her then husband Gunter Sachs to Andy Warhol, which thanks to the exclusivity of this series and the iconic and attractive subject triggered raises to exceed the estimate of 14-18 million at the record price for this composition of $24.8 million.