Sotheby’s stock has rebounded immensely. The first nine months of 2010 showed almost $65M of profit, whereas the same period in 2009 resulted in $80M of loss. The real story of a rebounding market can be seen at the highest end. While private deals were still being done in 2009, the auction houses came roaring with strong results in 2010. The top ten auction lots of 2010 brought in almost $700M compared to just $326M in 2009.

An original edition of Audubon’s “Birds of America” was sold in London at Sotheby’s on December 7, 2010 for $11.5M plus commissions. Michael Tollemache was the buyer. This sale now ranks as the highest price paid for a printed book at auction. The book is four volumes and includes 435 watercolors of birds.

The Chinese are buying late Picasso works. It seems to have everything to do with branding. The surge in price for late Picasso works can be almost wholly attributed to two of the biggest art brands in the last half of the 20th century: Picasso and Gagosian. Gagosian has created buzz and hype around all his artists, and while these later Picassos appear to be done in a hasty manner, they still scream Picasso and there is nothing more that the nouveau riche of China want except for someone to walk into their home and say “Picasso.” Gagosian exhibited a late Picasso show, replete with John Richardson catalogue essay in June of 2009, which brought even more fame to these later works. These neophyte buyers continue to buy up Picasso, helping to set a new standard for late Picassos.

One of the great museum directors of the last century has died. Peter Marzio, who was the director of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston and was instrumental to the museum’s growth on the international stage, died of cancer at the age of 67. Under his direction, the endowment reached $1 billion and the permanent collection tripled in size from 14,000 to 62,000 artworks, including important acquisitions by de Kooning, Rothko, and Picasso.

In the beginning of November we visited the Tate Britain and saw the Turner Prize nominees for ourselves. They were all outstanding, but one performance stood out above the rest. Artist Susan Philipsz won with her audio piece, in which she recorded her signing under different bridges in Glasgow.

Happy New Year! We hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season with their family. We look forward to another exciting year in the art world and seeing everyone at the fairs and in our gallery. We look forward to a great 2011!

Long live art!

Very truly yours,

David Benrimon

Leading auction houses have sold off around $48M (£30M) worth of forged artwork in recent years. The news first broke in the Guardian Newspaper mentioning roughly 30 different artworks already identified, including important Modern and Impressionist works by Ernst, Leger and Dufy. Three Germans have been arrested as being the party that produced and distributed the counterfeits, but only time will tell if they acted in concert, or if others were involved. They were careful in producing these artworks, often studying the painters and their evolution before making the copies and even included provenance labels.

However it is not just the well established Westernized auction houses subject to authenticity issues. The China Times published a long exposé on the Chinese markets striving for higher prices by including works that were less than authentic. Buyer beware on Chinese artworks.

The Impressionist and Contemporary sales were all the talk in the first week of November, but recognition must also be given to Sotheby’s 19th Century sale that sold a work for nearly $36M. The Finding of Moses by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema attracted three bidders and destroyed the artist’s former record which was set in 1995 for $2.8M on the same exact painting. Included in this sale were also two works from the collection of Demi Moore, including a beautiful Bouguereau which net just under $1.1M.

Miami Art Basel saw the influx of buyers and fewer spectators. The high ticket items continued to sell, while the emerging art market continued to struggle. Basel, was in some ways, a microcosm of the world. The rich getting richer and continuing to buy artworks by the boatload, and the less secure collectors being relegated to the open bars nightly from 7-9 pm sponsored by high end art galleries. No sooner than Art Basel’s end, did high end artworks continue to defy gravity. At Sotheby’s New York, A Marble Portrait Bust of the Deified Antinous, Roman Imperial, Reign of Hadrian from circa CE 130-138 sold for almost $24M. The work had a high estimate of $3M.

Although this optimism can be tempered, as Nicolas Poussin’s Ordination, estimated at £15M failed to sell at Christie’s. Despite the heavy marketing campaign Christie’s launched for this individual work, including roughly ten various mailers, the work still passed while on the block. This was potentially due to the overall sentiment that the work would not suit a private collection. So much for marketing! The rest of the Christie’s sale brought in almost 22M GBP.

One of the best events of Miami took place before Basel even began. Benrimon Contemporary LLC threw a great party at the Townhouse Hotel. Trey Speegle painted a magnificent mural and over 300 people came for rooftop cocktails.

We would be remiss to say that it is time for the auction houses to drop the evening auctions of Latin American art. Mackie Healey explained the auctions well: Botero is the Latin American market’s Andy Warhol. The biggest and best lots of the auction are usually Botero and his artworks bring the best bids.

Earlier this year Emmanuel Di Donna announced he was leaving his post of Senior Vice President of the Impressionist Modern department at Sotheby’s in early September. Many people speculated his next move. Would he follow in the footsteps of Guy Bennett and open a private art consulting firm? In fact, this week he has been splashed across the art headlines for opening a New York-based Upper East Side gallery for secondary artworks with Harry Blain.

David Benrimon Fine Art
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