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Even the blue chip items could not attract serious bidding.  Despite the relatively recent death of Robert Rauschenberg his artworks are not soaring in value.  Lot 16 at Phillips Evening sale was Wolf Wood which sold for a little over $475k including buyer’s premium which was below the low estimate before buyer’s premiums.  Lot 157 during the day sale was Quarters, a 1997 Rauschenberg work that sold well below estimate, even with the premiums.

Dear Friends,

Our esteemed Leon Benrimon married Stephanie Bohbot the last weekend in June and we would like to wish them mazel tov and a happy and successful marriage.

Please take a moment to read our newsletter. London’s auctions have come and gone and we bring you some exciting commentary on the results. As always feel free to forward the newsletter to your friends and family and contact us if you have any questions, or are looking to buy or sell.  We are always in the market for Impressionist, Modern and many Contemporary artists.

Very truly yours,

David Benrimon

Some commentators criticized the Modern and Impressionist Artwork sales for lacking material and we agree that there was a dearth of artworks.  But we disagree on why there was not much material but some serious bidding.  Francis Outred, Christie’s new European head of Contemporary Art also stated, “The supply of real masterpieces is not what it used to be.”  Souren Melikian wrote simply, “The goods aren’t there any more.”  Colin Gleadell of the Telegraph also agrees with Souren, writing, “since the financial crisis began, high-net-worth individuals have been moving their money away from bank deposits and stock markets into alternative investments such as jewelry and art.”  He was thereby implying that there were too many buyers and not enough suppliers.  We don’t agree that the supply has dried up.  If that was the case we would see more frenzied bidding in auctions and private sales.  There are serious private deals being done but the amalgamation of not gloating in the recession if you are doing well, not wanting to look like one is doing poorly and the belief that selling art is really a last resort after homes, securities or other illiquid assets means there are less buyers and sellers publicly. Once the market turns the usual factors of wanting a fresh artwork and seeking some profit on one’s collection will return and the auction market will as well. As Kelly Crow of the Wall Street Journal aptly wrote, “Sellers aren’t parting with their prized offerings unless they must, leaving auction houses to make do with slimmer pickings offered at a fraction of last year’s prices.”

The London Summer Auction season kicked off at Christie’s Mayfair Kings Street on Tuesday evening June 23, 2009.  What a difference a year makes.  Last year Christie’s brought in $284M (£144.4M), which comes out to more than 3 times this year’s sum of $60.4M (£37.1M).  Christie’s evening auction sold just 30 out of 44 paintings, sculptures and drawings. As expected, there was heavy bidding on important works. 

The mid-market works, which carried estimates between £300,000 and £600,000, lacked bidding and in many cases passed.  The higher end works continued to sell but not at the dazzling results we saw just 12 short months ago.  Those very few with expendable cash willing to spend at public auctions are opting for one or two fantastic works and relegating the mid market to pass.  The Monet oil on canvas, Au Parc Monceau, sold for $10.2M (£6.3M) which was well above its high estimate of $7.3M (£4.5M), but pales in comparison to a Monet that sold for $80M last year, beating the total for the whole Impressionist and Modern auction this year. Sotheby’s competing Monet landscape Route de Giverny went under the hammer for much less and the difference in the quality of the painting can explain it earning $6.3M (£3.9M).

Joan Miro continued to enjoy the patronage of the Nahmad family. They eventually outbid three others for Painting (Woman Powdering Hersel) for the tidy sum of $6.4M (£4M). 

Sotheby’s evening sale totaled $55.1M (£33.5M), which was within its presale estimate of £26.8-37.3M (as compared to the $201.2M (£102.2M) Sotheby’s gathered the year before).  If one were to take the art news from The Economist “it was deemed the greater success as their auction had a higher seller though rate—85% by lot and 91% by value versus Christie’s 68% by lot and 84% by value.”  But these people are too optimistic. Some magnificent works did well, like the Magritte The Light of Coincidences which went down for almost $885,000 (£650,000), but plenty of works lacked even one bidder.  The numbers hardly bear a recovery but Impressionist works remain strong.  Just 12 months ago after fantastic runs for Contemporary Art, commentators were asking is this the end of Impressionist and Modern works?  We doubted it then and know now that real collectors and even investors know that these works hold value and much like Old Masters they are aesthetically pleasing and still status symbols.

Ever since those tastemakers over at Gagosian Gallery mounted their Picasso “Mosqeuteros” exhibit at the 21st St. location in Chelsea from March 26 to June 6, this year’s collectors have been clamoring for these later works which never drew so much attention.  Sotheby’s offered the better of the 2 Musketeer paintings, which was painted the day after the one offered at Sotheby’s (when Picasso was in his late 80s), with an estimate of £6m-£8m, and sold it within its range at $11.5M (just under £7m).  John Tolleson, the seller, purchased it from Landau Fine Art.  And Samir Traboulsi, the Lebanese Financier was the buyer.  The Musketeer at Christie’s was purchased by David Nahmad for $9.3M.  The seller was the Saudi Arabian Juffali family.

Last years auctions in London saw 59 works sell for over £1M, in comparison to just 16 this cycle, but there were less than ½ as many works offered (930 last year to roughly 450 this year).  But as Mr. Gleadell points out the average lot sale fell from £464,000 to just £140,000 this year

The Mugrabi family were big bidders on Warhols; the Nahmad family on Picasso and Miros and of course Gagosian gallery is always there to clean up an almost passed Jeff Koons artworks.  At Christie’s London, Jeff Koons’s wrought-iron sculpture shaped like a Dali-esque mustache only attracted one bidder—Millicent Wilner of Gagosian Gallery.  At the Impressionist and Modern evening sales the Nahmad family bid on many of the Picassos as usual and denied trying to manipulate the market.  It is reported that David Nahmad said, “All manipulators lose money…If I die tomorrow, the Picasso market would go on.”  While the market will continue beyond David’s years, it may not be at such inflated prices.

Rodin - The Kiss	Rodin - The Thinker	Furnas - Untitled (Red Wave)