Phillips' Evening Sale in New York Garners $54m
Phillips' Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York (19 November 2024). Courtesy Phillips.
Phillips’ Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York on 19 November generated U.S. $54 million with fees, falling short of its presale estimate of $60.1–89 million.
Last year, the auction house’s November sale brought in close to U.S. $70 million with the same low estimate.
Three of the 33 lots scheduled were withdrawn, dropping the cumulative estimate to $50.4 million. The remaining 25 of 30 lots sold for $44.2 million. Five lots failed to sell, including Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s 1983 Self-Portrait (estimate $10–15 million).
Leading the sale was Jackson Pollock‘s Untitled (c. 1948), a black and white drip painting that brought in $15.3 million. The last time the painting went to auction in 1987, it sold for $1.2 million.
New highs were achieved for 27-year-old painter Li Hei Di, whose Unfolding a flood (2022) sold for $127,000, more than twice its high estimate, and mid-career American artist Derek Fordjour, whose Twelve Tribes (2021) sold for $1.1 million.
Also exceeding expectations were Elizabeth Peyton‘s Kurt (sunglasses) (1995), which hammered for close to triple its high estimate at $2.3 million and Keith Haring‘s Untitled (1982), which sold for $2.2 million. Matthew Wong‘s Untitled (2017) went for $1.7 million.
Falling within estimates were Jadé Fadojutimi‘s Even an awkward smile can sprout beyond the sun (2021), which sold for $571,500, and Cy Twombly‘s Crimes of Passion I (1960) for $6.1 million.
The sale concluded with Andy Warhol‘s New York Skyscrapers (1981), the artist’s portrait of Trump Tower, which hammered for $952,500, exceeding its estimate of $500,000–700,000.
‘The demand for exceptional works of 20th century and contemporary art remains solid,’ said Jean-Paul Engelen and Robert Manley, Phillips’ Co-Heads of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Phillips Modern & Contemporary Art sales in Hong Kong take place next week. —[O]
Main image: Phillips' Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, New York (19 November 2024). Courtesy Phillips.
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