These days, many art dealers across New York City could be said to be losing sleep over how they will be paying next month’s rent. Conversely, dealers at Sotheby’s sale of Old Master paintings in late January could actually be seen falling asleep. Some might say that the present silence of sales talk in many a gallery speaks loudly towards the art market’s “correction.” OMNP, however, can verify that the volume of such symbolism could at least be matched by the intermittent shouting of Sotheby’s auctioneer Henry Wyndham during Old Masters week on January 29th. And while the auctioneer’s escalation in voice might keep a drowsy dealer coherent enough to place a bid, what it really signifies is how deliberate and nonchalant the beat of the Old Masters market is, in contrast to its modern and contemporary counterparts.
Slow and steady, of course, never wins the race in this day and age. It should be presumed that the even if the hyperactive pace of status seeking and consumption that has fueled the modern and contemporary markets is gassed at the moment, it is merely a temporary snag. Furthermore, even if Old Masters have had their moment in the spotlight during these dire times, they aren’t going to suddenly become more popular because of their price stability.
Furthermore, they are not completely immune from the effects of the recession. As Lindsay Pollock’s summary of the Sotheby’s sale explained, a sag in demand has taken the pressure off of dealers to replenish stock, save for the best items. Sotheby’s Old Masters department Vice Chairman George Wachter concurred: “There was no loose money…Private people were still bidding, but dealers were particularly selective.”
Nevertheless, the laissez faire charm that characterized the Sotheby’s crowd is reflective of this market’s buoyancy in an ocean of financial uncertainty. The antics of London dealers during the afternoon session at Sotheby’s, for one, was downright cheeky. After purchasing a gorgeous portrait by Hendrik Terbrugghen, the Carravagist master from the Utrecht school, for a hefty sum of $10.16m during the morning session, leading dealer Johnny Van Haeften seemed less concerned with his balance sheet, and more focused on amusing his colleagues. As he strolled in to the bidding room fashionably late for the second half of the sale, Mr. Van Haeften scanned the back section of the auction room for a vacant chair, found none, and instead, sat directly on the floor, much to the chuckles of the London Old Boys club.
Van Haeften’s triumph for the hotly contested Terbrugghen came over another leading dealer, the American Richard Feigen, who ended up being the underbidder for the work. Perhaps, Mr. Feigen willingness to spend was the result of feeling cavalier about the prospects of his own painting up for sale a few lots later, J.M.W Turner’s “The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius Restored.” Despite being a non-trademark work by Turner, this painting was touted by Sotheby’s as the sale’s highlight, carrying its highest estimate of $12-16m.
Perhaps OMNP was in the dark about the quality of this work—apparently Feigen didn’t even want to sell it, save for his desire to establish a trust fund for his wife and children. In any case, after a tense silence of about 2 minutes, Wyndham’s hammer fell at $11.5m to an anonymous telephone bid, and Feigen and his gallery staff began to breathe easy.
While Feigen’s lot was a success, overall sales figures yielded uneven results. Both auction houses suffered during their morning sales, reserved for the highest priced lots. Setting it’s low estimate for this session at $74.4m, Sotheby’s made only $57.7m, while Christie’s earned $11.9m against a low-estimate of $19.3m.
Again, connoisseurship played a big part in undervalued lots that exceeded expectations, (see the sale of the Barocci below) Yet if a piece isn’t high quality these days, it’s price seems to be suffering, regardless of who it was done by. Some of the most notable underachievers from these sales were second rate works by established masters.
From Souren’s Melikian’s analysis, linked below:
“Such an unflattering context can be counterproductive. Yet, two great masterpieces soared as high as they might have done before the recessionary gloom spread across the world.
The contrast between the stunning success of one of the two main star lots and the abrupt failure of the other neatly sums up the new mood in the market. Buyers are prepared to pay more than ever for the ultimate masterpiece, but the merest shortcoming will defeat even important rarities when estimates defy reason.”
SALES HIGHLIGHTS
SUCCESSES:
Sotheby’s, lot 40: Hendrik Terbrugghen, “Bagpipe Player in Profile”
This picture sold to dealer magnate Johnny Van Haeften, for $10.16m, over twice its high estimate.
Sotheby’s, lot 65: Francois de Troy, “The Astronomy Lesson of the Duchesse de Maine”
This work was purchased by a New York dealer, and healthily cleared it’s high estimate, selling for $230,500, with fees. Another example of shrewd connoisseurship in play, the dealer later remarked that that the picture would clean beautifully (possibly for view at the upcoming TEFAF fair in Maastricht)
-Christie’s, lot 65: Federico Barocci, “Head of St. John the Evangelist”
This work was bought by another seasoned London dealer, Jean Luc-Baroni, for nearly triple its high estimate of $600,000 USD. The work’s fantastic condition and importance-as a study for one of Barocci’s most important works, the “Entombment of Christ” altarpiece for the Church of Santa Croce, in the small Italian coastal town of Senigallia
-Christies: Set of watercolors by J.M.W Turner
All lots from this set of Turner studies all managed to sell, capping out at a total of $1.85 million. Ironically enough, the strongest and most endemic work of Turner’s hand, “The Brunig Pass from Meringer, Switzerland”could only manage to cap out at around $1.1m, against a $1.5-2.5m estimate. Meanwhile, Feigen’s consigned lot, which looks nothing like a typical Turner, goes for $11.5m, before fees. Sometimes, the market works in peculiar ways.
FAILURES:
Even with an “aggressive estimate,” as Melikian described it, OMNP had big hopes for this painting, with its exceptional mix of palette, and was surprised at its failure.
Christie’s , Jean Simeon Chardin “Still-Life with a copper pot, a pitcher, a fish, a glass, two nuts, and an onion.”
While Chardin revolutionized still-life painting, even this work may have been a bit too mundane to meet a $1.2m low estimate
Sotheby’s, lot 63: Joseph Wright of Derby, “A Cottage on Fire..,” unsold against an estimate of $350,000—550,000.
This work served as an example of this sale’s buying mood–a work that is not a masterpiece, yet solid nonetheless, by a top-flight painter of the British Enlightenment (recent Yale retrospective in tow), can’t sell-even for what seems to be a reasonable price.
BARGAINS:
An exceptional portrait capturing the venerable dignity of a military officer, sold for about $500k under its low estimate.
This wasn’t an excellent Goya work, but it still has that subversive feel of royal plasticity. Someone dutifully snatched it up at this clearance-house price.
FURTHER COVERAGE
Turner’s Portrait of Toga-Clad Revelers Sells for $13 Million [Lindsay Pollock, Bloomberg]
Vigorous bidding for Old Masters reflects sea change in marke [Souren Melikian, International Herald Tribune] [IHT slideshow of sales highlights]
Risk Brings Rewards in Old Masters Sales [Judd Tully, ART INFO] [ART INFO photo gallery of sales highlights]
Turner and a Few Others Succeed at Slow Sales [Carol Vogel, NY Times]
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