NEW YORK — Gerhard Richter is the current King Kong of the art market and his paintings, especially the abstracts, are in passionate demand, as evidenced by the recent flurry of cash chasing works by the German titan during the contemporary sales held here last week. For example, Richter’s “Abstraktes Bild (798-3),” a large oil on canvas from 1993, fetched a record $21,810,500 (est. $14-18 million) at Christie’s on May 8, while “Abstraktes Bild (768-2),” from 1992, sold for $16,882,500 (est. $8-10 million) at Sotheby’s on May 9.
So it was a salesroom shocker when Richter’s smaller “Abstraktes Bild (638-4),” an oil on canvas from 1987, died on the block without a single bid at Phillips de Pury on May 10. (The estimate was $3-5 million). It last sold at auction at Christie’s London back in October 1992 for a now-measly-seeming £28,600 ($48,344), about a decade before his market began its current ascent. Had market ardor faded for Germany’s — and perhaps the world’s — greatest living artist?
Hardly, at least according to one Chelsea dealer who had tried to sell the painting back in 2002 for €450,000, the price reflecting the rough patch following 9/11, as well as the fact that, in his words, “Richter was not yet the be all and end all of the art market.”
“It was a nice painting,” said the dealer, who insisted on anonymity, “and the price was OK for a painting in good condition.” Doubts, however, surrounded this particular Richter. Beyond some acceptable hairline cracks at the bottom of the canvas, the work had suffered an inch-and-a-quarter tear in the lower-right-hand corner. That’s what killed its prospects.
A condition report, unearthed from the 2002 period when it was on private consignment here from a Dusseldorf dealer, opined that the restoration was “professionally repaired sometime within the last ten years” and further described the repair patch as “executed in tissue with synthetic glue,” adding that “there is retouch paint on the painting’s surface corresponding this repair.”
Even given the current boom for postwar art, the unblemished regard for Richter, and the kudos generated by the current traveling retrospective, “Panorama,” condition can kill a painting’s chances in a sophisticated market environment. Phillips aggressive estimate probably didn’t help either.