NEW YORK — After last night's robust Sotheby's sale, the Impressionist and Modern market continued to swing at Christie’s Wednesday evening, though at a slightly lower volume, totaling $158,505,000 for the 44 lots that sold. The performance fell midway between pre-sale expectations of $131.4-$190.5 million, while only three of the 47 lots offered failed to sell, making for an impressive buy-in rate of just six percent by lot and ten percent by value.
Thirty-six lots sold for over one million dollars, and of those, four hurdled the ten million dollar mark. An artist record was set by the cover lot, Chaim Soutine’s charming “Le petit Patissier,” showing a pink-cheeked figure clad all in white from circa 1927, which sold on a single bid to an anonymous telephone bidder for $18,043,750 (est. $16-20 million).
This particular Soutine, certainly the first to merit being an auction house cover lot, carried a third-party guarantee, meaning that Christie’s guaranteed the work but found an outside financial backer to take on the risk and assure the painting would sell. It last sold at Sotheby's New York in October 1977 for $180,000.
Overall, the sale was 35 percent higher than last May’s tally of $117 million but lagged far behind its arch rival Sotheby’s Tuesday evening sale, which made $230 million. Of course, Sotheby’s had a big leg up thanks to choice estate property from the collection of Alex and Elisabeth Lewyt, which pumped $88.6 million into the tally. No such luck here, with just a smattering of estate property, such as Pablo Picasso’s Surrealist, index-card-sized “Composition (Figure feminine sur une plage)” (1927), which sold from the Andy Williams collection for $1,443,750 (est. $800,000-1.2 million).
Still, bidders were game for big prices, such as for a sleeper Amedeo Modigliani, the early and fetching “La Juive” (1907-08), featuring the mysterious American sitter Maud Abrantes— most likely the artist’s lover — which soared to $6,843,750 (est. $2-3 million).
The buyer, seated on the aisle towards the back of the salesroom, recorded the bidding battle with his iPhone, holding it in one hand while bidding with his other, even taking a self-portrait shot after his winning hammer bid of $6 million. Later on, he declined to give his name though he admitted he was French, living in Switzerland, and the proud owner of other Modiglianis.
The incident reminded this observer of certain Japanese bidders during the late 1980s art boom who brought film crews to document their buying sprees at auction. The technology is better now.
Relatively early works by great artists seemed in high demand as the decidedly somber and frankly depressing Egon Schiele painting, “Selbstbildnis mit Modell (Fragment)” (1913), consigned by the Neue Galerie in New York, sold for $11,323,750 (est. $6-9 million). Marc Chagall’s joyous and limber “Les trios acrobats” (1926) fetched $13,003,750 (est. $6-9 million). Stephane Connery of Connery Pissarro Seydoux was the underbidder.
Impressionist-era pictures — often disdained these days by a market that seemingly prefers 20th-century kit — performed exceedingly well, as illustrated by Claude Monet’s verdant landscape, “Chemin” (1885), which sold to San Francisco art advisor Steven Platzman of Addison Fine Arts for $5,163,750 (est. $2-3 million). The picture last sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 1991 for $770,000. As the bids blasted past expectations, a chorus of hallelujah-type shouts emanated from a skybox above the salesroom, no doubt coming from the seller’s entourage.
Platzman also outbid the room and telephones for Alfred Sisley’s atmospheric “Pommiers en fleurs-Louvecinnes” (1873) for $2,363,750, and took Berthe Morisot’s evocative interior scene, “Dans la sale a manger” (ca. 1895) for $483,750 (est. $500-700,000). London dealer Thomas Gibson was the underbidder on the Sisley.
“I work as an art advisor for people out West,” said Platzman as he headed out of the salesroom, tailed by a number of dealers desperate to give him their business cards, “and I help them make decisions about what they buy.” He said each of his purchases were for different clients.
Another Monet, the tranquil plein air scene “Argenteuil, fin d’apres-mid” (1872), sold for $6,059,750 (est. $5-7 million). It barely outdistanced its previous result at auction, which was in February 2011 at Sotheby’s London, where it made £3.4 million ($5.47 million).
Back on the Modern front, Picasso’s large and authoritative still life, “Madnoline et portee de musique,” in oil and sand on canvas from 1923, sold to London dealer Libby Howie for $9,195,750 (est. 8-12 million). Howie said she bought it on behalf of a European client who had been looking for a Picasso from this period. “I thought I was incredibly lucky to get it,” said Howie as she turned in her bidding paddle outside the salesroom. “It was the perfect balance of a still life, and it’s such a sober, austere, and grand picture.”
Another modern entry, Joan Miro’s dark and ominous abstraction, “Peinture” (1933), painted in Barcelona before the advent of the Spanish Civil War and part of an important series of 18 related works, sold to a telephone bidder for $10,987,750 (est. $10-15 million).
Christie’s suffered one major casualty with its beautiful but overestimated Fauve-period Andre Derain, “Madame Matisse au komono,” painted in the summer of 1905. It died with a phantom chandelier bid of $13 million (est. $15-20 million).
At any rate, the auction house appeared pleased with its performance with department head Brooke Lampley noting, “This is a really educated and intelligent marketplace.”
The evening action resumes Tuesday with contemporary art at Sotheby’s.