Sotheby’s Sales Weaken Amid Thinning Market

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/nyregion/sothebys-sales-weaken-amid-thinning-market.html

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A year is a long time in the art market. And Monday’s marquee auction of Impressionist and modern works at Sotheby’s demonstrated how much the art world has changed since last May.

The tally for 62 works on offer (of which 21 lots failed to sell) was $144.5 million with fees, far below the low estimate of $164.8 million. It was also far below the $368.3 million raised last May in an equivalent sale of 64 works.

“Imps and mods,” the powerhouse market of the 1980s, have become far less fashionable than contemporary art. Last spring, in more bullish times, and with wealthy Asian bidders active at New York sales, Christie’s and Sotheby’s supported the prices of selected pre-1950s artists with some expansive guarantees, or pledged minimum prices. A year later, many guarantees have disappeared — and so have many of the Asian bidders who last year pursued three out of the five lots that sold for more than $20 million, including a van Gogh for $66.3 million.

“Now we’re concentrating far more on lots priced in the $1 million to $20 million range. And that’s where we can make a profit,” Simon Shaw, Sotheby’s worldwide co-head of Impressionist and modern art, said, referring to the slim margins that auction houses often make from guaranteed works. He characterized Monday night’s patchy bidding as “a more sophisticated market” in the post-sale news conference.

“Given the fireworks we’ve seen in the market, and the subsequent waning, the lurching around of the global economy and key collector groups,” said Mary Hoeveler, an art adviser based in New York, “it’s not the moment to sell if your expectations are high.”

Here are some of the highlights.

BEST OF THE B TEAM With no trophies by Monet or van Gogh — which last year spurred prices in excess of $50 million — it was left to the “Imps and mods” B team of artworks to create Monday evening’s memorable moments. Maurice de Vlaminck’s vibrant 1905 landscape, “Sous-bois,” thought to have been painted near Chatou in France during the height of the Fauvist movement, had been in the collection of the Blaffer family of Texas for many years and had never been offered at auction. That is an increasing rarity in this heavily traded market. Included in a number of major exhibitions, it sold to Nancy Whyte, a New York-based adviser who was bidding on behalf of a client, for $16.4 million, against a low estimate of $12 million.

SURPRISE FAILUREAndré Derain’s 1906 canvas, “Les Voiles Rouges” (“The Red Sails”), was another former Blaffer picture, but it failed to sell against an estimate of $15 million — to the surprise of Sotheby’s and dealers in the room. “It was like a misfiring Ferrari,” Roger McIlroy, the Australian dealer, said of the auction. “It did well at parts of the race, but fell off the track occasionally.”

STAR SELLER Sotheby’s was pleased to put one over on its archrival Christie’s with an entry from the Loeb family of collectors. Paul Signac’s shimmering 1892 Pointillist painting, “Maisons du Port, Saint-Tropez” was entered by the diplomat John Langeloth Loeb Jr., a former American ambassador to Denmark. It had been inherited from his parents, John Langeloth Loeb Sr. and Frances Lehman Loeb, who sold their celebrated collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art at Christie’s in 1997 for $92.7 million. The Signac sold for $10.7 million against a low estimate of $8 million to a telephone bidder.

SURPRISE SUCCESS Auguste Rodin is a trophy name, but buyers have tended to prefer his editioned bronzes to his marbles. The 1901-03 sculpture “L’Eternel Printemps,” depicting a passionate kiss between two naked lovers, was believed to be one of 10 known marble versions of the subject. It inspired a lengthy duel between Ben Frija, the Oslo dealer, and a telephone bidder who prevailed at $20.4 million, an auction high for Rodin — and the top price of the sale. “I don’t understand paying $20 million for a Rodin that he never touched,” said Richard Nagy, the London dealer, who regarded the work as carved by assistants from a maquette.

GUARANTEES In its May 2015 evening “Imps and mods” sale, Sotheby’s and third parties pledged minimum prices to the sellers of 14 lots. On Monday night, a more risk-averse Sotheby’s included just one guaranteed work — a 1926 Magritte, estimated at $2 million. It sold for $2.3 million with fees to a bidder who appeared to be the guarantor.

THE LAST WORD Last year, 78 percent of the lots sold; this May, the selling rate dropped to just 66 percent. “This wasn’t a sale of trophies,” said Heinrich zu Hohenlohe, director of Dickinson in Berlin, specialists in high-end artworks. “There weren’t the standout lots that get people excited.”

“It was a relatively difficult sale in difficult times,” he said.