By Carter B. Horsley

During the exhibition for this evening auction at Sotheby's of Contemporary Art November 9, 2000, William Ruprecht, the president and chief executive officer of Sotheby's Holdings, Inc., was asked while on line at the Dean & Deluca cafe on the top floor of the auction house on York Avenue at 72nd Street if batteries were included in the upcoming sale of Lot 20, an extremely luminous abstraction by Mark Rothko (1903-1970) that almost appeared to have been backlit.

"Of course," he replied.

"A lifetime supply?" he was asked.

"If the price is right," he said, smiling.

The oil on canvas was painted by Rothko in 1954 and measures 94 1/2 by 59 3/4 inches. It has an estimate of $9,000,000 to $12,000,000. Come the auction, Mr. Ruprecht had reason to smile for the painting set a new record for the artist of $17,368,000, and the auction was a considerable success. More than 80 percent of the 62 offered lots sold for a total of $93,431,500.

Other highlights in the auction include a strong painting by Francis Bacon (1909-1992), some very good works by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), three works each by Jeff Koons (b. 1955), a stunning abstraction by Gerhard Richter (b. 1932), and Jasper Johns (b. 1930), a good painting by Morris Louis (1912-1962), a good portrait of Lenin by Andy Warhol (1928-1987), and a delightful large spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911).

The Rothko, which was once in the collection of Baron Leon Lambert of Brussels, is large and classic. Lot 20, "No. 6 (Yellow, White, Blue Over Yellow on Gray," it was executed in 1954. It is an oil on canvas that measures 94 ½ by 59 ½ inches. (See The City Review article on a Rothko museum retrospective exhibition.)

Lot 32 is a superb work by Francis Bacon, entitled "Pope and Chimpanzee." An oil on canvas, it measures 64 ¾ by 56 inches and was executed in 1962.

In its painterliness, it could be a fine companion to the Rothko, especially for schizophrenic collectors.

The catalogue provides the following very incisive commentary on the Bacon, noting that it "displays a number of Bacon's celebrated motifs, channeling their concomitant tributaries of thought onto the same canvas":

"This complex, deeply intellectual canvas continues Francis Bacon's impassioned and celebrated exploration of the Pope, and, specifically, his reaction to reproductions of Diego Velasquez's masterpiece, Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1650, Rome, Galleria Dora Pamphili). For nearly twenty years, Bacon filled his canvases with bold, searching swathes of oil paint in an effort to render, both physically and psychically, the most senior and powerful figure in the Catholic Church….Accompanying this papal figure is another of Bacon's familiar motifs: that of the monkey. Here, a chimpanzee bursts out of the pictorial space, aggressively confronting both the Pope and the viewer; its active, almost cruciform pose is in stark contrast to the more static, regal pose of the Pope...A silhouette of a walking figure, delineated in lilac paint, is curiously layered over the chimpanzee….Francis Bacon famously turned down the opportunity to go and see the Velasquez portrait…,worrying how he might react to the original…..Bacon's task was not one of representing the image, but rather re-presenting the Indices of meaning inherent to the portrait: stature, presence, role, and the very mechanics of being. In essence, Bacon gets under the skin, goes beyond the surface of the representation, and engages us with a series of emotions that lie at the heart of existence….The chimpanzee appears as if it is about to pounce on the papal figure; its action in stark contrast with the more hieratic pose of the Pope. For Bacon, this animal was the embodiment of chaos. Like many of his human subjects, Bacon's animals are generally shown in tortured states, where they shriek and twist in physical contortions. The chimpanzee is depicted with an almost violent attack of the brush, causing the blurring of the image, reflecting Bacon's interest in frozen motion and the effects of photography and film, and making it difficult to interpret the pose or expression….The closed, claustrophobic interior, often delineated as a cage-like construction within the composition, is crucial to Bacon's art. They provide theater spaces in which the existential drama takes place, enacted by his cast of players…."

The lot has a modest estimate of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. It failed to sell.

Ideally, the schizophrenic collector might be blinded into some sort of calm if he were to also purchase Lot 13 for display in the same huge room/gallery as the Rothko and Bacon. Lot 13, "Bracelet," is an enormous oil on canvas by Jeff Koons that was created in 1995-8. It measures 104 3/8 by 139 ¾ inches and has a slightly modest estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $2,248,000. Its shocking pinks and deep reds surround a glimmering, silvery bracelet fit for King Kong's Big Mama. It looks like a huge perfume foldout from Vanity Fair or Vogue and one suspects Busby Berkley or Florenz Ziegfield to lift the bracelet up and put it around the colossal wrist of one of their fabulous showgirls.

The catalogue provides the following commentary about "Bracelet":

"Monumental in scale and joyously effusive in spirit, Jeff Koons' Bracelet boldly announces both his conceptual intent and his obsession with craft and surface as delineated in his outstanding Celebration series. Koons began to make this ambitious body of sixteen 'photo-realist' paintings and twenty stainless steel sculptures in 1994, embracing a litany of subjects that have preoccupied the artist for over twenty years: namely, the collision between the paradigms of 'High" and "Low'; culturally, aesthetically, historically and socially. The Celebration series draws upon the symbols and objects associated with the observance of life's rituals, be they birthdays, holidays and other festive occasions. Indeed, these paintings and sculptures further Koons' preoccupation with the objects and experiences of, specifically, childhood in previous works. Another aspect to this series, which continues his Postmodern 'ironizing' of the ritual of relationship as seen in his Made in Heaven works, is its undeniable sexual charge. Koons seems to transform the everday into something akin to the fetish through this overwhelming attention to precise detail. This transports the little bracelet from nonsexual innocence into the realm of sexcual experience, further amplified by its now gargarntuan proportions....The handling and precision of the painting is here astonishing, so that the most banal, ordinary object is executed in baroque detail. Here, a silver bracelet in tacky metallic wrapping paper becomes this kaleidoscopic monument ot the possibilities of painting....Between 1994 and 1998, over seventy assistants were employed by Koons to complete this labor intensive and extremely costly project....The degree of perfection demanded by Koons for the fabrication of these enormous paintings was unheard of. Each passage of the Bracelet has been meticulously, laboriously rendered. No one fragment of the composition is privileged over another; whether painting a shadow or a physical object, the execution remains as focused as possible, and the result is mesmerizing. "

Lot 14, "Mound of Flowers" is a glass sculpture from Koons' earlier Made in Heaven series that was exhibited in 1991. It measures 17 1/4 by 41 1/2 by 35 1/2 inches and is number 3 from an edition of 3 plus one artist's proof. It has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,000,000. It sold for $1,128,000. "It comfortably situates itself, as to be expected from Koons, on the border between high and low," the catalogue entry observed, "a tribute at once to kitsch and to Baroque and Rococo decorative motif. It borrows from the typical kitsch vernacular of ornamental glass, but heightens and stretches the formto unprecedented levels....Koons immaculately infuses this work with desire, using the work's surface, and contrasting ideas about beauty and the grotesque, as his raw material. Mound of Flowers performs for its audience like any great spectacle: it evokes both positive and negative reactions that ultimately add up to a very engaging event. Its surface glistens and shines, appearing to be wet and begging to be touched."

In dramatic contrast to the super-realism of Koons' Bracelet is Lot 16, "Tisch," a large and excellent abstract painting by Richter (see The City Review article on a retrospective of the artist.) An oil on canvas that measures 88 1/2 by 115 3/4 inches, it was executed in 1982. It has an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,000,000. It sold for $2,136,000.

Sotheby's missed a rare opportunity to assemble what could have been an extremely memorable gallery. Imagine, if you will, its large main exhibition gallery on the 10th floor of its York Avenue building with the Rothko, the Bacon, the Koons, the Richter and the de Kooning on the five walls in the gallery.

In such company, the Rothko would have most likely stood out as the most impressive and the de Kooning as the least impressive. Such an artistic "chapel," however, would have probably fascinated Kandinsky, Bosch, and Cézanne and intimidated Picasso while awing Matisse and Michelangelo and Polliaulo.

To Sotheby's, and Christie's, credit, it does try to exhibit its very major offerings with elegant spacing and both houses also attempt to exhibit where relevant thematically related works together.

If you show a great painting surrounded by mediocre works, will it seem as great? Will it enhance the mediocre works?

If you show a great painting surrounded by other great paintings, will it be enhanced by the juxtapositions or lose importance because of the competition?

Can the whole of a "great" gallery be better than any of the individual components?

For those who are haunted by imaginary or virtual museums "without walls" such questions are important aesthetic exercises that challenge our experiences and our intellectual sensitivity.

In the above described imaginary gallery Jackson Pollock probably would have despaired and Andy Warhol would probably have taken a few photographs and Francisco Botero would have rolled on the floor holding his belly and laughing.

For a change, Warhol was not the auction's dominant artist although he was represented by one rather classic image, "Mickey Mouse (Myth Series," Lot 12. An acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas that measures 60 inches square, it was executed in 1981. It has an estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It sold for $1,912,000. Another Warhol in a similiar and simple outline style was Lot 53, "Lenin," an acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas that measures 72 by 48 inches. It has an estimtae of $600,000 to $800,000. It was withdrawn.

The dominant artists in the auction were Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning.

Johns is represented by a "numeral," a "flag" and a "target."

Lot 25 is a large charcoal and pastel on paper on Jasper Johns entitled "O Through 9." The consignor was David Geffen. It has an ambitious estimate of $7,000,000 to $9,000,000. It sold for $10,928,000, an auction record for a work on paper by the artist. The work has once been in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Scull who had acquired it from the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1961 for $1,200. That year Johns concentrated on a series that layered every Arabic numeral on top of each other and made eight paintings and one drawing, this work. The catalogue entry declared that "this monumental drawing is one of the most important works on paper executed by the artist," adding that "Certainly it is one of the largest has ever made...and one of the most important drawings of the Twentieth Century."

The catalogue entry quotes David Shapiro as maintaining that this work displays Johns' desire to transform "Abstract Expressionism into something solid and monastic and mencingly flat while retaining the broken space and discontinuous draftsmanship of Expressionism." The entry goes on to observe that "Underpinning the pattern achieved is the fact he has denied the validity of each separate number. They are no longer 'readable' and therefore their 'meaning' or 'value' has been eradicated and replaced with another set of meanings and values that are centered on his concern with surface. The objective thus gives way to the subjective; the rational is abandoned in favor of the sensational. What is privilieged is the creation of a surface for mediattion: one that the viewer can feel. Ironcially, this surface is created from phenomena that do not exist in nature, nor can they be apprehended by the senses." This work is the cover illustration of the auction catalogue. The catalogue devotes several pages to this work and reproduces one of the 1961 paintings that is now in the collection of the Tate Gallery in London that is infinitely richer than this grisaille drawing as it abounds in reds, oranges, yellows, blues and grays.

Lot 27 is a "Flag" painting in encaustic and collage on canvas that Johns executed in 1971, about 17 years after he first began painting images of the American flag. This work measures 26 by 17 inches and has an estimtae of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. It sold for $4,488,000. The catalogue entry for this work maintains that Johns' "manipulation of the 'form' reaches its apotheosis in this work....Color has now been replaced with tonal distinctions of gray, the flag is now vertical...and its further been 'flopped.'...Here, canvas strips, dipped in wax, become the stripes of the flag; cut out canvas stars, literally, are the stars....A Johns enthralls because it forces the viewer to ask questions that challenge our preconceptions about the status of an aesthetic object; this makes us really look at the subject. It satisfies, because on that journey, one is dazzzled by the weight and texture of the encaustic surface and the inflections of pigment and wax one finds Johns able to make with this medium."

Lot 23, "Green Target," is the most attractive of the Johns lots. Only 9 1/4 inches square, this 1956 encaustic and newspaper collage on board was included in the artist's first ever solo exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery. It has an estimate of $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. It sold for $3,368,000.

Willem de Kooning (see The City Review article on the artist) is represented by two good works, Lots 33 and XXX. The former is entitled "Untitled (Woman)" and is a pencil and crayon on paper that measures 13 1/2 by 13 1/4 inches. Executed circa 1952, it is very beautiful. It has an estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. It sold for $624,000.

The catalogue entry provided the following commentary:

"Willem de Kooning's 1953 exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery, Paintings on the Theme of the Woman, was a milestone in American art, bringing de Kooning unprecedented celebrity even beyond the art community. The impact of these violently abstracted, voluptuous women struck a visceral chord with the public, and their earthiness captured the raw energy of the American Spirit thta animated the growing reputation and impact of American Abstract Expressionism. Within the community of artists and critics, de Kooning's Women of 1950-1953 were profoundly shocking as they challenged the precepts of the new movement by returning the artistic discourse to figurative subject matter."

Lot 19 is a larger and "fleshier" de Kooning. Entitled "Clam Diggers," it is an oil and graphite on paper mounted on masonite that measures 19 5/8 by 14 3/8 inches and was executed in 1964. It has an estimate of $3,500,000 to $4,500,000. It sold for $3,928,000.

Lot 36 is one of de Kooning's late abstractions. Entitled "Untitled XII," it is an oil on canvas that measures 80 by 70 inches and was executed in 1985. It has an estimate of $1,400,000 to $1,800,000. It sold for $1,408,000.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was represented by two good works. The larger and better is Lot 15, "Offensive Orange," an acrylic and oilstick on wood in two parts with overall dimensions of 71 7/8 by 96 inches.

The catalogue entry provides the following commentary:

"Offensive Orange, from 1982, was originally conceived by Jean-Michel Basquiat as a diptych. However, since they were executed, the panels had been separated. One panel, (the left 'Defensive Orange,') stayed in the United States. The right-hand panel ('Offensive Orange') traveled to Europe. The two panels were reunited by the present owner in October 2000 when the right-hand panel was acquired at Sotheby's in London....It is a quintessential work by the artist; one loaded with a dense network of ideas, dazzling in both its execution as a painting and as a vehicle for the many tributaries of thought that inform Basquiat's process. Offensive Orange stands out as one of the most energetic of the artist's early works a bravura piece of painting that leaves the viewer spellbound."

It has an estimate of $2,500,000 to $3,500,000. It sold for $3,032,000.

The other Basquiat is Lot 57, "Donut Revenge," an acrylic, oilstick and paper collage on canvas that measures 95 1/4 by 72 inches. Executed in 1982, it has an estimate of $1,200,000 to $1,800,000. It failed to sell.

Lot 38 is a classic and large work by Morris Louis that is entitled "Gamma Omnicron." A magna on canvas, it measures 102 by 155 1/2 inches. Executed in 1960, it has a modest estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. It sold for $276,800.

Lot 22 is a lovely and large spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. It measures 80 by 71 by 23 inches and was cast in 1998 as number 3 of an edition of 6 plus one artist's proof. The edition was cast from a steel sculpture of the same size executed in 1996. It has an estimate of $700,000 to $900,000. It sold for $1,128,000.

Lot 10 is a good work by Gilbert & George (b. 1943 and 1942), entitled "Seed." Composed of 30 hand-colored photographs, it mesures 119 inches square overall and was executed in 1984. It has an estimate of $300,000 to $400,000. It sold for $478,400.

Other good works include Lot 43, "King of Spades," by Joan Mitchell (1926-1992), a quite lyrical and bright, 91 1/2-by-78 1/2-inch oil on canvas that was executed in 1956 and has an estimate of $750,000 to $1,000,000, and sold for $2,696,000; Lot 13, "Number 13," a 46-by-35-inch oil on canvas by Bradley Walker Tomlin (1899-1953) that was executed circa 1952 and has an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000 and sold for $2,248,000; and Lot 18, an untitled, colorful acrylic and crayon on paper by Cy Twombly (b. 1928) that measures 29 3/8 by 22 3/8 inches and has a modest estimate of $150,000 to $200,000. It sold for $960,000.