By Michele Leight
Vibrant contemporary art glowed on every wall and in the galleries of Christie's New York in anticipation of their upcoming Post War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on November 10. It is an innovative, stunning and thought-provoking selection, which Robert Manley, Head of Evening Sale at Christie's, called "tightly edited," and includes masterpieces by Jean Michel Basquiat, Donald Judd, Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Joan Mitchell, Peter Doig and two important monochromatic paintings from Andy Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series, among others.
The evening sale is expected to achieve between $67 million to $94 million, with prices ranging from $100,000 for a work on paper by Robert Rauschenberg to an estimated $9,000,000 to $12,000,000 for Lot 16, "Brother Sausage," a seminal work by Jean Michel Basquiat that appears on the cover of his catalogue raisonné, shown above, and below with Brett Gorvy, International Co-Head and Deputy Chairman Christie's America. This gorgeous, richly textured and layered work is typically fraught with passion, angst and hardcore criticism of racial inequality, prejudice, runaway corporate greed and consumerism delivered in Basquiat's child like style that is always moving. It failed to sell and was passed at $7,500,000.
Of the 46 offered lots, 39 sold for a total of $74,151,500, nicely within the pre-sale estimate.
Fresh, early works by legendary deceased artists Alexander Calder, Lot 35, "Constellation with Red Knife," circa 1943, estimate $1,500,000 to $2,500,000, shown below, David Smith, Andy Warhol, De Kooning, Donald Judd and many others feature prominently at this sale, and are contrasted by the work of young, living artists, including Peter Doig, (B. 1959), Kara Walker, (B. 1969), and Marc Newson, (B. 1963), among others. Lot 35, the Calder, sold for $2,378,500 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.
Lot 47, "Pod of Drawers," by Marc Newson, (estimate $500,000 to $700,000) straddles the line between art and design like earlier work by avant-garde artist/designers of the Bauhaus, and will be included in a catalogue raissoné of limited editions of his work, "mn-12-pdb-1987" by Didier Kizentowski of Gallery Kreo, Paris. Lot 47 sold for 458,500. Lot 47 is also shown in Christie's galleries with Lot 42, "Great America," (estimate $400,000 to $600,000), by Kerry James Marshall, (born 1955), a beautiful early work by the artist. Lot 42 was passed at $300,000.
Marc Newson was five years old when Donald Judd created the gorgeous stainless steel and amber vintage stack, Lot 22, "Untitled 1968 (DSS120)," (estimate $2,500,000 to $4,500,000), illustrated here, from his groundbreaking series of 1965-68. This fabulous sculpture catches the light, unconstrained by conventional "moorings," and appears to float in air in Christie's galleries, like a "stairway to heaven." Lot 22 sold $4,898,500.
Stunningly modern Lot 23, "White Black," (estimate $700,000 $1,000,000) was painted in 1961 by Ellsworth Kelly, who was born in 1923 and now in his eighties, is a superb work by the artist, shown here with Lot 24, Larry Bell's "L. Bell's House, Part 11," (estimate $300,000 to $500,000), executed 1962-63, that has been requested for inclusion in the forthcoming exhibition "Pacific Standard Time: Painting and Sculpture in Los Angeles 1945-1970," organized by The Getty Research Institute and The J. Paul Getty Museum from October-February 2011. Lot 23 sold for $842,500. Lot 24 passed at $250,000.
Illustrated above is Lot 13, "Reflection (What Does Your Soul Look Like), " (estimate $4,000,000 to $6,000,000), a masterpiece by Peter Doig that was exhibited at his retrospective "Peter Doig," at Tate Britain, London, Musee d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris, and Schim Kunsthalle Frankfurt from February 2008 to January 2009. It is one of the most exciting works of art on view this season. Lot 13 sold for $10,162,500
The Jasper Johns shown above with Amy Cappellazzo was a gift from the artist to Merce Cunningham, and is from the Collection of John Cage and Merce Cunningham (sold to benefit the Merce Cunningham Trust), one of several distinguished private collections and estates represented at this sale. Others include the Collection of Betty Freeman, the Estate of Robert and Jean Shoenberg and the Estate of Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman, sold to benefit the Reisman Charitable Foundation.
Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg worked with Cage and Cunningham and collaborated with them as art advisors to the Cunningham Dance Company. Lot 3, "Dancers on a Plane, Merce Cunningham," (estimate $1,500,000 to $2,000,000) was not only a gift to Cunningham, but inspired by the dance troupe and a tribute to the Company. Other highlights of the Collection of John Cage and Merce Cunningham include Lot 6, "No 1," by Robert Rauschenberg, an all black composition painted in 1951, (estimate $800,000 to $1,200,000, not illustrated here), and Lot 1, "Untitled," (estimate $100,000 to $150,000), a winsome work illustrated below with many references to time, including a clock, that Rauschenberg gave a frustrated John Cage as a peace offering because he was frequently late for rehearsals! Lot 3 sold for $4,338,500 amd Lot 1 sold for $938,500.
The interaction of these four towering figures of arts and culture are described by Joan Aoacella in "A Cow in the Concert Hall," in Christie's catalog for this sale:
"The objects in the present sale, mainly paintings Rauschenberg and Johns gave to Cunningham and Cage, is thus a touching collection, a tribute to what was, in the late twentieth century, probably the most crucial net of friendships in American art."
Jeff Koons's art draws smiles and sometimes outrage; but it is impossible to ignore and never boring. Two early works by the artist are shown at the top of the story with Amy Cappellazzo, International Co-Head and Deputy Chairman of Christie's America and again here: Lot 8, "Large Vase of Flowers" (estimate $4,000,000 to $6,000,000), with detail (described below) and Lot 41, "Wishing Well," (estimate $1,200,000 to $1,800,000), by Jeff Koons, an "over the top" gilt mirror incorporating enough shimmer and gaudiness to enthrall several Sun Kings. It positively oozes excess, greed, and out of control consumerism, which Koons focused on early in his career, a wonderful tongue in cheek sculpture that seems prophetic today! Lot 8 sold for $5,682,500 and Lot 41 sold for $1,142,500.
The cover lot, Lot 8, "Large Vase of Flowers," is a Koons's cartoon caricature of roses, sunflowers, zinnias and other brightly colored blossoms, meticulously executed in the age old medium of polychrome - painted wood, as in religious statues and relics of the Renaissance and Middle Ages - guaranteed to take the chill out of the coldest winter day. An important early work by the artist, (1991), this everlasting bouquet has been exhibited at an impressive number of important national and international venues.
Changing lanes to far more tragic subject matter are two important works from Andy Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series, Lot 19, (estimate $5,500,000 to $6,500,000), "Most Wanted Men No. 3, Ellis Ruiz," who was on the NYPD's most wanted list for the brutal murder and rape of a 14-year-old girl, and Lot 25, "Tunafish Disaster," (estimate $6,000,000 to $8,000,000), featuring two ordinary, innocent Chicago housewives that died after eating a can of contaminated tuna fish, a mass produced staple of the American diet. Lot 19 was withdrawn from the auction and Lot 25 was passed at $4,700,000. After the sale, Amy Cappellazzo remarked that it was perhaps too "intellectual" a work for the current market.
"Most Wanted Men No. 3, Ellis Ruiz" portrays a very ordinary looking man taken from a police photograph, not a mug shot, because in this case the murderer was never caught. The painting caused public outrage and was taken down and destroyed when it was exhibited at the Phillip Johnson Pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in New York because it was misunderstood as Warhol glorifying criminals. Instead, he was poking dark, scandalous fun at our fascination with crooks that achieve celebrity status because we propel them into the headlines by voraciously tuning into media reports about them -boosting ratings - and buying their books which become bestsellers.
In this controversial "Death and Disaster" painting Warhol zeroed in on possibly the worst end to life - brutal rape and murder of a young person - a crime that would have been tough for Ruiz to overcome had he wound up in jail. There is an unspoken rule even among prisoners that rape, let alone murder of children, is off limits. An unusual number of incarcerated child rapists and murderers die under "mysterious" circumstances at the hands of fellow prisoners. No celebrity status for such men behind bars, just execution by a jury of their peers. In this painting Warhol captures how ironic it is that we, in the free world, have a bizarre double standard, treating the same maniacal individuals like stars.
Not from the "Death and Disaster" series, illustrated above, the sunny portrait of Michael Jackson painted in 1984, in youthful, happier times, also alludes to our obsession with celebrity, and the high price it requires of a world famous performer, which eventually caught up with him. Michael Jackson's sad death was caused by a disturbing, ironic, and increasingly common "disaster" for both famous and ordinary people - an overdose of "legal" drugs that he was addicted to, prescribed by his own doctor.
Beautiful, bold and often disturbing, the silhouettes of Kara Walker (born in 1969) are controversial to some for their violent depictions - shackles, rape - of the institution of slavery. Illustrated above in Christies' galleries, Lot 46, "Picturesque (Panel 1: Vagrant, Panel 11: A Gentle Reminder, Panel 111: Of Your, Panel 1V: Complicity In, Panel V: Our Undoing) has an estimate of $250,000 to $350,000. Lot 46 sold for $458,500.
Three superb works on paper hold their own among powerful large-scale artworks, and there is more in the evening and the day sale, unfortunately it is not possible to show them all here. Illustrated are a sinuous Brice Marden "Untitled with Green" (Lot 21, estimate $900,000 to $1,200,000), as fine a work on paper by the artist as it is possible to find. Lot 7, estimate $1,000,000 to $1,500,000, a moving early graphite (1962) drawing of a "Heinz Tomato Ketchup with Campbell's Soup Can" by Andy Warhol was originally from Leo Castelli Gallery, and an animated oilstick and masking tape on paper, Lot 14, by Jean Michel Basquiat of a figure surrounded by enigmatic marks reminiscent of ancient hieroglyphs and hand crafted backdrops in early Hollywood epics. The Basquiat drawing has an estimate $1,800,000 to $2,800,000. Lot 7 sold for $1,052,500. Lot 21 sold for $2,042,500, a world auction record for the artist for a work on paper. Lot 14 sold for $3,106,500.
Outstanding drawings and small paintings by Post War and Contemporary heavyweights have extraordinary appeal on two levels: they can become the seeds of new collections, or they can add to established ones because of their incredible quality. Shown here with Robert Manley, Head of Evening Sale at Christie's, is Lot 33, Mark Rothko's energized "Blue, Red, Black on Red," painted in 1967, with an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,000,000. It sold for $2,042,500, a world auction record for the artist for a work on paper. Also illustrated is a very early (1958) "Composition" (Lot 34) in rich yellows and blues by Willem De Kooning, with an estimate of $800,000 to $1,200,000. It sold for $782,500. Similar in size and quality, they played off each other marvelously in the galleries.
Pint-sized, with tremendous wall power, painted in 1953, Robert Motherwell's oil on masonite "Spanish Elegy No. 17" (Lot 38, estimate $300,000 to $400,000) evokes super-sized musical notes and movement. It sold for $374,500. Equally small but o so masterful is Willem De Kooning's "Untitled (Woman)," (Lot 10, estimate $600,000 to $800,000), executed in oil, graphite and charcoal on paper in 1946. It sold for $992,500. It is from the collection of the artist Marisol (not illustrated). Also in this sale is another De Kooning, Lot 39, "Two Women 11," with an estimate of $1,500,000 to $2,000,000, illustrated below. It sold for $1,986,500.
Two powerful and expressive large-scale works by Sam Francis, Lot 36, "Japan Line," (estimate $1,500,000 to $2,000,000) and Joan Mitchell, Lot 11, "Untitled," (estimate $5,000,000 to $7,000,000) - a passionate early work by the artist - are illustrated below. Lot 36 sold for $1,762,500 and Lot 11 sold for $5,458,500.
Christie's catalog notes that even as a young painter Joan Mitchell "...rapidly earned the admiration of artists such as Hans Hoffmann, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. With the natural athleticism and discipline earned as a competitive ice skater in her youth, and a fearless use of unexpected combinations of color, Mitchell created some of the most potent works of abstract painting of her generation."
Two very different works by Yayoi Kusama, psychedelic Lot 26, "Valise," influenced by the flower-printed table cloth in her mother's kitchen, (estimate $250,000 to $350,000), and subtly and beautifully "scaled" Lot 28, "NO. A," (estimate $1,000,000 to $1,500,000), created a few months before she arrived in New York, are shown here with Robert Smithson's Lot 27, (estimate $350,000 to $450,000), "Untitled," a luscious pink crystalline wall sculpture from the mid-sixties. Lot 26 was passed at $190,000. Lot 28 sold for $1,874,500. Lot 27 sold for $902,500.
Aside from historically important, legendary and seminal works - which are important for art itself - and of course the blockbuster artworks we just love without knowing why, the extremely high standard of evident in the evening sale continues in the day sale, that features many smaller paintings, works on paper and sculptures by world famous artists, as well as highly prized gems by artists working today.
Whatever else is going on in the financial markets, things are still moving in the art market, although some do not think so, mainly because they expect to see evidence of the excesses of the past - manifested by inflated price tags. As if that had anything to do with the quality of the art anyway. The art remains superb.
Another way of looking at it is that the present leveling off in prices offers a great opportunity to begin a collection, or fill the void in existing ones, or indulge in that dream of owning just one work by a favorite artist. Art can be both a passion and an investment that can be enjoyed every day - minus the heartburn imposed by roller-coaster financial markets!