NEW YORK — The art market put its best foot forward this week--and took a faltering step. Early results of a series of Impressionist and modern art auctions beginning on Tuesday night and ending today suggest that the road to recovery may be paved with impediments.
In Christie's opening auction of 60 works, 22 items went begging and 13 brought lower prices than the Park Avenue auction house had estimated. The Tuesday night auction had been expected to command between $51 million and $80 million, but only $38.9 million worth of art was sold. An auction of Impressionist and modern watercolors and drawings on Wednesday brought an additional $3.46 million in sales.
Launching the round of auctions with a sale of 18 highly regarded works from the renowned Burton and Emily Hall Tremaine collection, Christie's had positioned itself to start the season with a bang.
Top-quality works tend to be withheld from the market when prices are low, but the Tremaine collection was part of an estate that had to be liquidated this year. Given the Tremaines' reputation as collectors who selected new art that would prove to be historically important, hopes were high for a successful sale. "If this doesn't do well, nothing will" was the constant refrain heard from dealers, collectors and auction house personnel for several months before the sale.
At first, the auction seemed to be set for success. The first six lots were sold within or above their estimated price ranges. But Lot 7, Georges Braque's still life, "La Rose Noire," valued at $1.8 million to $2.5 million, commanded only $1.1 million and set off a buzz in the fashionable crowd.
After that, results were mixed. The top lot, Fernand Leger's E "Le Petit Dejeuner," said to be the artist's most important work in private hands, fell short of its $8-million low estimate when it was sold to an unidentified European collector for $7.7 million. "Premier Disque," a landmark abstraction by Robert Delaunay, fetched $5.17 million, well above its $3-million high estimate, but a Mondrian valued at $4 million to $6 million did not sell.
While an anonymous bidder snapped up Juan Gris' somber Cubist painting, "Pears and Grapes on a Table," at $3.3 million--safely within Christie's estimated price range--Joan Miro's witty painting of a cat's head, valued at $1.5 million to $2.5 million, did not find a buyer.
