CHRISTIE’S NOVEMBER SALE WEEK DEVOTED TO IMPRESSIONIST, MODERN, POST-WAR & CONTEMPORARY ART

NEW YORK - Christie’s concluded its marquee week of major auctions devoted to Impressionist, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art on Friday with $1.1 billion in total sales, and overall sell-through rates of 80% by lot and 87% by value. A companion online-only sale of Picasso Ceramics continues through Tuesday, November 17.

The November sales series brought over 15,000 visitors to Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries, where more than 1,000 works of art were presented for sale. “The Artist’s Muse”, a special curated exhibition and sale of master works anchored the week and attracted visitors and bidders from 40 different countries around the world. Buying activity was geographically diverse, with strong participation from the Americas, underpinned by Asia and Europe.

Jussi Pylkkänen, Global President of Christie’s International, commented: “This has been a strong week of sales at Christie’s with robust sell-through rates of 80% by lot across all price levels of the Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art markets this week. As in May, our specially curated “Artist’s Muse” auction was the most successful New York evening sale of the season, totaling $491 million. In this sale records were broken for several artists including Modigliani’s outstanding Nu couché, which fetched $100 million more than has ever been paid for the artist before. Twelve artist’s records were broken in our sales this week, including for works by Bourgeois, Courbet, Fontana, Gauguin and Lichtenstein. Our day sales saw the strongest sale percentages, which is a satisfying indicator of the breadth and depth of the middle market, which continues to grow and prosper as more international clients seek to collect fresh, well priced material across the 20th Century art fields at Christie’s. Our week closed today with a particularly strong result for our Impressionist Works on Paper team, which posted sold percentages of 86% by lot and 91% by value in this specialized middle-market collecting field.”

“This has been a very measured week of sales in New York. Both our consignors and buyers continue to give us very positive feedback about our curated 20th Century sale week and we have been delighted with the increasing engagement with our clients and the strong attendance at our sales in Rockefeller Center,” noted Mr. Pylkkänen.

IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART SOLD: $540.4 MILLION
POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART SOLD: $555.1 MILLION
Christie’s online only sale of Picasso Ceramics continues to May 19

STRONG RESULTS FOR IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

The Arthur and Anita Kahn Collection
A cross-category collection of Impressionist works on paper and Post-War and artworks
Estimate: $23.3 -33.6 million
Collection total: $65.7 million

Works from The Collection of Ileana Sonnabend and The Estate of Nina Castelli Sundell
Post-War and Contemporary Art
Estimate: $10.9 -16.4 million
Collection total: $17.4 million

European Sculpture from the Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson Collection
Estimate: $1.7-2.2 million
Collection total: $4.6 million

MIDDLE MARKET STRENGTH

Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sales: Combined sale total: $88,837,375
79% sold by lot and 84% by value

Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works on Paper Sales:
Combined sale total: $52,616,500
81% sold by lot and 87% sold by value

Conservative estimates build collector confidence
55% of works were offered this week with a starting estimate under $1 million
Clients participated online from Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, and all over the US

MASTERPIECE MARKET

New artist records for established artists, including Balthus, Bourgeois, Courbet, Fontana, Gauguin, Gonzales-Torres, Hélion, Kirchner, Lichtenstein, Modigliani, Oldenburg
New auction records for contemporary artists Bradley, Kelley, Nara

22 LOTS ABOVE $10 MILLION
10 LOTS ABOVE $20 MILLION
2 LOTS ABOVE $50 MILLION
1 LOT ABOVE $100 MILLION: SOLD TO THE LONG MUSEUM, SHANGHAI