The Art Market: Fireworks at NY sale

Matisse’s ‘Bouquet de fleurs pour le quatorze juillet’ (1919)

Shrugging off a plunging US stock market, collectors bid enthusiastically at the main sales of Impressionist and Modern art in New York this week, establishing a high for any work of art sold at auction as well as a record for any single owner sale of art in the US. At Christie’s, the Brody collection – 79 lots of prime modern works from the estate of the Californian philanthropist, Frances Brody, spread between the evening and day sales – fetched a grand total of $225.9m, with all but one work sold. The results surpassed the famed Ganz collection, which made $206.5m in 1997, but fell well short of the Yves St Laurent sale in Paris last year ($443m). The plum of the Brody group was Picasso’s record-breaking 1932 portrait, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” which sold for $106.5m to an unidentified buyer on the telephone. As a sign of just how strong the market is for the most desirable works, five bidders were slugging it out over the $80m level. Overall, Christie’s two days of sales made $360m.

After the Brody fireworks, Sotheby’s evening sale on Wednesday seemed more staid but nevertheless raised $195.7m, with 50 of the 57 lots finding buyers. Top honours went to Matisse’s cheerful flower piece, “Bouquet de fleurs pour le quatorze juillet” (1919). Four bidders wanted it, and it sold to a telephone bidder for $28.6m (est $18m-$25m; estimates don’t include premium, results do). And the buzz of the evening was strong participation of Asian buyers, from China and Japan, who snapped up two Monets, a Modigliani and a Dalí.

Two out of the three “D”s – death, divorce and debt – are bringing art under the hammer in the main sales of contemporary art in New York next week. On Tuesday evening, Christie’s is selling the collection of Michael Crichton, the best-selling author of Jurassic Park and creator of ER, who died in 2008. The highlight of the sale is Jasper John’s 1960-66 “Flag”, a classic pop art image, estimated at up to $15m.

As for the debt, on Thursday evening Phillips de Pury has the dubious honour of selling works from the collection of Halsey Minor, the internet entrepreneur. The sale results from a delinquent loan: Minor borrowed $25m from ML Private Finance, an affiliate of Merrill Lynch, in 2007, pledging art as collateral. After he failed to settle up, ML Finance obtained a judgment for $21.5m and the court ordered the art to be sold. The works on offer include a Richard Prince nurse painting (est $5-$7m) and Marc Newson’s “Lockheed Lounge” ($1m-$1.5m); the whole group is estimated at up to $31m.

Christie’s owner and luxury goods mogul François Pinault has appointed the fair director Martin Bethenod to run his two Venetian museums, which have been leaderless since Monique Veaute unexpectedly quit last November. Bethenod has been commissioner for FIAC, France’s leading contemporary art fair, for the past five years, alongside artistic director Jennifer Flay. Bethenod takes up his post in June, and Flay will run FIAC singlehandedly. “Mr Pinault is the world’s top collector of contemporary art and this is an extraordinary experience for me, but it’s too early to start talking about my projects yet,” Bethenod told me. Bethenod’s arrival in Venice should revitalize the two museums, the Palazzo Grassi and the Dogana, which have been criticised in Venice for a less-than-active programme.

Alexander Melamid’s ‘Venus de Milo’ (2009-2010)

A painting from an English country house has been the subject of some strife between the UK and one of the world’s top collectors. The Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II, who devotes some of his estimated $3.5bn fortune to acquiring art, bought the “Portrait of the Infante Don Diego” (1577), by Velázquez precursor Alonso Coello three years ago from Lord Northbrook through the Mayfair dealer Simon Dickenson. The painting was impounded over an export licence dispute, which did not concern the prince, and which is still on-going. After the painting was released, negotiations to sell it to London’s National Gallery for £2m failed after the pound slipped against the Swiss franc and the prince asked for £2.5m, to reflect the new rate. Now, according to Johann Kraeftner, director of the Liechtenstein Museum in Austria, which shows the princely family holdings: “The painting has been beautifully reframed by John Mitchell and looks wonderful – I think the prince will want a lot more for it.” An exhibition of the Liechtenstein art treasures at the Royal Academy, scheduled for September this year, was cancelled by the prince in the wake of the Coello dispute, but talks have been restarted, according to Kraeftner.

Later this month Phillips de Pury finally opens Oh My God, a show of portraits by the Russian-American artist, Alexander Melamid. The selling show, which was abruptly cancelled last year after a legal dispute, features 30 works depicting priests, rabbis, Russian oligarchs, animals and hip-hop stars Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent, all life-size, painted in sombre browns.

The show, to be held at Phillips de Pury’s gallery at Howick Place, London, was blocked last year because of a soured investment deal, when two businessmen who had agreed to buy 12 of Melamid’s hip-hop portraits for $1.5m took him to court, claiming he had breached their agreement. According to Melamid’s court filing they intended to sell the works for up to $450,000 each. Melamid fired off his own complaint against them: now, however, the initial agreement has expired and according to both sides, a settlement of the court cases is imminent. The works in the Phillips show are priced at £55,000 each.

Georgina Adam is editor-at-large of The Art Newspaper