Sotheby’s Modern Art Sales Kick Off November Auctions in New York

Sotheby’s kicked off the fall marquee auctions in New York with two evening sales, both devoted to modern art. The first, featuring works from the collection of Sydell Miller, yielded positive results, while the second did not fare quite so well.

The 25 lots once owned by Miller, a beauty industry trailblazer, generated almost $216 million with fees. With nine of those works spurring bidding wars, there was plenty of enthusiasm—so much so, in fact, that the start of the modern evening sale that followed it was delayed by an entire hour. 

The longest bidding war, at nearly 17 minutes, was for Claude Monet’s Nymphéas (1914–17). Lot 8, which had a house guarantee and irrevocable bids, hammered at $59 million, or $65.5 million with fees, on an estimate of $60 million. There were 34 bids fielded with Sotheby’s head of auctions Scott Niichel, vice chairman Simon Shaw, and deputy chairman of Asia Jen Hua. After much back and forth, Hua secured the winning bid for a client on the phone. “We do have to move on here,” Barker said to laughs in the room. “There are other lots and other vendors.” 

“It’s a good thing we started at 6,” Barker added.

Pablo Picasso‘s La Statuaire (1925) was the next most expensive work of the Miller sale, hammering at $22.5 million, or $24.8 million with fees. It had been estimated to fetch around $30 million. After bids from Hua and a bidder in the room, Sotheby’s head of client strategy for the Americas, Victoria Campofranco, placed the winning phone bid for Lot 16.

The third-most expensive work from Miller’s collection was Wassily Kandinsky’s White Oval (1921), which hammered at $19.1 million, or $21.6 million with fees, on an estimate of $15 million–$20 million. The work had both a house guarantee and irrevocable bids.

Surprisingly, it was a piece of furniture, not a painting, that generated one of the most intense bidding battles of the evening. François-Xavier Lalanne’s “Herd of Elephants in the Trees” Table (2001), made of gold patinated bronze and glass, hammered at $10 million, or $11.6 million, well above its estimate of $4 million–$6 million. Across more than 9 minutes, upward of two dozen bids were fielded with Lisa Dennison, Sotheby’s executive vice president and chairman for the Americas; Helen Newman, chairman of the house’s Impressionist and modern art department; Jodi Pollack, chairman and co-worldwide head of 20th century design; and Impressionist and modern art senior specialist Simon Stock. When the table sold, applause followed.

Other successes from the Miller sale included Henri Matisse’s Jeune fille en robe rose, which sold for $9.7 million with fees, nearly two times its high estimate. An untitled painting by Mark Rothko, meanwhile, went for $5.1 million with fees on a $3 million high estimate, and Edgar Degas’s bronze sculpture Grande arabesque, troisième temps, the first lot of the evening, sold for $1.7 million with fees on a $600,000 high estimate. The Degas also had a house guarantee and irrevocable bids. 

The modern evening sale that followed—delayed significantly from its 7 p.m. start time—did not offer quite so much excitement. Seven works did not sell, and there were two withdrawn pieces. In total, the sale brought in $106.2 million across 31 lots.

The top lot was Alberto Giacometti’s Buste (Tête tranchante) (Diego), which hammered at $11.5 million, or $13.3 million with fees, on an estimate of $10 million–$15 million. The winning phone bid was placed by specialist Bame Fierro March; proceeds from the sale will go to the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation. 

Not far behind was the Danner Memorial Window from Tiffany Studios, which hammered for $10.8 million, or $12.5 million with fees, on an estimate of $5 million–$7 million. The 16-foot-tall stained glass window came from the collection of American businessman Alan Gerry. After more than six and a half minutes of activity, the winning phone bid was placed by Cassandra Hatten, global head of Sotheby’s science & popular culture department, to applause in the room. The result set a new auction record for a work by Tiffany Studios, whose previous record of $3.4 million was for a ‘Pond Lily’ lamp that sold during a Christie’s design sale in 2018. 

Interest in female Surrealists drove bids for Leonora Carrington’s 1951 sculpture Le Grande Dame (The Cat Woman). The six-and-a-half-foot tall sculpture, which had a guarantee and irrevocable bids, blew past its low estimate of $5 million, hammering at $9.8 million and ultimately selling for $11.4 million with fees. Latin American art collector Eduardo Costantini, who has previously purchased record-setting works by Remedios Varo, Frida Kahlo, and others associated with the Surrealist movement, was the winning bidder; he was on the phone with Sotheby’s Head of Latin American Art, Anna de Stasi. 

Costantini prior purchases also include Carrington’s record-breaking Les Distractions de Dagobert, which sold for $28.5 million earlier this year in May, also at a Sotheby’s marquee evening sale. He has exhibited other works by Surrealists at his Argentina museum, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), and it is likely that the painted Carrington sculpture could soon be seen here as well.

“We are thrilled and incredibly fortunate that a collector with such a keen eye has chosen to part with two exceptional pieces this year, giving us the opportunity to acquire these two great works,” Costantini said in a statement. “This year presented a rare opportunity to acquire the two standout works by the artist—the best of their kind—and to ensure Carrington is fully represented in the collection of MALBA. Together, La Grande Dame and Les Distraction de Dagobert, will make perfect companions to the great works by Remedios Varo, Frida Kahlo, and so many of the other leading lights of the Latin American Surrealist movement.” 

Carrington’s painting Temple of the Word was the fourth-last lot of the night, but it still drew a respectable result after bids between Sotheby’s chairman and head of modern and contemporary art Alex Branczik and a bidder in the room. The latter would win the work on with a hammer price of $3.8 million, or $4.56 million with fees, against an estimate of $3 million–$5 million.

Beyond the Costantini purchase on Tuesday, other works by female Surrealists performed well. Varo’s Los caminos tortuosos sold for just over $2 million on an estimate of $1.2 million–$1.8 million, and Leonor Fini’s Les Stylites (Les Stylists) sold for $720,000 on an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000.

The works by female Surrealists offered a bright spot in a sale marked largely by artworks that failed to reach their high estimates or even to sell at all. Henri Matisse’s Torse de jeune fille (1921–22) had a pre-sale estimate of $12 million–$18 million—the highest of any lot in this auction—and a guarantee from Sotheby’s. In the end, it failed to sell.