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Gustav Klimt’s Litzlberg am Attersee,1914-15, sold for $40.4m (est inexcess of $25m) to the Zurich-baseddealer David Lachenmann, biddingfor a private client

What a difference a day makesSotheby’s beats rivals Christie’s with a solid sale

By Charlotte Burns and Riah Pryor. From Web onlyPublished online: 03 November 2011

NEW YORK. Sotheby’s thrashed rivalChristie’s Wednesday night with anenergetic auction of impressionist andmodern art that totalled $199.8m,selling 81% by lot and 87% by value.The sale was in stark contrast to theperformance Tuesday night atChristie’s, which raised $140.8m andsold only 62% by lot and 55% byvalue.

The star of Sotheby’s sale was GustavKlimt’s oil painting, Litzlberg amAttersee, 1914-15, which sold for $40.4m (est in excess of $25m) to theZurich-based dealer David Lachenmann, who was talking on his mobilephone in English to a private client. “We were happy to get it at this price.We had approached the lawyer handling the sale before the summer andmade a higher offer for the work, which they refused as not beingtempting enough,” Lachenmann said after the sale. “The painting is inperfect condition. It is a masterpiece.” The work was recently restituted to 2

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the heir of Amalie Redlich, who had owned the work before it was lootedby the Nazis during the second world war.

There was further excitement when Pablo Picasso’s L’Aubade, 1967,sparked a bidding war between potential buyers including the Nahmadclan, Larry Gagosian and two telephone bidders. There was speculationthat Acquavella gallery was the successful bidder for the work, whichhammered at $20.5m ($23m with buyer's premium added, est$18m-$25m. Acquavella could not be reached for confirmation). “Iwanted to bid at $15m, but did not get a chance to put my hand up,” saidChristopher Van de Weghe, the secondary market dealer. NicholasMaclean of dealership Eykyn Maclean added, “You can’t get a betterPicasso from the 1960s.” Indeed, the work set a record for a Picassofrom this period, according to Sotheby’s specialist Simon Shaw.

The relief was almost tangible after the disappointment felt yesterday atChristie’s, which had its lowest sale of impressionist and modern works intwo years. The auction house had drummed up anticipation around thesale of Edgar Degas’ Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, a bronze statuethat was executed in wax around 1879 to 1881 and cast posthumously.There were gasps in the room as the work failed to elicit a single bid. Itwas what Conor Jordan, the head of Christie’s impressionism andmodern art department, called “the headline casualty” in a sale wherepieces by the usual auction favourites—including Giacometti, Picassoand Matisse—all fell flat.

The estimate for the Degas ($25m-$35m) was aggressive, and many inthe trade blamed the house’s failure on its having pushed prices too far.“The auction houses have a huge responsibility when putting togethertheir sales and unfortunately [Christie’s] put together a mishmash sale,"said Dominique Lévy, the co-director of L&M gallery, after the event atChristie’s. In contrast, Sotheby’s offerings had “much better estimatesand provenance,” she said after their sale, having been the successfulbidder on Picasso’s black crayon on paper Homme au Turban et NuCouché, 1969, at $1.2m (est $800,000-$1.2m).

The consensus was that today’s selective market is happy to spend onworks with sensible estimates that are either fresh to the market or ofoutstanding quality, but will dismiss overblown prices, and works that

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2 of 4 11/3/11 11:21 AM

have been offered around. “There is nothing wrong with the market.Yesterday was a case of bad editing. Tonight was seriously estimatedand it was a very strong result as a consequence,” said Ivor Braka, theLondon-based dealer.

“If there was ever a turnaround, it happened tonight. You could see themarket rallying around something that needed to be turned about—andwe did it,” said Sotheby’s satisfied auctioneer Tobias Meyer. The houseworked hard to make the sale a success. Nonetheless, while it had morecautious estimates and better-selected offerings, Sotheby’s also had theadvantage of going second. This allowed its specialists time to “dial fordollars”, as one dealer put it—calling consignors to see whether theywould lower their reserves. One phone call resulted in the private sale ofa suite of four Matisse sculptures prior to the auction. The bronzerenderings of a woman’s back were set to sell in a series of staggeredauctions, the first taking place Wednesday night with an estimate of$20m-$30m. The works, which belonged to the Burnett Foundation inFort Worth, had previously failed to find a buyer on the private market,although today they sold for a rumoured $120m. Whether a savvy buyersimply recognised the opportunity to make a deal, or whether the auctionhouse and consignor got spooked, will likely remain unknown.

Despite the evident optimism in the air after Christie’s auction, the widereconomic uncertainties cannot be ignored. Although the Dow rose over200 points today, European leaders are meeting, yet again, to find asolution to Greece’s ongoing debt crisis. A very visible symbol of suchinstability is outside Sotheby’s own front door, where its union of arthandlers continues a vociferous protest over contract negotiations.“Sotheby’s did an excellent job in pulling off a successful sale in anunsettled time,” said Michael Plummer of art investment advisory ArtvestPartners, “but you can’t separate the two auctions—it’s all one market.There is a sensitivity [right now], and confidence is easily lost.”

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