Fall Auctions Fizzle in New York

What if they auctioned a Matisse and nobody bid? Or a Manet, a Renoir, a Monet? It happened this week at the fall sales at Christie's and Sotheby's.

Results from the auctions varied from bad to worse, a worrisome signal that the global financial crisis is beginning to take a serious toll on the market for fine art.

New York's fall auction season kicked off with a Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art sale Monday night that brought in $223 million, well below its low estimate of $339 million, and with only 45 of 70 lots sold.

Three works broke the $30 million mark and set records for each artist at auction: Kazimir Malevich's Suprematist Composition sold for $60 million, Edvard Munch's Vampire (above) brought in $38 million, and Edgar Degas' Danseuse Au Repos achieved $37 million.

Things went further south on Wednesday night at Christie's, where work from the collections of Rita Hillman and Alice Lawrence fetched $47 million, well below its estimate of $103 million to $150 million. 30 percent of the 58 lots failed to sell at all, and half sold below their minimum estimate.

Most notably, Mark Rothko's 1960 No. 43 (Mauve) was estimated to achieve up to $30 million, and failed to sell at all. Manet's 1880 canvas Filette sur un banc was expected to sell for up to $18 million, and also drew no bids.

Works by Giorgio De Chirico and Georges Seurat sold above their low estimates, while a Ferdinand Leger drawing and a portrait by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec were among the many lots that sold for below low projections.

Christie's and Sotheby's did have a brief window of time to readjust estimates and reserves for the New York sales after global markets began to plummet in September, but it was evident this week that many of the buyers the houses had counted on when assembling the auctions this summer never materialized.

Blockbuster works held on to their value, but middling examples of well-known artists such as Manet, Matisse, Renoir, and Monet and drew no interest from bidders.

At Christie's Impressionist and modern evening sale on Thursday evening, buyers passed on 36 of the 82 pieces offered, bring a total of $146.7 million, against the low estimate of $240.7 million.

Gris's green 1915 still life Livre, pipe et verres was the evening's big winner. It sold for $20.8 million, above the pre-show low estimate of $12.5 million and representing an auction record for the artist.

Pablo Picasso's 1934 Deux personages (Marie-Therese et sa soeur lisant) was expected to be the show's top selling lot with a presale $25 million high estimate, but ended up selling for $18 million.

A bronze sculpture from Alberto Giacometti sold for two-thirds of its low estimate, and a 1947 Matisse failed to sell at all.

by Liz Gunnison