Parsing Through the London Sales

Figure Painting wasn't in London this week for the Impressionist and modern and post-war and contemporary sales at Christie's and Sotheby's, so we've had to rely on second-hand accounts and press releases to make sense of it all.

The general consensus among the press is that the sub-prime mortgage debacle, tottering financial markets, and impending economic recession haven't yet drawn the curtain on the Roaring 20s era of the art market, as some had feared. "Sigh of Relief From the Nervous London Auctions," was the headline that ran with Carol Vogel's column in the New York Times today. Artnet.com's "Art Market Watch" opened with this: "Is the art market flagging in the face of impending global recession? Not according to the results at Christie's London and Sotheby's London, which both posted good numbers for sales of Impressionist and modern art this week." After Sotheby's sale on Tuesday evening, the Guardian wrote, "Amid the talk of economic downturn, the art market last night bucked trends." On Thursday, the paper ran the headline "What recession? Bacon sells for £26.3m." For its part, the London Times wrote, "those with an unquenchable thirst for modern art are not short of cash."

The auction houses, as is their wont, issued press releases reiterating their faith in the rock-solid stability of the art market and boasting of records and sales totals. After Christie's two sales, the latter of which saw a Francis Bacon triptych fly off the block for $51.6 million (the highest price for a post-war work of art sold at auction in Europe and the most expensive piece ever sold at Christie's King Street headquarters), Jussi Pylkkänen, the auction house's European president said, "This week's result at Christie's illustrate the continuing confidence of the international art market." When Sotheby's sold $230.5 million worth of art at its Impressionist and modern sale on the 5th, it quickly claimed that it was its highest European sales total in history. (Sotheby's won't hold it's post-war and contemporary auction until February 27th, a departure from the auction house custom of scheduling sales to coincide that has variously been attributed to a desire to exhibit its Impressionist and modern and post-war and contemporary offerings separately, the need for more time to secure "important consignments," and an effort to avoid competition for bidders with The (RED) Auction at Sotheby's New York on Valentine's Day.)

But for all the relief and bluster, there's the niggling feeling that a fall (precipitous or otherwise) from grace shouldn't yet be discounted as a possibility. In Vogel's words, "scores of paintings" by what are usually market darlings failed to sell. Not a single person took the bait at Christie's evening sale on Wednesday when any of the three Rudolf Stingel paintings came on the block. "Patchy" was a word used by more than one person to describe the sale. The Financial Times noted that the art market usually trails others by six to nine months, "which would mean a bumpy ride in the spring sales." We'll have to wait and see. Mark your calendars for the next indicators:

Christie's Impressionist / modern, New York, May 6th
Sotheby's Impressionist / modern, New York, May 7th
Christie's post-war / contemporary, New York, May 13th
Sotheby's post-war / contemporary, New York, May 14th
Phillips de Pury & Company contemporary, New York, May 15th