Art Market · Review 2010

A brief review of the Art market in 2010, with the stars of the season and the main successes and disappointments

by G. Fernández – theartwolf.com

THE SUPERSTARS OF THE YEAR

Pablo Picasso: “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust”
Sold for $106,482,500 (£70,278,450 / €81,991,525) at Christie’s New York, May 2010
· World record price for any work of art at auction
Described by Christie’s as “the most anticipated work to come to market from private hands in the last decade”, the sensuous work had it all to be the “perfect storm” of the art market season. The bidding started at $58 million, and 9 minutes later, the painting was finally sold for $106,482,500.

Alberto Giacometti: “L’Homme qui marche I”
Sold for $104,327,006 (£65,001,250 /€74,185,983) at Sotheby’s London, February 2010
· At the time a world record price for any work of art at auction
· World record price for a sculpture
One of the most important sculptures by the artist, ‘L’Homme qui marche I’ was the most expensive work of art ever auctioned till it was surpassed by the Picasso (see previous work). The sculpture could also be a serious contender to appear at our list of “the surprises of the year”: its pre-sale estimate was just $19-29 million.

Amedeo Modigliani “Nu assis sur un divan (La Belle Romaine)”
Sold for $68,962,500 / £42,700,000 / € 54,830,000 at Sotheby’s New York, November 2010
· World record price for the artist
This sensual female portrait by Modigliani had been sold in 1999 for a then record $16.8 million.

Andy Warhol: “Men in Her Life”
Sold for $63,362,500 / £39,235,000 / € 50,410,000 at Phillips de Pury, New York, November 2010
Phillips is alive! This Warhol was the star of a succesful $137 million sale of contemporary art at Phillips.

Joseph Mallord William Turner: “Modern Rome– Campo Vaccino”
Sold for £29,721,250 / $44,935,558 / € 35,727,792 at Sotheby’s London, June 2010
· World record price for the artist
The work, one of the best paintings by the artist still in private hands, was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.

THE SUCCESSES

Qianlong Vase
Sold £53,105,000 at Bainbridges Auctioneers, November 2010
pre-sale estimate of £800,000 – 1.2 million
· Record price for a Chinese porcelain
Arguably the most shocking auction result, not only for 2010, but also for the last decade. The seller, a 70 year old woman, was near to collapse when the work reached its unbelievable final price.

Amedeo Modigliani: “Tête”
Sold €43,185,000 ($52,621,000) at Christie’s Paris, June 2010
pre-sale estimate of €4-6 million
· Record price for any work of art at auction in France
Modigliani again. It looks like 2010 has been a good year for the Italian painter. Modigliani created just 27 sculptures, and only ten of them remain in private hands. The very elegant work clearly shows influences of African and primitive art.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema: “The Finding of Moses”
Sold $35,922,500 at Sotheby’s New York, November 2010
· World record price for the artist
pre-sale estimate of $3-3.5 million
There is life beyond impressionism in the art market for 19th century paintings! This monumental canvas is one of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s most famous masterpieces. As Sotheby’s stated in the catalogue: “If the setting of The Finding of Moses looks familiar, it is because prints of the painting were later used by Cecil B. DeMille’s script writers and designers as inspiration for scenes from Cleopatra (1934) and The Ten Commandments (1956).”

Marble Portrait Bust of the Deified Antinous
Sold $23,826,500 at Sotheby’s New York, December 2010
pre-sale estimate of $2-3 million
This beautiful bust came from the Collection of the Late Clarence Day, one of the finest private collections of Antiquities in America. The buyer was an European private collector.

Yu Zhiding: “Happiness Through Chan Practice: Portrait of Wang Shizhen”
Sold for $3,442,500 at Christie’s New York, March 2010
pre-sale estimate of $150,000 – $280,000
This work, currently the most expensive classical Chinese painting sold in the western world, was not the only star of its auction: an Imperial engraved ivory bowl sold for $842,500 against a pre-sale estimate of just $30,000 – $50,000

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS

Nicolas Poussin: “Ordination”
Unsold at Christie’s London, December 2010
pre-sale estimate of £15-20 million
One of the few great paintings by the artist still in private hands, this famous work has an excellent provenance, being offered for sale for the first time in over 225 years. Nevertheless, it did not find a buyer.

Shitao: “Landscapes Inspired by Du Fu’s Poetic Sensibilities”
Unsold at Christie’s Hong Kong, May 2010
pre-sale estimate of HK$120 million / US$15,480,000
Labeled “the most valuable Chinese painting ever to be presented at auction in Hong Kong”, the work (an album of eight leaves) is one of the few major works by Shitao (1642–1707) in a private collection.

Arshile Gorky: “Untitled (Dark Study)”
Unsold at Sotheby’s New York, November 2010
pre-sale estimate of $250,000-$350,000
Despite its tiny size (8,5 by 9,25 inches), this colourful abstraction by Gorky could proudly hang among many larger, more famous and much more expensive works by Pollock, Hofmann or Rothko. Arshile Gorky is an artist whose pivotal importance is still not fairly appreciated by the art market

Claude Monet: “Nympheas”
Unsold at Christie’s London, June 2010
pre-sale estimate of £30-40 million
Honestly, the most disappointing about this lot was its too ambitious pre-sale estimate. OK, a related Monet (“Le bassin aux nymphéas”) was sold two years ago at Christie’s for more than £40 million, but that was a larger and much more important painting. A clear example of an overvalued painting