"Last night's double-header evening at Sotheby's, featuring the vaunted single owner Robert Mnuchin collection followed by a mixed vendor contemporary portion, raked in a solid and market reassuring $407.5m ($433.1m with fees), midway between pre-sale expectations of $325.6m to $444.m (estimates do not include fees.) Given the fraught geopolitical state of the world, such a resurgence of market confidence is all the more remarkable."
"All eleven lots from his collection were backed by either house or third party guarantees, and garnered $140.7m ($166.3m with fees). Technically speaking, it was a risk free "white glove" sale. Mnuchin, a Wall Street titan turned eponymous art dealer who died last December at the age of 92, kicked off the evening."
"Pablo Picasso's petite, Neo-Classical period Deux femmes nues assises from 1921 led off the trove and sold for $1.2m ($1.5m with fees). Mnuchin had acquired it at Christie's in London back in July 1998 for a hammer price of £330,000. Next, Willem de Kooning's juicy abstraction, Untitled (1970)-an oil on paper mounted on canvas which measured a substantial 72in by 42½in and was formerly in the collection of the Swiss art dealer legend Thomas Ammann-attracted four bidders and tallied $8.8m ($10.8m with fees)."
"A second, bigger de Kooning, the wispy and minimal late painting Untitled XLII from 1983 and measuring 80in by 70in, sold for $10.2m ($12.4.m with fees). It was underbid by Morgan Long, founder of the eponymous London art advisory firm, who told The Art Newspaper as she walked out of the saleroom: "I almost got something amazing." Joan Miro's quirkily figured Dormeurs réveillés par un oiseau, executed in gouache and watercolor on paper in 1939, sold to a telephone bidder for $5.2m ($6.4m with fees)."
A Sotheby’s double-header evening generated $407.5m in sales, reaching $433.1m with fees, placing results midway within pre-sale expectations. The event combined a single-owner Robert Mnuchin collection with a mixed vendor contemporary portion. Mnuchin’s collection featured eleven lots supported by house or third-party guarantees, producing $140.7m and described as a risk-free “white glove” sale. Highlights included a 1921 Picasso work selling for $1.2m, Willem de Kooning works selling for $8.8m and $10.2m, and a 1939 Joan Miró piece selling for $5.2m. Several works were previously acquired at major Christie's auctions, reflecting strong provenance and collector interest.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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