Trophy works to star in NY auctions

New York

VINCENT Van Gogh's bright flowers, Andy Warhol's macho Marlon Brando and Alberto Giacometti's chariot are among the works expected to fetch top prices at auctions of about US$1.8 billion of art here.

Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips will offer 2,300 lots during two weeks of day and evening sales of Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art starting Tuesday. The estimate by the auction houses is expected to surpass the US$1.8 billion total from last November, but may not match the US$2.2 billion record set in May in New York.

"There's excitement because certain works that have been in private collections for a long time are now coming to auction," said Pilar Ordovas, whose contemporary art gallery Ordovas is based in London. "If these trophy works get strong results, then prices will come up overall. We may see collectors who weren't sellers become sellers. It may become the right situation for them."

A painted bronze sculpture of a chariot by Giacometti from 1951-1952 that has been in the same private collection for more than four decades is valued at more than US$100 million at Sotheby's Nov 4 Impressionist and modern sale. Giacometti's Walking Man bronze sculpture sold for US$103.4 million in 2010 at Sotheby's in London. Sotheby's is also offering Van Gogh's 1890 still life of orange, red and blue wildflowers, which is valued at US$30 million to US$50 million. Still Life, Vase With Daisies and Poppies was on view for the past 30 years at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.

Edouard Manet's Le Printemps, offered on Nov 5 at Christie's Impressionist and modern sale, was in the same collection for more than 25 years and has been on loan for the past two decades at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. It's valued at US$25 million to US$35 million. In this sale, 90 per cent of the 40 lots have been in private collections for a decade or more, Christie's said.

Postwar and contemporary art sales also carry high presale price tags. Christie's will offer 22 lots worth more than US$10 million at its evening and day sales on Nov 12 and 13, and 10 lots are estimated to exceed US$20 million.

"It seems to be that the estimates are 10 to 15 per cent more than where they would have been just six months ago," said Todd Levin, director of New York-based art adviser Levin Art Group. "It's not just the marquee lots. Everything has these massive estimates."

Leading Christie's Nov 12 evening auction are two paintings by Warhol - a 1963 triple screen print of Elvis Presley in monochrome silver paint, and a 1966 black and white screen print of Brando on a motorcycle, Four Marlons. Each is more than six feet or 1.8 metres tall and estimated at about US$60 million.

Francis Bacon's 5-foot or 1.5-metre high canvas from 1960 that's part of the late artist's series of Papal portraits is projected to sell for US$40 million to US$60 million. A Bacon triptych that sold for US$142.4 million at Christie's in 2013 holds the overall auction record.

The collections of some of the 20th Century's biggest philanthropists and industrialists will be incorporated into the two weeks of auctions. On Nov 10, Sotheby's will host a stand-alone sale of oil heiress and philanthropist Bunny Mellon's art, when two paintings by Mark Rothko are estimated to sell for as much as US$20 million and US$30 million, respectively.

At Sotheby's, 16 works will be offered from the collection of Sao and Pierre Schlumberger, whose family founded the oil exploration company. One highlight is Pablo Picasso's Les Enfants, a semi-abstract picture of two children estimated at US$5 million to US$7 million.

Sotheby's will also sell work from billionaire car magnate Norman Braman's family foundation. Works include a 15-foot-tall (4.5 metre) bronze sculpture by Joan Miro, which has an estimate of US$6 million to US$7 million, and an early, pastel landscape by Paul Gauguin, estimated at US$4 million to US$6 million.

At Phillips, which specialises in postwar and contemporary art, the top lot is Robert Ryman's 2001 all-white painting Hour, which is estimated at US$5 million to US$7 million. Another all-white Ryman painting from 2002 is consigned to Christie's, with an estimate of US$8 million to US$12 million.

A 2006 untitled inkjet painting by Wade Guyton is valued at US$4 million to US$6 million at Phillips. Guyton's work first came to auction six years ago, when an untitled inkjet painting sold for US$72,500 at Christie's in London. Bloomberg