Much of the Lehman Brothers collection of postwar and contemporary art has already been sold, but a number of choice items remain. Sotheby’s will offer 147 lots, including items from the Neuberger Berman collection, later this week. Highlights include works by Damien Hirst, John Baldessari, and Ed Ruscha.
Top lot is Hirst’s “We’ve Got Style,” estimated at $800,000-$1.2 million. Freeman’s will offer additional works from these collections on November 7.
Read more at Sotheby’s.
With metronomic regularity, works of Contemporary Art soared to dizzying prices at Christie’s last night in New York, as the auction house achieved a record $496m, the highest ever in the history of art auctions. Most works exceeded their high estimates, and 15 new artist records were set, including the $58.4m that a buyer paid for Jackson Pollock’s “Number 19, 1948,” which turned out to be the star of the evening.
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A bizarre topless photo of Angelina Jolie called “Horseplay” sold at Christie’s London auction last night for $45,500. The “Wild Side of Photography” sale was scheduled well before Jolie’s double mastectomy announcement. Taken when she was 25, the photo also prominently displays a “Billy Bob” tattoo, referring to former husband Thornton who has since been removed from her shoulder and her life.
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Last week in New York, as major auction houses took in more than $473m, the spotlight was on Impressionist & Modern Art. This week, the focus shifts to the more uncertain field of Contemporary Art, with several hundred works coming up for sale. The action starts tomorrow at Sotheby’s, where a blue abstract by Barnett Newman, “Onement VI,” owned by Microsoft founder Paul Allen, is expected to sell for $30m-$40m.
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