Des O'Sullivan: Slimmed-down New York art sales still offer rich pickings for the mega-wealthy

Irish Examiner

02-05-2025

In a tough year for the global art market, the big May New York art sales this month are seriously slimmed down but nonetheless offer rich pickings for collectors with deep pockets untroubled by market turmoil.
Auction data, the only section of the opaque art market with sales that can be computed accurately, indicates that overall turnover declined last year for the third year in a row.
At blue-chip levels, there are very few categories where the value of art has gone up in the past two years. Add global uncertainty, tariffs and changing collecting habits to the mix, and who can tell?
Piet Mondrian's 'Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Grey, Yellow, Black and Blue' from the Riggio collection will be at Christie's.
Better news for collectors is that last year, more art than ever was sold at auction, for less money. Record auction numbers for artworks at less than €500 or €1,000 is not what floats the boat at senior management levels at big auction houses and major international galleries, but it does show that love for art is widespread.
Lisa Brice's 'Midday Drinking Den, After Embah I and II' at Christie's.
A mere 37 lots will feature at Christie's 20th-century evening sale on Monday week (May 12), with 42 at the 21st-century evening sale on May 14.
There will be 65 lots at Sotheby's Modern evening auction in New York on May 13 and 43 lots at the Now and Contemporary evening auction on May 15.
Roy Lichtenstein's 'Reflections: Art' will be at Sotheby's.
Totals at both houses will be boosted by the sales of lots from the collection of gallerist Barbara Gladstone ($12 million/€10.52 million) along with works from the collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein (Sotheby's) and selected works from the collection of Barnes and Nobel founder Len Riggio and his wife Louise (Christie's) valued at $250 million (€219.20 million).
Art by Mondrian, Magritte, Picasso, Giacometti, Warhol from the Riggio Collection will excite the interest of worldwide collectors and has been toured in advance to London, Paris, Hong Kong, Dubai and Los Angeles. Len Riggio died last year, and his widow is downsizing from her Park Avenue apartment.
The 21st-century evening sale at Christie's reflects the seismic shifts over the last 50 years in the art landscape. There is art by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ed Ruscha, Cecily Brown, Julie Mehretu, Simone Leigh, Lisa Brice, Louis Fratino and others.
Paul Signac's 'Saint-Georges. Couchant (Venise)' or 'The Facade of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice at Sunset' will be at Sotheby's.
The Modern evening auction at Sotheby's features artworks that capture the spirit of artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who dared challenge established norms. There is work by Picasso, Giacometti, Magritte, Monet, Delaunay, Schiele, Matisse, Munch, and Signac included.