Tatyana Markina about contemporary art auctions in New York

The upcoming contemporary art auctions in New York in May have collected so many striking works by the main artists of the second half of the twentieth century that they are sure to bring unprecedented results. Last year, contemporary art overtook all other sections of the art market in terms of total sales, prices for contemporary artists are rising all the time - and Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury have collected really interesting things for their auctions. The total estimate for the smallest of the three evening auctions exceeds $100 million, while others have even more.

Christie's four main lots (out of sixty selected for the evening auction) are worth at least $100 million. These are works by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Yves Klein and Gerhard Richter - the main post-war artists of the Old and New Worlds.

Perhaps Klein's FC-1 is the most important of them. During his very short career, the Frenchman Yves Klein managed to outline so many new paths for the development of contemporary art that European artists had enough for the next 20 years. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he fought against form, line and pattern in painting, and instead of paints he used water, fire and wind. He tried to distance himself from his works, using a spray gun, a flamethrower and the bodies of models instead of brushes - but he remained an artist at heart and died unable to bear criticism. FC-1, Color of Fire 1, a huge 1962 painting that is the epitome of Klein's major inventions, is an "anthropometry" using fire, International Klein Blue and pink pigment, and its creation has been meticulously documented. The painting was created in a special room, with the help of two models and several assistants (one of whom was responsible for fire safety). The basis was a huge piece of specially processed cardboard. Two nude models, under the direction of the artist, were doused with water and pressed against the cardboard, leaving imprints of their wet bodies on it. Then the artist burned the cardboard with a flamethrower - and melting female silhouettes were born on it. Klein further emphasized them by adding girls there, treated first with pink pigment, and then with the famous International Klein Blue (bright blue paint of a patented composition). Now this work is valued at $30-40 million - a record price for works by Yves Klein.

Cindy Sherman. "Untitled N96", 1981. Christie's, estimate $2.8-3.8 million
Photo: Christie's

Other top lots at Christie's are also famous for the fact that they all come from the collection of David and Jerry Pincus. The philanthropic couple began supporting American artists and museums in the 1960s, purchasing works from some and donating them to others. Paintings by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Barnett Newman also spent many years in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where collectors placed them. However, now it has been decided to sell the paintings - for $35-45 million, $20-30 million, $10-15 million, respectively.

“Orange, Red, Yellow” by Mark Rothko from 1961 is considered by experts to be one of the best works of this abstract expressionist and mystic. Its quality is comparable to White Center, a Rothko painting from the David Rockefeller collection that sold for $72.8 million in 2007. Very significant and, one must admit, aesthetically attractive is the painting “N28” by Jackson Pollock from 1951, woven from gray-white strokes and drops chaotically scattered onto the canvas. And “Ornament V” (a blue field stitched with a green line) by Barnett Newman, a minimalist and mystic, is considered the best example of his painting that has appeared at auction in the last 20 years.

Another name that Christie's is relying on is Gerhard Richter; the auction will include as many as 6 works by the living German artist for a total value of over $40 million.

Andy Warhole. "Ten Foot Flowers", 1967-1968. Sotheby's, estimate $8-12 million
Photo: Sotheby's

The auction house Sotheby's also has high hopes for Richter and is selling 3 of his works. However, the main names at Sotheby's are different - Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon, two faces of figurative art of the second half of the twentieth century, the quintessence of public and private, mass culture and aesthetics.

"Double Elvis" by Andy Warhol from 1963 is estimated at $30-50 million. This is one of the first and best "Elvises", it doubles only slightly, creating the illusion of a sharp movement of the figure. Warhol used a promotional poster for a film starring Elvis Presley as the basis for this silkscreen. The singer, in the image of a gloomy, lonely cowboy, holds a revolver in his hand, pointing the muzzle at the viewer. Fame and death, which are always nearby, Warhol’s favorite theme found its best expression here. Presley was a very proper character in the gallery of pop idols created by Warhol - America still dresses up in his bell-bottom pants, and at the same time Leonard Bernstein (the composer on the other side of the barricades) called Presley "the greatest cultural force of the 20th century." Silkscreen printing was the highlight of an exhibition at New York's Ferus Gallery in 1963.

“The figure of the writer reflected in the mirror” is also double. Francis Bacon painted this picture in 1976, depicting his lover Georges Dyer, who had already died 5 years by that time. The cornered figure of a naked man is reflected in the mirror, subtly changing its features, so that it looks like a self-portrait of the artist. The painting was exhibited in Paris at the Claude Bernard gallery in 1977 and was acquired by the current owner at that time; The canvas is estimated at $30-40 thousand.

Francis Bacon. "The figure of a writer reflected in a mirror", 1976. Sotheby's, estimate $30-40 million
Photo: Sotheby's

The world record for a painting by Roy Lichtenstein is being approached at Sotheby's by "Sleeping Girl" from 1964, which the artist's fund promises to include in the upcoming catalog raisonné ($30-40 million). A painting by Cy Tumbly from the “New York” series may also become the most expensive in the work of the artist who died last year (and greatly increased in price as a result) - $15-20 million.

At Phillips de Pury, the most interesting look is "Untitled" by Jean-Michel Basquiat ($8-12 million), a naked figure in a crown - a crown of thorns, more appropriate on some fence in Manhattan in the form of graffiti than as a painting in an auction room . The painting radiates the fierce energy that marked everything created by the artist, a black student of Warhol who outlived his teacher by just a year. Another notable work at the auction is “Untitled” by Willem de Kooning. It is quite late for the artist - written in 1975 - and represents his abstract expressionism at the lyrical, decorative stage (estimate: $10-15 million).

New York, May 8-10

Sum and difference of partial products