Even with that creative accounting, New York’s leg of the sale largely disappointed.
Four lots by blue-chip stalwarts—a mobile by Alexander Calder, an early painting by Jackson Pollock, a sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein, and a painting by Pablo Picasso—failed to find buyers.
Many others, including a light sculpture by Isamu Noguchi, a colorful oil on canvas by Fernand Léger, and a giant outdoor sculpture of a trowel by Claes Oldenburg, eked past their low estimates.
“Art of the last 20 years did better, on average, than the traditional postwar material,” says Rotter.
There were a few exceptions, notably the highest lot of the morning (evening?): a dramatic oil painting of a woman in black by Henri Toulouse Lautrec from 1889. Carrying a high estimate of $5 million, it sold for just over $9 million.
Another comparatively encouraging result came for a 1957 sculpture by Jean Arp, which was once in the collection of the MoMA in New York. It sold for $2.4 million, above an estimate of $1.2 million.
But even that lot was a hollow victory for New York: The Arp sold to a bidder in Hong Kong.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.