Jacques VILLEGLÉ & Mimmo ROTELLA

After the record Contemporary Art & Postwar art sales on 8 and 9 May, the art market’s dynamism has been confirmed by Sotheby’s sale of part of the Gunter Sachs collection.

Traditionally London and New York host the so-called ‘prestige’ sales that generate the world’s most spectacular art auction results whereas 89% of the art auction lots sold in France fetch less than $10,000. Nevertheless, from time to time some impressionist, modern and contemporary works offered at French sales generate results on a par with Anglo-American results.

During their lifetimes, several New Realists gained considerable recognition in the United States. Their participation in the artistic maelstrom of New York during the 1960-80s partly explains their success at American and British auctions. Pierre Restany, a travelling art critic and polyglot involved in the emergence of the movement, worked towards their promotion in the USA; artist Niki de Saint Phalle, a French-Americain, frequently crossed the Atlantic; Jean Tinguely gained notoriety with his Homage to New-York, a cacaphonic happening at the MOMA in 1960 whose apotheosis was its intended self-destruction. The following year, Arman exposed for the first time in New-York, while Leo Castelli, a dealer of Warhol, Lichtenstein and Rauschenberg, opened his gallery to Yves Klein.