Can Giacometti take off in 2002?

Christie’s is to auction 35 bronze sculptures in France from the inheritance of Alberto GIACOMETTI on 28 September 2002. The sale should be very successful, as Giacometti’s price levels have risen 78% in the last six months. But usually fewer than 30 Giacometti sculptures come up for auction in a year (20 in 2001). And this year 17 Giacometti’s went under the hammer in May and June. Can the market absorb so many bronzes? The Paris auction should bring surprises. Good or bad? That is the question.

The price level for Giacometti’s is unprecedentedly high and they are being snapped up at auction. Across all media, the price of Alberto GIACOMETTI’s artworks has gained on average 26.3% per year. This year, 90% of lots found a buyer. Some masterpieces such as Grande Tête de Diego and La Forêt significantly beat their high estimates reaching USD 12.5 million and USD 12 million respectively in May, close to the highest price ever paid for a Giacometti, the sculpture Grande Femme Debout at Christie’s on 8 November 2000. This sculpture was put up for auction with a high estimate of USD 15 million — four times its value in 1989 — but could only find a buyer at USD 13 million, reflecting the slump in the artist’s price level at the time.

None of the works up for auction on 28 September are expected to fetch such high prices, as they are not considered such rare masterpieces. All the bronzes at the Paris auction are posthumous casts. And the Giacometti inheritance retains at least one copy of each. Nothing here to whet the appetite of collectors in Paris. Therfore estimates remain cautious. The spotlight remains on La Cage, première version, cast in 8 copies in 1990. This one is estimated to fetch between EUR 600,000 and EUR 800,000 which is lower than expectations for casts sold at previous auctions. A similar copy (number 6/8) fetched USD 950,000 in 1999 at Sotheby’s. And on 8 November 2000, La Cage, première version, number 5/8, estimated at between USD 1.2 and 1.8 million, remained unsold.

Usually, it is the US market that shapes the price level for Alberto Giacometti sculptures. This year, it is now Paris’ turn to polish them.