Top 10: Modern abstract Paintings

[14/09/2012]

 

Friday is Top day! Every other Friday, Artprice posts a theme-based auction ranking. This week: the ten highest bids for modern Abstract painting over the past twelve months.

Long considered the first Abstract work, Wassily KANDINSKY‘s watercolour Untitled (1910) marks the official birth of Abstract art. Abstraction represented a radical turning point in the definition and very foundation of art, because in cutting links with the reality that had until then been the starting point for artists, it paved the way for a spiritual style where the liberation of the mind was paramount. Separately from the founder Kandinsky, Kasimir Sevrinovitch MALEVICH and Piet MONDRIAAN also made a crucial contribution to the development of Abstraction, more or less at the same time. In the context of an early 20th century teeming with scientific discoveries (including the appearance of quantum physics and the theory of relativity), a new conception of the world emerged, opening the way to a hitherto unexplored understanding of art. Highly prized by enthusiasts and collectors, Abstract works regularly post staggering records in the sale room. Given that the high bidding for modern Abstract works was particularly spectacular in the first half of 2012, which Abstract masterpieces attracted the highest sale prices?
This top ten of works auctioned over the past year puts the spotlight on five artists. Of these, four Americans filled seven of the places with works from the second half of the 20th century: Clyfford STILL (3 places), Mark ROTHKO (2 places; Rothko was born in Latvia, but emigrated to the US when he was ten), Jackson POLLOCK and Barnett NEWMAN. The only European to feature, Joan MIRO, was very much in the picture, walking away with third, fifth and tenth places – and a new record to boot!

Top 10 : Modern abstract Paintings

Rank Artist Hammer Price Artwork Sale
1 Mark ROTHKO $77500000 Orange, Red, Yellow (1961) 08/05/2012 (Christie’s NEW YORK NY)
2 Clyfford STILL $55000000 “1949-A-No . 1” (1949) 09/11/2011 (Sotheby’s NEW YORK NY)
3 Joan MIRO $32938500 Peinture (Etoile Bleue) (1927) 19/06/2012 (Sotheby’s LONDON)
4 Clyfford STILL $28000000 1947-Y-No. 2 (1947) 09/11/2011 (Sotheby’s NEW YORK NY)
5 Joan MIRO $23683500 Painting Poem (Le corps de ma brune puisque je l’aime comme ma chatte h (1925) 07/02/2012 (Christie’s LONDON)
6 Jackson POLLOCK $20500000 Number 28 (1951) 08/05/2012 (Christie’s NEW YORK NY)
7 Barnett NEWMAN $20000000 Onement V (1952) 08/05/2012 (Christie’s NEW YORK NY)
8 Clyfford STILL $17500000 Ph-1033 (1976) 09/11/2011 (Sotheby’s NEW YORK NY)
9 Mark ROTHKO $16500000 White Cloud (1956) 08/11/2011 (Christie’s NEW YORK NY)
10 Joan MIRO $13200000 “Tête humaine” (1931) 02/05/2012 (Sotheby’s NEW YORK NY)

Post-war works riding high

The most impressive sales of Abstract works over the past twelve months took place in the western countries, with 80% of auctions staged in New York and 20% in London. New York sales largely dominated the scene with a body of works from the post-war era, a time when the Big Apple made a name for itself in the history of art and its market. New York, being the central art scene of this period, had some unprecedented collections at hand, full of highly sought-after masterpieces.
One particular event stands out: the evening sale of post-war and contemporary art staged by Christie’s on 8 May 2012. With a total of 21 new world records, this auction garnered first, sixth and seventh place in the Abstraction Top Ten. The highest price went to Mark Rothko’s sublime Orange, Red, Yellow; in fetching $77.5 m, it topped by $12.5 m a record hitherto held by the $65 m for White Center (Sotheby’s New York, 15 May 2007). With Number 28 at $20.5 m, Christie’s also obtained a new record for Jackson Pollock, almost double the previous one (Number 12, which went for $10.4 m (Christie’s New York, 11 May 2004). In seventh place, Ornement V by Barnett Newman galvanised the bidding, soaring to $20 m and quadrupling the artist’s former record along the way (Untitled, $4.6 m, Christie’s New York, 13 May 2008).
Although he did not obtain the highest price in this Top Ten, which went to Rothko and his Orange, Red, Yellow, Clyfford E. Still achieved the best total result in the list, with $100.5 m totted up with three art works. Since 2000, demand for the American artist’s work has accelerated, with only 30 sales to date, twelve of them for over $1 m, all between May 2000 and July 2012. The second highest bid in the ranking, 1949-A-No. 1 , shot up to $55 m, doubling its low estimate, on 9 November 2011 (incidentally, the artist also achieved his second highest price in this session with the $28 m fetched by 1947-Y-No. 2,).

The highest-end market in Abstract art being sold in London this year was right to back two masterpieces by Joan Miró, one of which set a new record for the artist, fetching nearly $33 m.Peinture (étoile bleue) topped the artist’s previous high point by $10 m (Painting Poem, sold for $23.68 m on 7 February 2012 with Christie’s London).

The most notable absentee from this ranking, with an old record going back to 1990 (Fugue, sold $19 m, Sotheby’s New York, 17 May), Kandinsky will shortly be the focus of keen attention: Christie’s New York recently announced an estimate of $20 m – $30 m for his masterpiece Study for improvisation 8, going up for sale on 7 November (evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art). Merely achieving the low estimate will set a new record for the father of Abstract art, and continue a spate of records, bearing witness yet again to the run on safe investments.