London art sales strike prudent note (News Feature)

By Anna Tomforde Jun 24, 2010, 18:30 GMT

London - For most mortals not used to splashing out millions on a Picasso, it may be confusing to hear that an art sale that produced a record yield has nonetheless been a disappointment.

That is exactly what happened in London this week where rival auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's staged their traditional summer sales of Impressionist and Modern Art.

The auctions had been billed as events that would smash all records in 'one of the most thrilling seasons of sales.'

Following on from record-breaking sales in London and New York earlier this year, which had been interpreted as marking a turning point in beating the credit crunch, expectations for London had been high.

Although the London sales were by no means a flop, they were not a rip-roaring success either, said market analysts, attributing the 'mixed message' to exaggerated pricing and greater prudence on the part of buyers.

In the event, Christie's auction, which yielded 152.6 million pounds (226.5 million dollars), did beat a previous London record of 146.8 million pounds set by Sotheby's in February.

However, the result remained far below Christie's own expectations of making up to 230 million pounds from the sale, outstripping even the record result achieved for modern and impressionist art in New York in May.

There, Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust proved a runaway success, setting a new world record for any work sold at auction at 70.2 million pounds.

Another Picasso, Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto, better known as The Absinthe Drinker, was the highlight of this week's London sale at Christie's.

But, although realizing 34 million pounds, it remained disappointingly close to its reserve price of 30 million, and far below its upper estimate of 40 million.

Musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, previous owner of the bewitching 'blue period' Picasso, said he was satisfied with the price reached in 'such austere times.'

Even more disappointingly, Claude Monet's Nympheas, the largest of his water-lily paintings, anticipated to fetch up to 30 million pounds, failed to sell - along with 15 other lots in the 63-item sale.

Other highlights, including a Van Gogh, a Matisse and a female portrait by Austrian Secessionist Gustav Klimt all remained near the lower end of their estimates.

At Sotheby's, Edouard Manet's Self-Portrait with a Palette, had the night before sold for 22.4 million pounds, a new record for the artist but a price well below the upper end of its estimate of between 20 and 30 million pounds. The painting, showing the artist a as a dandyish gentleman with a bowler hat, was bought by US hedge fund tycoon Steven Cohen, Sotheby's revealed.

Sotheby's made a total of 112 million pounds at its sale.

Expectations had been raised in the art world by the astonishing prices realized earlier this year, when a 'walking man' sculpture by Swiss artist Giacometti was sold for 65 million pounds in London, followed by the 70-million-pound Picasso in New York.

'People were quite cautious, nothing was crazy. It was measured,' said Thomas Seydoux, Christie's international director of Impressionist and Modern Art about this week's sale, admitting disappointment that the Monet had been passed over.

Christie's president for Europe, Jussi Pylkkanen, had earlier identified a group of 'extremely rich and extremely discerning art collectors, eager to buy the very best,' as the auction houses top clients.

He described them as the 'new Medicis from across the world, including Europe, the US, the Middle East, Russia China and Britain.'

While most British art commentators would agree with that assessment, they said the world's richest art buyers were clearly thinking carefully about where they put their money.

'The lesson for the auction houses must be that this group of buyers have not made their money by spending over the odds,' said Guardian art critic Mark Brown.