1949-A-No. 1 by Clyfford Still sold for nearly $62 million at Sotheby’s recent contemporary art auction. (Source: Sotheby’s)
Neither economic nor union woes seemed to have an effect on Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction last week, where nearly $316 million worth of art pieces were sold. Those results are the best for a contemporary art evening auction at Sotheby’s since May 2008 — before the recession — and its third-highest contemporary art evening auction total ever, according to the Sotheby’s press release.
The total far exceeded even the highest presale estimate of $270 million, with four pieces by abstract artist Clyfford Still bringing in about $114 million of the total. Before the sale, Bloomberg’s Katya Kazakina wrote that the entire Still collection could fetch “more than $70 million.” Still’s 1949-A-No. 1 alone nearly hit that mark, selling for just under $62 million and doubling the $25-35 million estimate. According to The Denver Post, the proceeds from the sale of Still’s works will go to an endowment for Denver’s Clyfford Still Museum, set to open November 18th.
But the ongoing labor dispute between Sotheby’s and its locked out art handlers (often joined on the picket line by Occupy Wall Street protestors) could not be completely ignored. The New York Times’ Julia Chapman wrote that Sotheby’s contemporary art specialist Anthony Grant was heard saying “I hope the Occupy Wall Street group doesn’t show up” during a brunch held by the auction house a few days before the sale. About 100 of them did, joining teamsters for an “Occupy Sotheby’s” protest. According to Artnet.com’s account, protestors supporting Professional Art Handlers Local 814 were a “vigorous group” with their own oompah band. Reuters reported that an “undetermined number” of those protestors were detained by police for trying to block the sidewalk.
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