Blue-chip treasures from one of Manhattan’s most bitter divorces from billionaires on Monday night helped Sotheby’s achieve what it called a total sales record for a private collection of art at auction, $922 million, with fees.
Sotheby’s sold its second cache of trophy-named modern and contemporary works by real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his former wife Linda Macklowe, an honorary trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for $246.1 million. The first installment of the sale, in November, brought in $676.1 million from 35 lots, supplemented by works by Mark Rothko ($82.5 million) and Alberto Giacometti ($78.4 million).
As is the nature of sequels, the second Macklowe sale, consisting of 30 lots, wasn’t quite in that class, but works by Rothko for $48 million, Gerhard Richter for $30.2 million, and Andy Warhol for $18.7 million pushed the final total, which Sotheby’s said eclipsed sales of the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection in 2018 for $835.1 million, pre-inflation, at Christie’s.
Monday’s sale, estimated to bring in at least $168 million, kicked off the second of two-week major auctions of modern and contemporary art.
There were a few notable lots that exceeded expectations, such as a 1961 orange and yellow De Kooning that sold for $17.8 million over a high estimate of $10 million and Sigmar Polke’s “The Copyist,” which sold for $6 million. was sold above the high estimate of $4 million.
“Either art is one of the few assets that appears to have good immune defenses against recession, or inflation is much stronger than we think,” said Loic Gouzer, a former prominent Christie’s specialist. “The art market feels very close to the spare parts market – good works are hard to find and very expensive.”
For more than 50 years, the Macklowes had acquired prime examples of works by canonical white male artists such as Warhol, Richter, Rothko, and Cy Twombly, traditionally considered “blue chip” investments. More recently, however, much of the energy and money in the market has shifted to younger, up-and-coming names, especially female performers and artists of color.
“We’ve been thinking about where we stand with white male artists,” said Suzanne Gyorgy, the global head of Citi Private Bank Art Advisory and Finance. “Then came the Macklowe sale and it did extremely well.”
Gyorgy said the Macklowe sale showed that works with museum-validated names were still in high demand, provided they were of A-plus quality. “There are collectors who want the best of the best and still upgrade their collections,” says Gyorgy. “Even when there are dips in certain markets, these artists are here to stay.”
The sale of the Macklowes’ prized works of art was the result of a 2018 New York court order. State Supreme Court ruled that the collection — then valued at more than $700 million — should be sold in a public auction.
While the Macklowes had originally shared a love of collecting — filling their Plaza and Hamptons homes with paintings and sculptures — art became Mrs. Macklowe’s greatest passion. She had hoped to keep the most important works of art, but since most of their assets were in the art collection, that proved impossible.
“Linda Macklowe’s incomparable eye was on display again tonight,” said dealer Marc Glimcher. “The spectacular prizes were confirmation of that. We can only hope that she will decide to use these funds to bring her keen sense, impeccable taste and in-depth knowledge back to the artists and to collecting.”
Christie’s 2018 charity sale of the Rockefeller Collection — a marathon spread of art and antiques collected in a different era of collector’s taste — included 1,580 lots offered in six live sales and one online-only auction. The Macklowe collection consisted of just 65 high-quality pieces (all of which were sold).
Sales started strongly, with a mirror painting by Roy Lichtenstein and a work by Agnes Martin featuring blur stripes each selling about three times their high estimates ($6 million and about $10 million, respectively).
Last week, Christie’s raised $1.4 million from several sales, including $195 million for Warhol’s 1964 screen print “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn.” Basquiat will show an estimated $70 million will sell.
But with stocks suffering six straight weeks of decline due to the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine and ongoing concerns about rising inflation and interest rates, the top of the international art market could come under pressure.
“I never thought I’d see a sale of the Macklowe collection,” Harry Macklowe said at a post-sale press conference, reflecting on all the auctions he’d attended as a collector. “I’m excited about it. Not by the economy, but by the quality recognized by collectors. Everyone endorsed the choices we’ve made over the past 65 years, that was the biggest reward,” he added.