De Kooning Snags Record $66.3 Million, Richter's War Jet Gets $25.6 Million at NYC Auctions
- November 16, 2016 11:14
From Willem de Kooning’s most productive periods, “Untitled XXV” set a new auction record for a work by the abstract expressionist artist at $66.3 million at Christie's contemporary art sale Tuesday evening in New York. The sale total brought a solid $277 million.
When the painting was auctioned in 2006, it sold for $27.1 million, then a record for any work of post-war and contemporary art.
Among the other highlights was a special curated section of 11 Op Art works in Bonhams Post-War and Contemporary sale with all lots sold. It demonstrated a renewed interest in the market for works connected to this global movement. All the pieces in the sale were fresh-to-market, with impeccable provenance, many having been gifts from the artist to the owners or bought from the original exhibitions. The top lot for this section was Wojciech Fangor’s shimmering M35, 1970, which sold for $319,500, more than triple its estimate, setting a new world record for the artist.
Other works that achieved excellent results were Yaacov Agam’s New Year, 1967-68 which made $187,500 against an estimate of $30,000 – 50,000; Richard Anuszkiewicz’s vibrant painting, Untitled, 1976, that achieved $125,000 (estimate: $50,000 – 70,000) and Kobe II, a trailblazing work by Victor Vasarely from 1953-72, which achieved $175,000, against a low estimate of $150,000.
