Frank Stella , Delaware Crossing (1961)
Sold for $12m hammer ($13.7m premium; estimate $8m-$12m)
Sotheby’s, The Collection of A. Alfred Taubman: Masterworks, 4 November
Frank Stella worked as a house painter in the first few months after he moved to New York; this later inspired the so-called “Benjamin Moore paintings”, named after the commercial paint brand. One piece from this series exceeded its high estimate by $1.7m at the first of Sotheby’s Taubman collection auctions. Although the results for the sale were below estimate, this lot doubled Stella’s auction record, set at Christie’s in 2014 with the painting Abajo (1964), which went for $6.7m.
Giorgio de Chirico, Gladiateurs au Repos (1928-29)
Sold for $3.4m hammer ($3.9m with premium; estimate $4m-$6m)
Phillips, 20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 8 November
Giorgio de Chirico’s market can be difficult to navigate. The artist was known to make copies of his own work, which he sometimes backdated. Complicating matters further, the Italian forger Renato Peretti claimed that 117 works in the catalogue raisonné were actually his. But the dealer Helly Nahmad, whose New York gallery is currently hosting the exhibition Mnemosyne: De Chirico and Antiquity (until 23 December), says the real issue is that De Chirico’s market “hasn’t fully matured” in the US. Gladiateurs au Repos—the authenticity of which is not in dispute—“is a great painting,” Nahmad says, adding: “It should easily be a $10m painting. Up to $6m or $7m, it’s a bargain.” Nonetheless, it sold below estimate.
Fernand Léger, Les Constructeurs avec Arbre (Builders with tree) (1949-50)
Failed to sell (estimate $12m-$18m)
Christie’s, The Artist’s Muse, 9 November
This study for the artist’s ten-foot-long mural at the Fernand Léger National Museum in Biot, France was bought in at Christie’s last year, so it’s no surprise that the auction house’s renewed attempt to sell it last month fell flat. In 2014, the work carried an estimate of $16m to $22m, described by dealers as too high and, despite the lower estimate this time around and Christie’s attempts to stress its historic importance (the catalogue noted that the painting symbolises Léger’s alliance with communist ideologies), the marketing failed once again.
Felix Gonzales-Torres, Untitled (LA) (1991)
Sold for $6.7m hammer ($7.6m premium; estimate $5m-$7m)
Christie’s, Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 10 November
Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s candy installations are among his most popular, and most coveted, works. A similar piece to this one from 1992, Untitled (Portrait of Marcel Brient), sold at Phillips, New York in 2010 for $4.6m, where it set an auction record for the artist which stood until this installation set a new one. Untitled (LA) came with a reissued certificate of authenticity and ownership, provided by the Felix-Gonzalez Torres Foundation, upon sale. Emilie Keldie, the foundation’s director, says that the candy—which viewers may pick up and eat—can be sourced “through common, commercial candy manufacturers and suppliers.” She adds that “a description of the original candy chosen to manifest the work is used as a guideline” upon each iteration of the work and that there is not one specific type of candy that must be used.
Cady Noland, Blue Cowboy, Eating (1990)
Failed to sell (estimate $2m-$3m)
Sotheby’s, Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 11 November
Cady Noland is famously protective of her work. In June, a lawsuit was filed by the collector Scott Mueller, who planned to restore Noland’s installation Log Cabin Blank With Screw Eyes and Cafe Door (1990 ) upon purchase. When Noland learned about his intentions, she disowned the piece. Although Noland has not disowned Blue Cowboy, Eating, it appeared in the Sotheby’s catalogue with a disclaimer from the artist stating that “it is not possible for Cady Noland to agree or dispute the various claims behind works attributed to her”. Her lawyer, Drew Epstein, says that the notice “is a blanket disclaimer that Cady has asked auction houses to post when offering works at auction that are attributed to her”, adding: “Sotheby’s has simply complied with Cady’s request.” Such moves apparently discouraged potential buyers and the work failed to sell.