Warhol is the Power Player at Post-War & Contemporary Auctions

Warhol's "200 One Dollar Bills"

At both Christie’s and Sotheby’s Post-War & Contemporary auctions, which occurred on November 10th and 11th, Andy Warhol proved that he is still the most potent factor in the current art world’s uncertain financial footing. Although his effect was quite different for each auction house. Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s were offering rare and highly-prized Warhol works. Sotheby’s had “200 One Dollar Bills” to offer, along with several other smaller Warhol works, while Christie’s was putting up “Most Wanted Men No. 3, Ellis Ruiz B.”

As it was reported in the New York Times yesterday, Sotheby’s Warhol “200 One Dollar Bills” soared past the estimate of $12 million, achieving a final sale price of $43.7 million. The successful buying bid was placed over the phone and Sotheby’s has not released the name of the buyer. The smaller Warhol works in Sotheby’s auction offerings also sold solidly and in the end the auction house pulled in a total of $134.4 million, nearly double the auction estimate of $67.9 million.

Christie’s on the other hand did not see the golden hand of Warhol bless its auction this fall. The Warhol they did have for sale, “Most Wanted Men No. 3, Ellis Ruiz B.” was withdrawn from the sale at the last minute by the unidentified seller. For Christie’s, the loss of the painting in the sale dealt a blow to the boldness and edginess of the offerings. They still had their Peter Doig, “Reflection (What does your soul look like),” which went for just over $10 million.  Artdaily wrote about the Christie’s Warhol when it was on display in London prior to the auction.

Offered for the first time at auction, “Most Wanted Men #3,” Ellis Ruiz B., 1964 is a rare and fascinating work belonging to one of the starkest, but most important and scandalous series of paintings in Warhol’s career, “Thirteen Most Wanted Men.” The paintings were installed on the exterior of Philip Johnson’s pavilion at the 1964 World Fair in New York. Comprised of portraits replicating police department head-shots of felons, rapists and murderers, the work resulted in public outrage and the immediate removal of the mural ensued.

The work presented here is a grainy newspaper-print image of Ellis Ruiz Baez, who was wanted by the police for a brutal murder charge and never caught for his heinous crimes. Because the killer was at large, no mug-shot was available and the police distributed a snapshot from an unknown source. “Most Wanted Men #3, Ellis Ruiz B.” is only one of three images in the series Warhol did not appropriate from a mug-shot. Warhol’s raw and detached treatment of the subject reflects Baez’s cold and expressionless demeanor. In this work Warhol explores a fascination with both the macabre and the ‘celebrity status’ unwittingly bestowed upon criminals who reach the ‘most wanted’ classification. Imbued with mystery and discomfort, the painting reconciles the ordinary with the iconic, permanency with the ephemeral, and the transcendental nature of these themes that preoccupied much of Warhol’s work. In addition to underscoring Warhol’s morbid fascination with the fleeting aspect of life, “Most Wanted Men #3, Ellis R.B.” and “Tunafish Disaster” also demonstrate Warhol’s supreme ability to critique the moral complacency of 1960’s suburban existence.”

The withdrawal of the Warhol painting from the Christie’s auction lot was bad enough, but it must have irked to then the next night see  Sotheby’s Warhol catapualt past its estimate. But Warhol was not finished yet, it appeared. Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s were also offering different silk-screen paintings from Warhol’s “Tunafish Disaster” series. Christie’s had the better of the two, a work being sold by magazine mogul Peter Brant, and yet Sotheby’s sold theirs for $1.2 million. Christie’s Warhol in the series went unsold.

via A Showdown for Doig at Christie’s – ARTINFO.com.

via Warhols Help Sotheby’s Auction Top $134 Million at Auction – NYTimes.com.