{"id":6817,"date":"2025-05-15T20:39:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T20:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/15\/christies-21st-century-evening-sale-brought-in-96-5-million\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T20:39:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T20:39:37","slug":"christies-21st-century-evening-sale-brought-in-96-5-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/15\/christies-21st-century-evening-sale-brought-in-96-5-million\/","title":{"rendered":"Christie\u2019s 21st Century Evening Sale brought in $96.5 million"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Auctioneer Yu\u0308-Ge Wang sells Miss January<\/em> by Marlene Dumas for $13.6 million. Christie’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Women dominated Christie\u2019s 21st Century Evening Sale<\/a> on May 14. Led by auctioneer Y\u00fc-Ge Wang and largely powered by phone bids with female specialists, it brought in $96.5 million, with a 92 percent sell-through by lot and 97 percent by value. The sale landed squarely within the revised presale estimate of $77 to $114 million, lowered slightly after four of the forty-three lots were quietly withdrawn. Earlier projections had hovered higher, at $82 to $121 million. As anticipated, guarantees shouldered much of the weight: more than half the works were backed, with seven underwritten by Christie\u2019s itself and eighteen secured by third parties. All told, the result brought Christie\u2019s marathon marquee week total to $626.5 million.<\/p>\n

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The fireworks on female voices culminated in the sale of one of the evening\u2019s top lots, Marlene Dumas<\/a>\u2019 Miss January<\/i> (1997), which realized . Although it sold almost immediately on the phone (likely to its guarantor), the result marked the world record for a living female artist at auction. The piece came fresh to market from the taste-making Rubell Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO:<\/i><\/b> At Sotheby\u2019s, a $70M Giacometti Fails to Sell While Works By Munch and C\u00e9zanne Ignite Buyer Excitement<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That momentum continued throughout the auction, with energetic bidding and robust results for contemporary women artists, while activity around male artists proved more muted\u2014save for the other record of the night: Louis Fratino<\/a>\u2019s You and Your Things<\/i> (2022), fresh from his recent exhibition at Centro Pecci in Italy, which hammered after several increments at $600,000 ($756,000 with fees).<\/p>\n

\"Jean-Michel\"Jean-Michel
Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s Baby Boom<\/em> sold for $23.4 million. Christie’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The evening\u2019s top lot, Jean-Michel Basquiat<\/a>\u2019s Baby Boom<\/i> (1982) from the collection of Peter M. Brant<\/a>, performed as expected\u2014or rather, exactly as prearranged. The large painting, depicting a sacred family trio of the artist and his parents, opened at $14 million and was quickly hammered at $20 million to a phone bidder on the line with Alex Rotter<\/a>, Christie\u2019s global president. With the room notably subdued, the work sold to what was likely its third-party guarantor, the gavel dropping without fanfare.<\/p>\n

Overall, there was plenty of momentum last night, marked by spirited bidding primarily from Europe and the U.S. from the very first lot. Kicking off the sale, an Elizabeth Peyton<\/a> from the Tiqui Atencio<\/a> & Ago Demirdjian<\/a> collection surged to $600,000 in a brisk exchange between women on the phones. It eventually hammered at $1.3 million ($1,623,000 with fees), topping its $1.2 million high estimate.<\/p>\n

Just one lot later, Roni Horn<\/a>\u2019s poetic condensation Opposite of White, v.2<\/i> (2007) also found its buyer swiftly, hammering at $900,000 ($1,165,500 with fees) after opening at $500,000. Close behind, Carmen Herrera<\/a>\u2019s work reached a hammer price of $850,000 ($1,071,000 with fees). Another standout was Cecily Brown<\/a>\u2019s Bedtime Story<\/i> (1999), which opened at $3 million and sold for $6.2 million with fees to a woman in the room, following a tense, drawn-out battle with a phone bidder.<\/p>\n

\"Roni\"Roni
Roni Horn\u2019s Opposite of White, v.2<\/em>, sold for $1,165,500. Christie’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interestingly, and unusually, Christie\u2019s revised the presale estimates of two lots ahead of the auction. Louise Bourgeois<\/a>\u2019s signature existential fabric head in a vitrine sold for exactly its new low estimate of $1 million, up from its original $600,000. Despite a lackluster result for a similar work the night before, the estimate for Richard Prince<\/a>\u2019s 2016 Untitled (Cowboy)<\/i> photograph was also raised, from $600,000 to $700,000, and managed to sell for $1.5 million.<\/p>\n

One of the evening\u2019s most electrifying bidding wars, however, unfolded around the archetypal elegance and primordial force of Simone Leigh<\/a>\u2019s bronze Sentinel IV<\/i> (2020), an iconic sculpture by the artist, with two others from the same series currently on view at MoMA and the National Gallery in D.C. After swiftly surpassing its $3.5 million low estimate in a flurry of phone activity, the pace slowed to $50,000 increments. The piece ultimately hammered at $4.7 million ($5,737,000 with fees), setting a new auction record for Leigh.<\/p>\n

\"Simone\"Simone
Simone Leigh\u2019s Sentinel IV<\/em> sold for $5,737,000, setting the artist\u2019s record. Christie’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other pockets of deep bidding emerged around more conceptually rigorous, institutionally proven works. Francis Al\u00ffs\u2019s Untitled <\/i>(a series of five works) hammered at its high estimate of $350,000 ($441,000 with fees), pursued by multiple phone bidders. Not all fared as well: F\u00e9lix Gonz\u00e1lez-Torres\u2019 iconic light bulb installation was a pass at a $320,000 final bid, and Mike Kelley<\/a>\u2019s installation, estimated at $500,000-700,000, also failed to sell. The Damien Hirst<\/a> that followed met the same fate, while the macabre cow head in formaldehyde was sold on the phone to a lone bidder working with Ana Maria. Another of Hirst\u2019s more pointillist works, Veil of Life Everlasting<\/i> (2017), did sell after auctioneer Wang pushed the pace, quipping, \u201cYou can hang it on both sides if you like.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ugo Rondinone<\/a> Tree<\/i> also sold instantly on the phone for $567,000 after fees, likely through pre-arrangement. Arthur Jafa<\/a>\u2019s black-and-white Hulk figure LeRage<\/i> (2017), which boasts a long institutional resume that includes ICA Miami (2019), LUMA Arles (2022) and MCA Chicago (2023), sold yesterday for $100,800.<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO: <\/i><\/b>Christie\u2019s Isabella Lauria Talks Basquiat, Market Shifts and What Makes a Masterpiece<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Several female artists continued to outperform. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye<\/a>\u2019s painting opened at $400,000 and hammered at $640,000\u2014surpassing its low estimate of $600,000 and selling just above its high with fees. Lisa Brice<\/a>\u2019s Midday Drinking Den, After Embah I and II<\/i> (2017), acquired from her Salon 94 show and exhibited in both of her museum retrospectives, was chased by multiple phones to $2.4 million ($2,954,000 with fees). Jenny Saville<\/a>, who was until last night the auction world\u2019s top-selling female artist with a $12.4 million record from 2018, achieved a mid-estimate result at $1.8 million with fees. Danielle Mckinney<\/a> brought in $207,000 with fees after a drawn-out bidding stretch. Other strong results came for Julie Mehretu<\/a> ($3.4 million), Gego<\/a> ($201,600) and Sarah Sze<\/a> ($819,000).<\/p>\n

European bidders, particularly from Germany and Switzerland, were highly active throughout the evening, most notably on Yayoi Kusama<\/a>\u2019s Infinity Net<\/i>, which ignited an energetic bidding war and sold for $3 million ($3,680,000 with fees) to a phone bidder with Alex Rotter. Auctioneer Y\u00fc-Ge Wang even thanked the buyer in German.<\/p>\n

\"Emma\"Emma
Emma McIntyre\u2019s Up bubbles her amorous breath<\/em> sold for $201,600. Christie’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the final stretch of the evening, Rudolf Stingel\u2019s lot was a pass, but Emma McIntyre<\/a>\u2019s Up bubbles her amorous breath<\/i> (2021) reignited the room with a burst of gestural energy. The explosive abstract painting, closing out the sale, drew multiple bidders both online and by phone. Debuting at auction with an opening bid of $30,000\u2014roughly in line with her primary market prices\u2014it ultimately sold for $201,600 with fees, setting a new record for the young artist. The New Zealand-born, Los Angeles-based painter is currently presenting her debut exhibition at David Zwirner, following the gallery\u2019s announcement last year of her representation in collaboration with Ch\u00e2teau Shatto.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one takeaway from the evening, there\u2019s not only a shift in taste happening but also the emergence of a broader structural correction. The art world is finally advancing its long-overdue reckoning with the gender gap. Women artists\u2014and the women buying, bidding and leading these sales\u2014are now positioned far closer to the center of the system, especially in the realm of contemporary art.<\/p>\n

The May marquee auction marathon continues tonight with Sotheby\u2019s The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction<\/a> and Im Spazio: The Space of Thoughts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"At<\/p><\/div>\n