DOUG MCCLEMONT ON SOTHEBY'S CONTEMPORARY SALE IN NEW YORK
Since it is auction week and we're addressing art in financial rather than aesthetic terms, let me start off by saying that Sotheby's stock rose nearly eight percent after its blockbuster sale of Contemporary work this Thursday. The firm presided over a total of $320 million dollars in a single evening. I'm pleased when art does well at auction, but auctions invariably give birth to some head-shakers. Who is bidder number 12 who paid over $3 million dollars for a Lee Krasner monstrosity entitled "Polar Stampede"? Why does a posthumous cast by Jean Arp (in an edition of three) double its high estimate to reach a price of $1.4 million? What does the work of Tom Wesselmann offer to the Pop Art conversation at this point in time? Finally, who does Banksy think he is? The graffiti badboy turned cash cow had one of his works in the sale tonight, "Sale Ends Today," a silk-screened depiction of biblical weepers around a titular sign. The piece carried an estimate of $600-800,000 and brought fast bids to $480,000, but when it passed at $550,000 a few witty critics in the gallery applauded its failure to sell. 








