LAMA spring sale brings record price for <br> Francois-Xavier Lalanne bronze monkeys
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The art market is on fire: A bronze pair of monkeys by the late French sculptor Francois-Xavier Lalanne, expected to fetch between $100,000 and $125,000, sold for $199,062.50 at Sunday’s Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA) spring sale. That was a record price for the artwork.The art and design auction was one of the modern auction house’s best ever, selling 64% of the 451 lots available and totaling $1.67 million.
‘The last two sales have been very strong,’ said LAMA director Peter Loughrey. ‘What we’ve done is move towards a slightly higher price point. The top-priced pieces in the sale, such as the Warhols, did extremely well. I think people who have a lot more expendable income don’t want to put it in to traditional monetary instruments.’
Other surprises included intense bidding on the Eames ‘hang-it-all’ (lower right) from the home of the late A. Quincy Jones and his wife Elaine K. Sewell Jones.
‘The rack was a gift from Ray Eames to Elaine,’ said Loughery. ‘The condition was perfect. A major, major museum almost got the piece.’
Estimated to sell for $3,000, it sold for $8,575.
Other items that far exceeded expectations: a collection of Pipsan Saarinen Swanson outdoor patio furniture sold for $14,700 and one of John McLaughlin’s smaller paintings, sold for $27,563.
‘The higher-end buyers are there and they want to buy things,’ said Loughrey. ‘People think it’s a bad time to sell? It’s a good time to sell.’
-- Lisa Boone
Photo credits: Los Angeles Modern Auctions
