Art Sales 40% Below Estimates : N.Y. Auction Nets Only $7.8 Million

NEW YORK — “Well, it wasn’t a disaster,” pronounced a relieved art dealer leaving Christie’s Park Avenue salesroom after a Tuesday-evening auction of contemporary art, New York’s first major art sale since October’s stock market crash.

The offering of 64 artworks netted nearly $7.8 million--40% below Christie’s top presale estimate of nearly $13 million. About one-quarter of the artworks failed to sell at all, and only modest records were set.

The event launched a brace of four auction sessions this week at Christie’s and Sotheby’s that are being closely watched by an art world twitchy over possible ripple effects from the crash. Art insiders have worried that a heady demand for contemporary art set in the last couple of years might tumble in the wake of general economic unease.

The Christie’s sale was packed to the aisles and catalogues were in short supply. Prices appeared steady, but bidding was somewhat reserved. Few works outstripped their pre-auction estimates.

Top prices were fetched by haunted figural paintings by British master Francis Bacon. His “Figure With Two Owls” went to an anonymous buyer for $1.3 million--comfortably within its pre-sale estimate of $1 million to $1.5 million. His “Study for a Portrait of P.L. No. 1” sold to a private collector for $858,000, toward the low end of its anticipated $800,000-$1 million range. The third priciest work was Willem de Kooning’s very small (11x13 inches) “Two Figures,” knocked down to an anonymous bidder for $550,000--well under the $650,000-$850,000 that Christie’s expected.

Works by California artists figured among the top 10 lots. An untitled abstraction by Richard Diebenkorn was sold to a Pennsylvania dealer for $286,000 and an abstraction by Sam Francis for $209,000.

Fritz Glarner’s “Relational Painting, Tondo 27” sold for $140,000, a record for this American follower of Mondrian. A large photo-collage called “Alive” by English performance artists Gilbert and George brought $38,000.

Post-auction scuttlebutt proved the difficulty of reading a single sale as an economic omen. California expatriate dealer Felix Landau pointed to a particularly poor painting by a famous artist that had sold for a six-figure price. “It’s a miracle that thing would sell at all.”

Henry Hopkins, director of Los Angeles’ unbuilt Weisman Museum, considered the 75% sale and the middling prices a signal of stability.

Numerically, the sale was dominated by American Abstract Expressionist painters, and some of these fabled names figured among the list of “buy-ins”--works that failed to sell--including Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, De Kooning, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell.

“Works by these artists did well recently, so more of them are coming on the market and people are more selective,” commented Martha Baer, Christie’s new director of 20th-Century fine arts. She pointed out that this sale lacked the flash of previous record-setting sales, such as the Scull auction last year, and reflected a feeling in the audience that some of Tuesday’s offerings were of insignificant quality.

But large prime works also failed to sell, including two 15-foot protractor paintings by Frank Stella and a handsome 16-foot “Unfurled” abstraction by Morris Louis.

“Two years ago you couldn’t sell these big abstractions at auction at all,” said Baer. “We have sold them since and two of these almost sold. I find that encouraging.”

The post-sale crowd shuffled toward the exit.

“No, it definitely wasn’t a disaster,” mused a well-dressed blonde. “On the other hand, I hope I never have a marriage I have to describe that way.”