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| | The Art | Collectors | Investors Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Global art auction litmus test next week in New York! | Views: 481 | | Oct 31, 2008 5:18 pm | | Global art auction litmus test next week in New York! | # | 
Jasmine Jehengir | | Kravis, Fuld Brace for N.Y. Auctions as Collectors Lower Prices
Preview by Lindsay Pollock
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Henry Kravis and Richard Fuld are among the art collectors who will make millions of dollars at New York's auctions next week while many other sellers' hopes could be dashed.
Christie's International and Sotheby's are mounting their two-week, bellwether November sales of impressionist, modern and contemporary art starting on Monday -- with many of the works gathered before the brunt of the global financial crisis.
Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. co-founder Kravis and Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Officer Fuld are among the sellers. The auction houses guaranteed them payment even if the artworks don't sell, and they could see even bigger profits if the works sell for more than the guarantees.
``Right now I'm seeing a market frozen in expectation, waiting to see what the next two weeks will bring,'' said private New York dealer Christopher Eykyn. ``There is a sense that the market is re-calibrating and the auctions will provide a new yardstick as to what the new level is.''
On the heels of the red-hot May auctions, which tallied $1.56 billion, the sales are projected to total up to $1.76 billion.
Just this week, the art market received a no-confidence vote.
A 1909 cubist Picasso painting, ``Arlequin,'' estimated to sell for $30 million, was yanked from Sotheby's Nov. 3 lineup. The seller withdrew it for ``private reasons,'' Sotheby's spokeswoman Diana Phillips said. Dealers speculate that the seller wasn't willing to lower the minimum price.
Making Adjustments
To prevent sales from tanking, Sotheby's and Christie's have tried to convince sellers to lower estimates and secret minimum reserves prices, following the weak October London auctions.
``After London, we contacted people and talked about adjustments,'' said Alex Rotter, head of Sotheby's contemporary art in New York. ``You will be paying 20 percent to 30 percent less than you would have a couple of months ago.''
``No one wants to feel they have overpaid,'' said Christie's Deputy Chairman Brett Gorvy.
Dealers think price adjustments are overdue.
``The excess on Wall Street trickled down to the art market,'' said dealer Alicia Bona of Skarstedt Gallery.
Sotheby's Nov. 3 impressionist and modern art sale is slated to tally about $320 million.
Kravis's 1879 Edgar Degas pastel and gouache, ``Danseuse au Repos,'' of a graceful ballerina taking a breather, has an estimate of about $40 million. Kravis paid $28 million at Sotheby's in 1999.
Giacometti Guarantee
Dealer William R. Acquavella extracted a guarantee for his 1958 Giacometti gray washy portrait of the artist's brother, ``Tete de Diego,'' estimated up to $8 million. Acquavella paid $1.2 million at Christie's three years ago.
The sale's top lot is Russian Kazimir Malevich's geometric 1916 ``Suprematist Composition,'' expected to fetch about $60 million. The painting, along with four others by the artist, were restituted to Malevich's heirs earlier this year after a court battle with the city of Amsterdam.
A Sotheby's spokeswoman said it was appointed the exclusive agent for the five pictures in July. Dealers said Sotheby's offered the group to Russian buyers for 250 million pounds ($411 million), but didn't strike a deal. Sotheby's declined to comment. The auction house said it has an ``irrevocable bid'' on ``Suprematist Composition,'' ensuring it will sell.
Christie's Nov. 5 sale is projected to total up to $153 million and includes property from the estates of two art- collecting widows, Rita Hillman and Alice Lawrence.
Its Nov. 6 sale, comprised of art from various owners, is estimated to total up to $344 million and features a signature mottled Giacometti bronze, the 1950 ``Trois Homme Qui Marchent I'' for up to $18 million. It has a guarantee.
$20 Million Kandinsky
The house also guaranteed a yellow, pink and blue 1909 Wassily Kandinsky ``Studie zu Improvisation 3'' estimated up to $20 million. Picasso's 1934 pink and yellow surrealist portrait of his lover Marie-Therese and her sister, ``Deux Personages,'' is expected to sell for up to $25 million.
Sotheby's Nov. 11 sale of contemporary art, projected to total up to $281.6 million, features works by Richard Prince, John Currin and Yves Klein. Christie's Nov. 12 sale, estimated to tally up to $321.7 million, features Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich's Jean-Michel Basquiat painting of a boxer, tagged at $12 million.
Fuld and his wife Kathy's collection of drawings by abstract expressionists Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman and others have drawn much interest, said Christie's Gorvy. The 16 drawings, which are guaranteed, are estimated to sell for $20 million.
``There is no doubt it is now a buyer's market,'' said dealer Roland Augustine of Luhring Augustine and president of the Art Dealers Association of America.Private Reply to Jasmine Jehengir | | Oct 31, 2008 6:18 pm | | re: Global art auction litmus test next week in New York! | # | 
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