Marquee Week running total: $1.36 BILLION.
Christie’s continued its Spring 2022 Marquee Week with the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale featuring The Collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann on Friday, May 13 at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The sale totaled $97 million, bringing the week’s running total to $1.36 billion. The sale consisted of an incredible selection of works spanning the 20th and 21st centuries, and raised a total of $11.3 million for philanthropic initiatives, including an additional $7.3 million for The Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, bringing the week’s cumulative total raised for the Foundation to $325.1million.
The sale was 96% sold by value and 93% sold by lot, selling 151% hammer above low estimate with 17 works selling above $1 million. Bidders and buyers were drawn globally, coming from 41 different countries.
The sale was led by two outstanding works by icons painted in the 1960s—Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) (estimate: $1,500,000-2,500,000), and Wayne Thiebaud’s Three Ice Cream Cones (estimate: $2,500,000-3,500,000), from the Family of Nina Van Rensselaer. Both works achieved $4,980,000.
Strong performances came from a range of diverse artists, from established icons of the post-war era to contemporary market stars. Highlights included Helen Frankenthaler’s Crete which sold for $1,620,000 and Frank Stella’s Hagmatana I from the Estate of Sondra Gilman which achieved $2,220,000, over triple its low estimate. Weeping Blur by Shara Hughes doubled its high estimate of $600,000 to sell for $1,134,000 and Ernie Barnes’ Storm Dance sold for $2,340,000, 15 times its high estimate of $150,000.
Christie’s was pleased to partner with a number of charitable organizations to benefit from this sale:
- Artists for Ukraine: Property to Benefit Doctors Without Borders
- Art for Vaccines: Property Sold to Benefit CARE’s Global COVID-19 Response
- From the Studio to Benefit amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research
- Helping Children Heal: Artwork Donated To Benefit Rxart
- Property to Benefit CORE: Community Organized Relief Effort
- Property to Benefit the Bronx Museum of the Arts, on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary
- Farnsworth Art Museum with Proceeds Dedicated to the Acquisitions Fund
Artist Records
- Rosalyn Drexler
- Janet Cooling
- Michael Mogavero
- Milo Reice
- Alessandro Twombly
- Rainer Fetting
- Tim Rollins & K.O.S.
- Tim of Finland
- Lois Lane
- Deborah Kass
- Klaudia Schifferle
- Lynne Drexler
- Godwin Champs Namuyimba
- Louis Fratino
- En Iwamura
- Andy Warhol Marilyn print set
Sale Highlights
SHARA HUGHES (B. 1981)
Weeping Blur
oil and dye on canvas
57⅞ x 50 in. (147 x 127 cm.)
Executed in 2018.
PRICE REALIZED: $1,134,000
Sold by the Farnsworth Art Museum with Proceeds Dedicated to the Acquisitions Fund
LYNNE DREXLER (1928-1999)
Herbert’s Garden
oil on canvas
63 5⁄8 x 83 1⁄2 in.
Painted in 1960.
PRICE REALIZED: $1,500,000
Property from the Family of Nina Van Rensselaer
WAYNE THIEBAUD (1920 – 2021)
Yo-Yo’s
oil on canvas
11 x 12 in. (27.9 x 30.5 cm.)
Painted in 1962.
PRICE REALIZED: $3,180,000
Property from the Estate of Sondra Gilman
FRANK STELLA (B. 1936)
Hagmatana I
acrylic and graphite on shaped canvas
120 x 180 in. (304.8 x 457.2 cm.)
Painted in 1967.
PRICE REALIZED: $2,220,000
