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\n\tBut though the auction market remains frozen, word on the street is that collectors are spending big, if privately. Last week, Puck\u2019s Marion Maneker reported that major works are moving via private sale, including a \u201c$100 million Basquiat.\u201d \u201cSome folks are spending real money,\u201d Manneker wrote. Art advisors similarly confirmed to me this week that subterranean deals for Grade-A works are happening.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe truth is that when the auction market is quiet, particularly at the top end, many of the major artworks are traded privately,\u201d Jussi Pylkk\u00e4nen, former global president of Christie\u2019s and now founder of the advisory Art Pylkk\u00e4nen. told ARTnews. <\/p>\n
\n\tSotheby\u2019s 48-lot sale on Tuesday brought in nearly \u00a362.5 million ($84 million), landing squarely within its \u00a355 million to \u00a374 million estimate. The sell-through rate was 83 percent by lot, with four works withdrawn. That figure marked a roughly 19 percent drop from the \u00a377 million total for the equivalent sale last year, which had 51 lots. (All figures quoted include buyer\u2019s premium.)<\/p>\n
\n\tFive works cleared \u00a35 million, led by Tamara de Lempicka<\/a>\u2019s La Belle Rafa\u00ebla (1927), which sold for \u00a37.4 million, and Pablo Picasso<\/a>\u2019s Nu assis dans un fauteuil (1964\u201365). Basquiat\u2019s 1981 work on paper Untitled (Indian Head) sold for \u00a35.4 million (high estimate: \u00a36 million), following an edgy bidding battle that drew applause. \u201cIt encompasses all of Basquiat\u2019s brilliance\u2014it is bold, raw, and unmistakably his,\u201d Tom Eddison, Sotheby\u2019s co-head of contemporary art, said.<\/p>\n Helena Newman, Sotheby\u2019s chairman of Europe and worldwide head of impressionist and modern art, tapped her gavel to get things underway just after 6 p.m.Several empty seats at the back of the room suggested some collectors had opted for the beach\u2014or never boarded their flights. Last week at Art Basel, several gallerists noted fewer American and Asian collectors <\/a>than usual, and the London salesroom too seemed to be a mostly European affair. <\/p>\n \n\tStill, Andre Zlattinger, Sotheby\u2019s head of modern art in Europe, seemed none too worried about a potential collector shortfall ahead of the sale. \u201cOur London sales are always truly international, and the works we\u2019re offering tonight tap into conversations that are abuzz in the art world right now,\u201d he told ARTnews. After the auction, Thomas Boyd-Bowman, head of evening sales, added that there had been \u201cgood phone bidding from America and Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAmong the night\u2019s early lots, Yu Nishimura\u2019s through the snow (2023) sold for three times its high estimate at \u00a3230,000, with six bidders scrapping it out. Nishimura recently had a solo exhibition at David Zwirner in New York, and all his works presented at Basel pre-sold. Joseph Yeager\u2019s 2022 painting Loyalty to the nightmare chosen, depicting a hand pulling a snake from a jar, went next for \u00a380,000, surpassing its high estimate by \u00a320,000. The next two lots, Egon Schiele\u2019s work on paper, Portrait Study (Head of a Girl) \u2013 Hilde Zeigler (1918), and Barbara Hepworth\u2019s Vertical Forms (1965) sculpture, both failed to sell.<\/p>\n The most notable sales to land before de Lempicka\u2019s La Belle Rafa\u00ebla hit the block at Lot 14 were Elizabeth Peyton\u2019s 1996 painting Liam + Noel (Gallagher) for \u00a32 million (right on high estimate), Picasso\u2019s Nu assis dans un fauteuil for \u00a37.1 million (high estimate \u00a39 million), and Mirror (2011-12) by Jenny Saville<\/a> for \u00a32.1 million. Not bad going.<\/p>\n There was one particularly bright spot to the sale: the value of works by female artists accounted for 30 percent of the sale\u2019s total, despite only accounting for 13.5 percent of the evening\u2019s works (7 out of 48 lots). Marlow Moss\u2019s White, Black, Blue, and Red (1944) fetched a record \u00a3609,600. Saville\u2019s Juncture (1994) sold for \u00a35.4 million, and Agnes Martin\u2019s Untitled I (1982) went for just over \u00a31 million.<\/p>\n