Sotheby's Results / American Art Totals $27.6 Million in NY, Exceeding High Estimate
EXCEEDING HIGH ESTIMATE AND SELLING 80.3% BY LOT
– Featuring Works by Georgia O’Keeffe and Norman Rockwell –
Today’s auction of American Art at Sotheby’s New York totaled $27,608,500, exceeding its pre-sale high estimate of $24.2 million* and selling a strong 80.3% of the lots on offer. Multiple bidders competed for many of the works at the top end of the sale, demonstrating demand for quality across a broad range of genres – the auction’s Top 10 pieces include examples of modernism, Western art, American illustration and Impressionism. In total, nine lots sold for over $1 million, and new artist records were established for western artist Alfred Jacob Miller, early modernist Arthur Dove, and regionalist painter Marvin Cone.
The auction was led by works from two icons of American art: Georgia O’Keeffe and Norman Rockwell. O’Keeffe’s Autumn Leaf II brought the artist’s second highest-ever price at auction when it sold for $4,282,500, well in excess of its $2.5 million high estimate. The artist’s pastel A White Camellia from 1938 fetched the day’s next-highest result with $3,218,500, also surpassing its high estimate of $1.8 million. Five works by Rockwell totaled an impressive $6,148,500 – more than double their cumulative high estimate of $3 million, with each work selling in excess of its respective estimate. The group was led by The Muscleman from 1941, which saw five bidders drive its final selling price to $2,210,500 (est. 600/800,000).
*Pre-sale estimates do not include buyer’s premium.
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