NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s December 3rd Post-War & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Featuring The Collection Of Morton And Barbara Mandel achieved a total of $48,955,125/ £36,560,960/ €40,326,739/ HKD$377,784,396, bringing the running total for 20th Century Week to $168.2 million. The auction was led by Wayne Thiebaud’s Nine Cupcakes, 2009, which realized $2,910,000, followed by two portraits of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol from the Foundation Mireille and James Lévy, which sold for $1,818,000 and $1,698,000 respectively.

The Collection of Morton and Barbara Mandel, sold to benefit the Jack, Joseph & Morton Mandel Foundation was represented by the first 82 lots of the sale, and when combined with Picasso’s Femme debout, which sold earlier in the week, the collection reached $14.8 million. The group was highlighted by Ad Reinhardt’s Red Painting, 1950, which achieved $1,050,000 and Jackson Pollock’s Untitled, 1953, which sold for $1,470,000.

Following on the success of Christie’s Hong Kong to New York auction, there were six auction records achieved by Contemporary artists led by Salman Toor whose Rooftop Party with Ghosts I quadrupled its high estimate when it achieved $822,000.




Sarah Sze achieved a new world auction record with, Surprise Ending, which sold for $737,500 against a high estimate of $300,000. The artist donated Surprise Ending to benefit Hopeland, a New York City nonprofit organization co-founded by Deborra-Lee Furness, working to help vulnerable at risk children who are unable to live with their families. A generous donor matched the sale of the work with an additional $125,000 to benefit Hopeland.

Another auction record was set for Ursula von Rydingsvard with Ona, a 2005-06 cedar sculpture that sold for $200,000, and was part of a group of 7 lots that were donated by various artists to benefit Storm King Art Center in their 60th anniversary year. Together, the group totaled $658,750, which will go to support Storm King's work to steward its 500-acre Hudson Valley landscape, support artists and some of their most ambitious works, and offer a unique place where art, nature, and people come together.

Futher records were set by:

• Jammie Holmes with Blue Apron, $47,500

• Vaughn Spann with I grew an extra head to watch over my brother (The Middle of Nowhere), $187,500
• Joel Mesler, Untitled (One Day at a Time), $87,500