NEW YORK, NY.- “Tonight we were pleased to continue the string of successes that we have achieved in the field throughout 2016,” commented Grégoire Billault, Head of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Department in New York. “It was a privilege to offer the collection of the season – that of Steven and Ann Ames – and we were thrilled to deliver exceptional results, led by the top Richter price of the week. We carefully assembled a sale to match the demands of today’s collectors, and the market responded.”

CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING SALE, 17 NOVEMBER 2016
SALE TOTAL: $276,560,750
ESTIMATE: $208,550,000 - 302,350,000
93.8% Sold by Lot
– Fourth Consecutive Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction with an 85%+ Sell-Through Rate
– Artist Records for David Hockney and Njideka Akunyili Crosby Records for Works on Paper by Mark Grotjahn and Mike Kelley

The Steven & Ann Ames Collection featured superb groupings of works by Gerhard Richter and Willem de Kooning:

o Purchased 25 years ago at Sotheby’s New York for $264,000, Gerhard Richter’s A B, Still achieved $33,987,500 (estimate $20/30 million).

o A B, St. James, the only large-scale horizontal abstract by Gerhard Richter still in private hands, sold for $22,737,500 (estimate $20/30 million).

o Willem de Kooning’s Untitled, an oil on canvas from 1976-77, fetched $10,362,500 (estimate $8/12 million).

Other highlights from The Triumph of Painting included:

o Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled (French Grey Fan 10-90% Butterfly with Warm Grey 90% Between) was sought after by four bidders before selling for $1,872,500, an auction record for a work-on-paper by the artist (estimate $600/800,000).

o Jim Hodges’ Untitled (Study for Gate) was chased by five bidders, going on to fetch $1,332,500 (estimate $600/800,000).

ADDITIONAL SALE HIGHLIGHTS

Both works by Andy Warhol offered this evening performed well:

o Self-Portrait (Fright Wig) became the top Warhol price of the week when it sold for $24,425,000, many multiples of the $387,500 it fetched when it last appeared at auction in 1997.

o Lenin, which had been in the same collection since shortly after it was created in 1986, realized $8,112,500, against a $4/6 million estimate.

Jean-Michel Basquiat:

o Brother’s Sausage, made up of six panels, achieved $18,650,000;

o St. Buzzard drew four bidders to sell for $1,692,500, over 17 times the $96,000 it fetched when it last appeared at auction in 1997;

o These results follow a series of strong prices for the artist achieved by Sotheby’s, with Hannibal leading the recent London Frieze Week season, and Infantry topping the most successful sale of western art ever held during a major Hong Kong sale series this October.

Auction records were established for David Hockney and Njideka Akunyili Crosby:

o Ten years after Sotheby’s redefined the market for the artist with The Splash, Woldgate Woods, 24, 25 and 26 October 2006 achieved $11,712,500, nearing the high estimate.

o Making her Contemporary Art Evening Auction debut, Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Drown drew at least 10 bidders, finally selling for $1,092,500 (estimate $200/300,000).