Alexander McQueen’s brilliant posthumous retrospective at the Met continues to draw the crowds. On Sunday, in an effort to beat the heat, I visited the museum and found a two-hour wait to see McQueen’s show. Luckily I had already seen the exhibit in May soon after it opened, and there was plenty else to see. With a touch of line schadenfreude, we took these pics.

The Met recently recently reported that 500,000 visitors have seen the show.

On right: part of wildly long McQueen line at Met Sunday afternoon

Edward J. Dolman, a 27-year Christie’s veteran, has quit the auction business to become executive director of the Qatar Museums Authority.

He will be working for the emir’s daughter, chairperson H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, according to a statement from Christie’s.

Dolman was named Christie’s chairman in 2010 after a decade as CEO. At the time, Christie’s named a new CEO, Steven Murphy. Dolman rose through company ranks, after starting at the London-based auction house in the European furniture department.

Christie’s is a privately held company owned by French magnate Francois Pinault.

By Eric Russ, Art Market Views contributor

Christie’s June 9 antiquities sale failed to match the success of Sotheby’s sale a day earlier. The event included 202 lots, a third of which failed to sell, including many of the highest estimated lots. The sale tallied $10.4 million, towards the lower end of the projected $9 million to $14 million range.

The bright spots included a few Roman works. A Roman bronze head of Hercules, circa 1^st century A.D., exceeded a $50,000 high estimate and sold to a phone bidder for $140,500.  Next followed a Roman marble head of a handsome Apollo, circa late 1^st-early 2^nd Century A.D., which sold for an $902,500, triple the high estimate.

Next  up was a Roman marble head of Venus, circa 1^st-2^nd century A.D., sold to a man in a light red button-down shirt, standing at the back of the room where dealers tend to hover, for $422,500, more than double the high estimate.

The top price was paid for a headless Roman marble statue of Isis, circa 1^st-2^nd Century A.D. which went for $962,500, above the $800,000 high estimate.  She stands, right leg forward, her dress cascading in graceful ripples.

Of thirty Egyptian lots offered, eleven failed to find buyers – a sell through rate consistent with the overall sale.  Key pieces included an Egyptian granite head of an official, dating from the New Kingdom, Late Dynasty XVIII, circa 1400-1390 B.C. selling for $422,500 to a phone bidder. The significant Egyptian works sold well. Echoing the success at Sotheby’s a day earlier.

Cramping the sale total, many of the big lots did not sell, including a Roman marble group depicting Pan and Hermaphrodite, circa 1^st century A.D. Described as “Estimate on Request,” the piece failed to draw interest beyond a single absentee bidder at $1.2 million.

Three of the top ten estimated lots did not find buyers, including a Roman marble Venus, circa 2^nd Century A.D., and a Cypriot limestone portrait head of a queen from the Hellenistic Period, circa 3^rd-2^nd Century B.C.

Roman marble Isis sold for $962,500 at Christie's on June 9, 2011

By Eric Russ, Art Market Views contributor

A marble sarcophagus depicting the rape of Persephone, dating from around 190 A.D. surpassed a $600,000 high estimate at Sotheby’s last week, selling for $1.9 million. The elaborate coffin, emblazoned with a toga-clad procession, was the top lot in a robust $11.3 million sale held June 8. Ninety percent of lots found buyers.

Also popular: a first century 13-inch tall marble head of a pensive, wizened Greek poet, likely Hesiod, estimated to sell for up to $500,000.  Three phone bidders vied for the bearded bust, and all were outbid by a man standing in the back of the salesroom who landed the work for $1.7 million.

The same unidentified buyer’s shopping spree included an Attic red-figured cup depicting a man holding a staff, attributed to the Brygos painter, circa 470 B.C, which made $50,000, topping a $7,000 presale estimate. He also snagged an Attic red-figured column krater with three men and a horse, circa 450 B.C., paying $116,500, more than twice the high estimate.

Both works were among a large collection of Green pottery being sold by New York artists Sideo Fromboluti and Nora Speyer, assembled in the 1960s and 1970s.

A life-size Roman imperial bronze portrait of a head of a man with dramatic eyebrows and wavy hair from the early 2^nd century A.D. sold for $872,500, also more than double a $350,000 high estimate. The buyer was a European private collector, according to Sotheby’s.

Thousand-year-old Egyptian antiquities also showed muscle. The first Egyptian lot in the sale, a perioditite figure of the Horus Falcon, from the 1540 B.C., sold for $266,500. The priciest Egyptian work was an almond-eyed wood mummy mask circa 1075-600 B.C. which sold for $812,500.

The sale’s momentum was capped off by the last lot: a pair of Ottoman vessels—a dish and jug in blues—dating from circa late 16^th/early 17^th Century. Bidding clipped past the $9,000 high estimate, selling for $80,500.

Marble head of a Greek poet sold for $1.7 million at Sotheby's on June 8, 2011

Roman bronze portrait of a man sold for $872,500 at Sotheby's on June 8, 2011

Egyptian wooden mummy mask sold for $812,500 at Sotheby's on June 8, 2011

By Eric Russ, Art Market Views Contributor

Christie’s May 26 Latin American auction pulled in $16.6 million sale last week, led by a tropical 1932 painting by Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias which fetched more than three times the high estimate, selling for $1 million.

The evening started strong with 11 Mexican lots, including established art historical figures such as Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco.

Covarrubias’ wryly titled Offering of Fruits for the Temple, was estimated to sell for more than $200,000 and sold for $1 million to an unnamed Asian buyer. (Asians were active at Sotheby’s the night before, mainly for works by Botero). The painting features a bevy of serene and sensual Balinese women, toting bananas, and other fruit.

Two abstract contemporary artists ranked among the evening’s best sellers. Brazilian artist Adriana Varejao’s 1997 Paisagem II, sold for $542,500, over a $300,000 high estimate, continuing the week’s fervor for Brazilian works of art. Venezuelan artist Jesus Rafael Soto’s dizzying Rond et carre jaune, comprised of yolk-yellow painted wood and metal rods with nylon string, sold for $494,500, above a $220,000 estimate—a record for a sculpture by the artist.

Botero hit a saturation point at Christie’s, on the heels of Sotheby’s Botero blitz. Following a modestly successful 21-lot Botero sale Sotheby’s the night before,  a large oil painting, Colombian Landscape, estimated to go for between $800,000 and $1,200,000, failed to draw any interest and flopped. A pair of large-format Botero paintings, Woman in Front of Mirror (1986) and Homage to Bonnard (1977), sold for $602,500 apiece.

Chilean surrealist Matta, by contrast, had a strong showing, with six of seven lots finding buyers.  His large biomorphic yellow and green oil on canvas, Regard du Germe, generate frisson between a pair of  phone bidders.  The piece finally found its limit at $710,500, nearly double the $400,000 high estimate.  Fellow Chilean Claudio Bravo, represented by two large still-life oil paintings, also did well with combined sales of $797,000.  Together Matta and Bravo accounted for 6.5 percent of the total evening sale.

Miguel Covarrubias "Offering of Fruits for the Temple" sold at Christie's on May 26, 2011 for $1M

Wifredo Lam's "Femme Peignant ses Cheveux" sold at Christie's on May 26, 2011 for $662,500

Fernando Botero's 1986 "Woman in Front of a Mirror" sold at Christie's on May 26 for $602,500

By Eric Russ, Art Market Views Contributor

Sotheby’s Latin American auction totaled $21.7 million on Wednesday night, nearly twice the $12.2 million sold a year ago. It was highest tally achieved for an evening Latin sale at Sotheby’s, according to the house.  (A day sale on Thursday raised the tally to $26.9 million).

On a night when Colombian artist Fernando Botero garnered much of the presale buzz with a separate single-artist sale—the house’s first since 1992—the Brazilians performed with gusto.

The evening consisted of three consecutive sales: modern works from a private collection, the Botero-thon, and a standard “various owner” sale.

“The Botero sale was a bit of a risk,” said Sotheby’s Carmen Melian, head of the Latin department, during the post-sale press conference. While the artist can usually be counted on to perform as predictably as Warhol, nearly a quarter of lots failed to sell.  The sale totaled $7.5 million, with Asian private collectors snagging the three priciest lots, including  a 1992 bronze Man on a Horse, for $1.2 million, an auction record for a Botero bronze.

Bidding gained momentum during the various owner sale. Brazilian sculptor Cildo Meireles’ In-Mensa, a 1982 wooden work, sold for a record $518,500. The buyer was an unnamed South American dealer. The work had been estimated to sell for over $70,000.  A 1965 painted wood white wall sculpture by Brazilian artist Sergio Carmargo, Relief 13/83, sold for $842,500, topping the $600,000 high estimate. The buyer was an anonymous South American private collector. The work hailed from a Swiss collection.

“Brazilians are setting the trend” said New York dealer Henrique Faria, after the sale.  The results were in large part “a direct reflection of the economy,” said Melian.

Other strong results were achieved for abstract Venezuelan work by Alejandro Otero, Jesús Rafael Soto, Gego and Carlos Cruz-Diez who totaled $1,764,500 from phone bidders.

Among evening’s biggest failures was a locket-sized Frida Kahlo self-portrait, estimated to sell for up to $1.2 million.

“A lot of people couldn’t get over the size,” said Melian. Sotheby’s sold the work privately after the auction concluded.

The evening commenced with a fourteen-lot sale from a private collector, which drew buyers from Europe and South America. Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo boosted those results, with four works landing among the evening’s top ten prices. The 1946 Madre Divirtiendo a Su Hijo fetched $1.4 million.  The sale included a pair of paintings by Diego Rivera, who will be featured in a MoMA show this fall. His cubist oil painting, The Old Hamlet, Toledo sold for $992,500, within estimate range.

Sergio Camargo "Relief 13/83" sold for $842,500 at Sotheby's May 25, 2011

Rufino Tamayo 1941 "Madre Divirtiendo a Su Hijo" sold for $1.4M at Sotheby's on May 25, 2011

Fernando Botero 1992 "Man on a Horse" sold for $1.2M at Sotheby's May 25, 2011

Artist registration is open now for the third annual ArtPrize. Part arts festival, part social experiment, part civic project, the event overtakes downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, bringing visitors in the hundreds of thousands.

Designed to be a simple yet transformative experience for both artist and audience, ArtPrize is a platform on which artists can experiment, collaborate, and explore new ideas. Artists have direct access to hundreds of thousands of art lovers, ranging from novice to expert.

Why design an event like this? ArtPrize is founded on the idea that art is important. Contemporary art is too often marginalized, and those who don’t collect often feel they have no meaningful connection to the dialog art generates. ArtPrize sets artists and the public on a collision course. The result is 19 days of chaos, fervent debate, and a lot of fun. Both artists and the public walk away changed.

ArtPrize is unlike any other public art event: the winner is decided by public vote, and any location in the city can host a piece of art. The work is not centrally curated, each of the nearly 200 venues—from art museums to parks to businesses—design their own exhibition and work directly with artists. ArtPrize gives away the largest amount of total prize money of any art competition—$250,000 to the winner, $484,000 total.

Since the first ArtPrize in 2009, nearly 800,000 votes have been cast through text, mobile app and ArtPrize.org. In addition to the public vote, which determines the top ten winners, ArtPrize hosts five Juried Awards which are judged by an international panel of contemporary art experts who award prizes based on the individual criteria of each category—Two-Dimensional, Three-Dimensional, Urban Space, International and Time-Based.

Artists can register through June 16, but are encouraged to enter now as venues make their selections early! ArtPrize 2011 is September 21 to October 9.

Link to story here on AiA website.

Christie’s auctioneer Christopher Burge usually rules the saleroom with an iron gavel. But last night, amid a rousing $301.7 million contemporary art sale, he lost control. For nearly 16 minutes, the auction was hijacked by a pair of dueling collectors, competing for a blue 1963–64 Warhol Self-Portrait, tagged at $20 million to $30 million. Tossing protocol to the wind, the contestants—an anonymous European collector on the phone and a client of private dealer Philippe Ségalot, also on the phone-bid in unorthodox, mind-numbing $100,000 increments, rather than the typical $1 million chunks, as the price tag climbed north of $20 million.

This was the longest bidding battle in recent memory, and Burge’s indulgence suggests Ségalot may have been bidding on behalf one of his most powerful clients, Christie’s owner, François Pinault. In the end, Ségalot bailed and the shooting match terminated as his opponent bid a final $38.4 million for a four-panel portrait that epitomizes Warholian cool.

The sale’s strong result, with 62 of 65 lots finding buyers, was a sharp reversal from a rocky Tuesday night at Sotheby’s. The rival house totaled $128.1 million during a low-energy evening, plagued by overly ambitious estimates and lackluster competition. (Sotheby’s single-owner sale from the estate of dealer Allan Stone had reaped $54.8 million on Monday night). Christie’s sale included 38 lots selling above $1 million, and four bringing in over $20 million. The $301.7 million total was the highest since May 2008.

Dallas mail-order baron Roger Horchow, Miami billionaire Norman Braman and Los Angeles power-collector Michael Ovitz were among last night’s onlookers. “It was a wonderful mix of great art and art market insanity,” said Pace Gallery director Marc Glimcher, who purchased an untitled cream-colored 1962–63 painting by Robert Ryman for $3.4 million.

The story of the evening’s star Warhol began with a housewife from Detroit. In 1964, collector Florence Barron commissioned a self-portrait of the artist, paying the $1,600 fee in installments. The result was a striking four-panel painting of a 36-year-old Warhol wearing sunglasses and a trench coat, his necktie askew, looking deadpan and hammy in a sequence of shots captured in the grainy black and white of a grungy Times Square photo booth. Barron died in 1999, and her heirs were last night’s sellers.

The sale included another marquee Warhol self-portrait, this one a ghostly red and black nine-by-nine-foot painting of the artist wearing a spiky blond wig. The sellers were San Francisco collectors Norah and Norman Stone. Completed in 1986, the year before the artist’s death, the painting was aggressively estimated to sell for up to $40 million. The auction house explained the estimate by comparing the work with a purple version Sotheby’s had sold on behalf of fashion designer Tom Ford in 2010 for $32.6 million. The price wasn’t matched: following a short bidding contest, Jose Mugrabi bought the piece for $27.5 million.

A melodic 1961 crimson and lavender Mark Rothko painting of mysterious origins, Untitled No. 17, was the evening’s other trophy. Touted by Christie’s as a rediscovery, the work was not in David Anfam’s 1998 Rothko catalogue raisonné. Anfam offered a statement authenticating the work prior to the auction. The estimate, pegged at $18 million to $22 million, seemed to take into account the painting’s unclear provenance, but buyers were undeterred. Untitled No. 17 attracted bids from a slew of dealers, including David Nahmad, Christophe Van de Weghe and L & M’s Robert Mnuchin. The buyer, a bespectacled man in the second row, who appeared to be accompanied by German dealer Rafael Jablonka, wound up paying $33.7 million.

The sale achieved five artist auction records, for Richard Diebenkorn, Anselm Kiefer, Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman and Urs Fischer. Sherman’s untitled 1981 photograph fetched a record $3.9 million, topping a $2 million high estimate and becoming the most expensive photograph sold at auction, according to Christie’s. In the work, the artist styles herself as a lovelorn teenage girl, lying on the kitchen floor, clutching a crumpled bit of newspaper.

The Fischer record was achieved with Untitled (Lamp/Bear), previously in the Pinault Collection, and sold last night by the Mugrabi  family. The monumental 24-foot-tall yellow cast-bronze sculpture, on display in the plaza in front of the Seagram Building, was expected to sell for about $10 million, but instead fetched $6.8 million. Fischer’s previous auction record was $1 million, for a 2001 candle like sculpture made of wax.

Link to story on AiA website here.

Andy Warhol’s role as art market Viagra endured at Sotheby’s last night. Four of his canvases, spanning periods and subject matter, ranked among the 10 most expensive in a high-profile evening auction in New York. The priciest was also the largest and earliest: a 1964 panel painting titled Sixteen Jackies, depicting a somber Jacqueline Kennedy in shades of blue and gold. Bidding was tempered. Dealer Jose Mugrabi, who stockpiles Warhols, tossed out a few lowball bids before an anonymous phone bidder prevailed, paying $20.2 million, near the low end of a $20 million to $30 million estimate.

The evening’s other star lot, Jeff Koons’s 1988 porcelain Pink Panther, sold rather anticlimactically for $16.9 million, below the projected $20 million to $30 million range. As part of an aggressive marketing push, Sotheby’s promoted the work with a video conversation about the piece between Koons and Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s worldwide head of contemporary art. The artist is unusual in his willingness to participate in the secondary market sale of his work. The anonymous seller was publisher Benedikt Taschen.

While Koons’s prices have not recovered from the recession, the result was a major jump from the $1.8 million another edition of the lascivious panther entwined with a blond bombshell achieved at Christie’s in 1999. Last night’s anonymous winner had no competition and bought the sculpture through Patti Wong, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia.

“Our estimates were possibly aggressive,” said Meyer in post-sale press conference. Overall the proceedings felt sluggish and the bidding tentative, as buyers rejected inflated price tags. High-profile collectors, including Eli Broad and Stefan Edlis, sat in a packed crowd that seemed fidgety and distracted during the fast-moving sale. Yet in the end, the results revealed stability: 47 lots of 58 sold, totaling $128.1 million, near the low end of a $120.8 million to $171.4 million projected sale range.

It was a good night to be a buyer. “It wasn’t a frenzy, but it still felt solid,” said Philadelphia-based art advisor Michele Quinn, who bought Tom Wesselmann’s Bedroom Painting No. 44 for $1.3 million. Quinn also scooped up Willem de Kooning’s lyrical yellow, red and blue 1986 Untitled VII, for $4.3 million, just over the $4 million low estimate.

(All final sale prices include auction house fees. Estimates do not).

The sale got off to a steady start, stacked with works by in-demand mid-career artists like Rudolf Stingel, Rosemarie Trockel, Jim Hodges and Mike Kelley. The first peak occurred when an atypical Warhol, a 1978 black-and-red abstract painting, Shadow (Red), zoomed past a $900,000 high estimate, selling for $4.8 million amid heated bidding. The artist’s shadow series is one of the few remaining sectors of the Warhol market that has been undervalued, said Sotheby’s experts after the sale. A series of 102 shadow paintings belongs to the Dia Art Foundation

Among the evening’s biggest failures was a 1984 Ed Ruscha painting with the text “Honey . . . . I Twisted Through More Damned Traffic to Get Here,” tagged to sell for more than $3.5 million. Despite the painting’s wit, nod to L.A. car culture, and inclusion in a major 2009 Ruscha traveling show, the work failed to draw any bids. Early, classic Ruschas are more dependable at auction than his later works. Another bad patch saw paintings by Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, Frank Stella and Sam Francis fail to ignite any bidding.

Among strong performers was a trio of Jean Dubuffet paintings from the 1940s and ’50s, from the estate of San Francisco socialite Dodie Rosekrans, which sold above estimates. Mirobolus Blanc, a 1946 childlike depiction of an imperious man in a bowtie, mingled sand, stone, twine and glass with paint to create a richly textured surface. Estimated to sell for over $500,000, the work made $1.4 million.