Single-Owner Sales Dominate a High-Stakes Auction Season in New York
Year round, the major auction houses compete to secure the season’s most valuable consignments. As New York’s November marquee sales approach, they finally announce which major private collections will head to the rostrum. With the great wealth transfer in full swing and a timid market consolidating around masterpieces, autumn has brought with it an unusual density of significant single-owner collections, many offering once-in-a-century opportunities to acquire museum-grade works.
Last week, Christie’s unveiled new highlights from the collection of Agnes Gund, coming to the block in the 21st Century Evening Sale on Nov. 19 to further fund the Gund Art Foundation. The auction house has also secured works from the collection of Antonio Homem Sonnabend, including a monumental Jean-Michel Basquiat painting inspired by Leonardo da Vinci with an estimate in the region of $30 million. Other featured groups come from the collections of Laurence and Wilma (Billie) Tisch, Mickey and Edna Weiss, music executive Clive Davis, Herbert Lust, William I. Koch and an “anonymous” consignor who is widely known to be artist Jeff Koons.
Meanwhile, Sotheby’s revealed the full scope of the storied Blaquier-Arrieta Collection, billed as one of the most important Impressionist and Modern collections ever to come to auction and expected to generate around $450 million. It joins an already substantial roster of single-owner offerings at the auction house this season, including Impressionist and Modern works from the collection of Armand Hammer; approximately 50 works from the collection of Seattle-based philanthropists Richard and Elizabeth Hedreen; and works from the collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum that trace the development of 20th-century creativity through artists including Mark Rothko, Joan Mitchell, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol.
Across its November consignments, Sotheby’s expects to bring in around $1.1 billion in art sales, while Christie’s estimates its marquee sales will achieve in excess of $800 million. Below, we dive into the most valuable collections coming to the block starting on Nov. 16 and the works expected to lead the sales.
