Rothko painting breaks record at Christie's

NEW YORK - A Christie's sale of post-war and contemporary art met its advance billing as the biggest auction of its kind, with a Mark Rothko oil painting setting a new world record of US$22.4 million ($32.8 million) for any post-war work at auction.

New marks were also set for artists Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon and several others, as the auction house achieved the highest total for the increasingly lucrative post-war and contemporary market, selling US$157.4 million. That exceeded the presale high-end estimate of US$145 million.

Christie's honorary chairman Christopher Burge, who served as the evening's auctioneer, said the bidding at all price levels was "incredibly buoyant."

"We had a record number of records," Burge said.

The sale included 18 new records among the 40 artists included in the sale. Rothko sets records for both his painting and a work on paper.

Only four of the 70 lots on offer failed to sell.

Christie's had said before the auction that it anticipated a high total sale because an unusual amount of high-quality art had come onto the market, and said afterward the strong prices reflected a "very broad and deep market".

The sale's star was Rothko's 1954 oil-on-canvas "Homage to Matisse". It was the only abstract-expressionist piece by the artist, who died in 1970, to carry a title.

The large-scale work consisted of contrasting monolithic blocks in red, yellow and blue. Its sale price of US$22.4 million included the auction house's commission, beating its high estimate of US$20 million.

It also eclipsed the old mark for a Rothko by more than US$5 million, as well as that of any post-war work by nearly US$2 million.

Lichtenstein's "In the Car," sold for US$16.2 million, beating the high estimate of US$15 million and the old record for a Lichtenstein of US$7.16 million, set in 2002. The painting was offered by the late pop artist's son, Mitchell.

The third-highest priced item was a Willem de Kooning untitled work from 1977, which fell well short of the artist's record of US$20.7 million and sold for US$10.66 million, far above the high estimate of US$6 million.

Bacon's "Study for a Pope I" saw yet another artist's mark fall, fetching US$10.1 million.

More records fell when works by David Smith, Elizabeth Peyton, Hans Hofmann, Robert Indiana, Richard Prince, Gilbert & George, Christopher Wool, Robert Smithson, Walter de Maria, Alice Neel, Bill Viola and Kiki Smith hit the block. New marks were also set for works on paper by Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha and Rothko.

- REUTERS