What Recession? Giacometti Sets All Time Auction Record

Alberto Giacometti's bronze sculpture L'homme qui marche I set a new world record for fetching the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction, selling for $104.3 million at Sotheby's on February 3. [Credit: AP/Anthony Devlin]

LONDON — After eight minutes of "fast and furious" bidding, a new world record was set at Sotheby's London on Wednesday. An anonymous phone buyer successfully outbid at least nine other potential collectors in the battle for a rare work of art by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti. When it was all over, the once hushed room burst into applause.

The six-foot-tall Giacometti bronze sculpture L'homme qui marche I ("Walking Man I")  sold for a record $104.3 million - the highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction (including the buyer's premium cost). The hammer price achieved was roughly four times the Sotheby's pre-sale estimates. Pablo Picasso's Garcon a la Pipe (Boy With a Pipe), which fetched $104.2 million in 2004, previously held the record.

The life-size Giacometti sculpture was conceived in 1960 and cast a year later. The piece was sold by Commerzbank AG, which inherited the work when it took over Dresdner Bank in 2009.

Other highlights from the Sotheby's sale were Gustav Klimt's Church in Cassone (Landscape with Cypresses), which sold for $43.2 million; Paul Cézanne's Pichet et fruits sur une table, which went for $18.9 million; and Henri Matisse's Femme couchée, which fetched $7 million.

"We are thrilled to have sold these great works...and that they have been recognized for the masterpieces that they are," said Melanie Clore, co-chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art at the auction house.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

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What Recession? Giacometti Sets All Time Auction Record

Top Ten Art Auction Sales of 2009

With only a couple of days remaining in 2009, writers everywhere are compiling all sorts of Top Rankings for the past year, spanning categories from music to movies to art.

This week, Bloomberg published a list of the Top 10 art auction sales for 2009. And although the economy took a turn for the worse this year, these million dollar sales give hope to an already struggling art market.

The Top 10 Art Auction Sales of 2009 (in descending order):

1) Raphael, "Head of a Muse" (1508-11), chalk drawing on paper.

Sold Dec. 8 at Christies, London - $47.6 million.

2) Henri Matisse, "Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose" (1911), oil painting on canvas.
Sold Feb. 23 at Christie's, Paris - $45.6 million.


3) Andy Warhol, "200 One Dollar Bills" (1962), silkscreen ink and pencil on canvas.
Sold Nov. 11 at Sotheby's, New York - $43.8 million.

4) Constantin Brancusi, "Madame L.R. (Portrait de Mme L.R.)" (1914-17), sculpture on wood.
Sold Feb. 23 at Christie's, Paris - $37.1 million.


5) Rembrandt van Rijn, "Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo" (1658), oil painting on canvas.
Sold Dec. 8 at Christie's, London - $32.9 million.


6) Eileen Gray, "Fauteuil aux Dragons" (1917-19), sculpted wood armchair upholstered in leather.
Sold Feb. 24 at Christie's, Paris - $28.1 million.

7) Piet Mondrian, "Composition avec bleu, rouge, jaune et noir" (1922), oil painting on canvas.
Sold Feb. 23 at Christie's, Paris - $27.4 million.

8) Wu Bin, "Eighteen Arhats" (1615), hand scroll in ink and color on paper.
Sold Nov. 24 at Poly International Auction Co., Beijing - $25 million.

9) Alberto Giacometti, "L'homme qui chavire" (1950), painted sculpture in bronze.
Sold Nov. 4 at Sotheby's, New York - $19.4 million.

10) Edgar Degas, "Petite danseuse de quatorze ans" (1881), sculpture in bronze.
Sold Feb. 3 at Sotheby's, London - $19.2 million.

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Top Ten Art Auction Sales of 2009