Highlights of recent international auction sales

At the height of the recession, buyers felt their money might be safer if socked into soft-focus portraits and pastorals by Impressionists like Edgar Degas. Now collectors are feeling more confident in the art market and have switched to chasing crisp, primary-colored modernist works instead, a news report by Kelly Crow (The Wall Street Journal November 6, 2010) states.

In fact, the biggest lesson from major New York art auctions: Being pretty in a late-1800s way isn't enough to please collectors anymore, it adds. Amedeo Modigliani's portrait of a World War I-era brunette, "Nude Sitting on a Sofa (The Beautiful Romanian)," sold for $69 million at Sotheby's on Tuesday. Fernand Léger's futuristic works from the 1920s also fared well, including "Still Life," which Christie's sold to Monte Carlo dealer David Nahmad for $7.9 million on Wednesday.

Christie's top sale was a 1930 bronze cast by an older standby, Henri Matisse. His hard-edged sculpture of a woman's backside, "Back IV," sold to New York dealer Larry Gagosian for a record $48.8 million. All of this bodes well for next week's round of auctions offering art that's even more modern, specifically works created after 1950.

Impressionist & Modern Evening Sales highlights:
CHRISTIE'S $231,439,500
SOTHEBY'S $227,561,000

Above Estimate
25%/14%

Below Estimate
32%/ 33%

Unsold
20%/25%

Sold / Total
CHRISTIE'S 67 / 84
SOTHEBY'S 46 / 61

High Price
CHRISTIE'S $48,802,500
SOTHEBY'S $68,962,500

Top Ten Prices
• Amedeo Modigliani, Nude Sitting on a Sofa (1917), $68,962,500
• Henri Matisse, Back IV (1930), $48,802,500
• Juan Gris, Violin and Guitar (1913), $28,642,500
• Claude Monet, Water-Lily Pond (1917-19), $24,722,500
• Henri Matisse, Dancer in the Chair... (1942), $20,802,500
• Amedeo Modigliani, Jeanne Hébuterne (1917), $19,122,500
• Joan Miró, The Air (1938), $10,330,500
• Alberto Giacometti, Woman of Venice V (1956), $10,274,500
• Henri Matisse, Two Black Women (1908), $8,482,500
• Fernand Léger, The Teacup (1921), $8,146,500

(Information courtesy: (Kelly Crow; The Wall Street Journal)