Despite record-breaking results for four women artists, Phillips’s evening auction in New York sparks few fireworks

There were few surprises to be had at Phillips’s evening sale of modern and contemporary art in New York on Tuesday (13 May). After four works were withdrawn before the sale, 36 lots went under the hammer with a total pre-sale estimate of $45.3m to $65.8m (estimates are calculated without fees). The total hammer price for the night of $44.2m came in just under that low estimate, totalling $52m when fees are included—nearly the exact same outcome as Phillips’s corresponding sale last November. And, just like that autumn sale, five lots failed to sell. The total take marked a substantial drop from the equivalent sale one year ago, which brought in a hammer total of $72.3m ($86.2m with fees).

Even so, the sale began with a resounding success. The first lot was a painting by Yu Nishimara, who just opened a solo exhibition at David Zwirner’s Upper East Side location last month; marin drive (after the rain) (2017) went for nearly double its high estimate at $220,000 ($279,400 with fees) after a bidding war that had auctioneer Henry Highley calling out “Many hands!” as he struggled to keep track of the highest bidder. Up next was Rainy (1973), a work by the late Austrian painter and sculptor Kiki Kogelnik. With a $280,000 hammer price ($355,600 with fees), the work blew past its $200,000 estimate and notched a new record price for the artist’s work at auction. This sale follows a highly successful solo show at Pace gallery in London in 2024. While Kogelnik’s sci-fi inspired Pop art is quite well known in Austria, the show introduced her work to global audiences.

After a small Alexander Calder work went to an online bidder in Germany for $320,000 ($406,000 with fees, and just below its low estimate), two more records were broken in quick succession. Ilana Savdie’s Imperial diet, y otros demonios (2021) went for $180,000 ($228,600 with fees) after a brief bidding war between online buyers based in Texas and in Lebanon, with the latter winning out. James Turrell’s Ariel (2022) from his Glass series went for $520,000 ($660,400 with fees), a record for the Light and Space artist. And Ed Ruscha’s enormous mountainscape Alvarado to Doheny (1998) hit its low estimate, hammering at $4m ($4.9m with fees).

An untitled 1965 work by Robert Ryman marked the first successful bid from a person in the room. Sporting AirPods and a leather jacket, the collector slipped out of the room after winning the work with a bid of $550,000 ($698,500 with fees).

The ensuing lots were a mixed bag, with some works selling above their estimates and others failing to find buyers at all. Le Corbusier’s Nature morte à la bouteille et au violon from 1943 was the first failure of the night (est $1.5m-$2.5m). George Condo’s Social Media (2017, est $2.5m-$3.5m), Frank Stella’s Ostropol I (1973, est $500,000-$700,000) and Jeff Koons Christ and the Lamb (1988, est $600,000-$800,000) also passed.

However, works by female artists overperformed in quick succession. Grace Hartigan’s The Fourth (1959) sold for $1.3m ($1.6m with fees), more than doubling its low estimate. Olga de Amaral’s Imagen perdida 27 (1996) more than tripled its low estimate, hammering at $920,000 ($1.2m with fees). The 93-year-old Colombian artist is currently the subject of a retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, where more than 50 of her intricately woven textile works are on view. Soon afterwards, Barbara Hepworth’s Modernist sculpture Vertical form (St. Ives) (1969) also surpassed its high estimate to hammer at $360,000 ($457,200 with fees). Rounding off this winning streak was the sale of Danielle McKinney’s To Pretend (2020), an oil painting depicting a Black woman in a blue and white striped shirt eating a watermelon, for $90,000 ($120,650 with fees).

The highlight of the night was the sale of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s large painting Untitled (1984). David Bowie bought the work in 1995 and it had remained in the rockstar’s collection since. After a tense round of bids between clients on the phones and a gentleman on the floor, the man in the room won with a bid of $5.4m ($6.6m with fees). The crowd burst into applause.

An untitled work by Donald Judd composed of ten stainless steel and blue plexiglass boxes executed in 1988 sold below its $4m low estimate for a $3.5m hammer price ($4.3m with fees). A similar work by Judd realised $4.9m ($5.9m with fees) at the equivalent Phillips sale in May 2024. The other Judd on offer last night, Untitled (1981), also underperformed, hammering at $800,000 (just over $1m with fees), well below its $1m low estimate. In the end around 30% of works sold for hammer prices below their low estimates, suggesting that while specialists may have adjusted their estimates to match the stagnant art market and mood of macroeconomic uncertainty, they were perhaps not realistic enough.

At around 6.30pm, just as Richard Prince’s Killer Nurse (2009-10) was put on offer, many audience members got up and left, probably to make their way over to Sotheby’s York Avenue complex for its evening sale of modern art. As patrons streamed out of the room, the remaining eight works of the auction either passed or went for hammer prices below or around their low estimates.

After the sale Phillips’s president for the Americas and worldwide co-head of modern and contemporary art, Jean-Paul Engelen, and Robert Manley, the firm’s deputy chairman and worldwide co-head of modern and contemporary art called the outcome “solid” in a joint statement. They added: “The results reflect the market’s strong appetite for fresh-to-market works with distinguished provenance.”

The sale ended, appropriately, with Ruscha’s The End #81 (2009), which hammered just below its low estimate, at $320,000 ($406,400 with fees).

The week of auctions in New York, however, is far from over. Immediately after last night’s Phillips sale, Sotheby’s auction of modern art was severely hampered when its star lot failed to sell. Phillips is conducting its day sale today (14 May), to be followed by Christie’s evening sale of contemporary art Wednesday night and Sotheby’s three-part auction of post-war and contemporary art—including works from the collection of Daniella Luxembourg and the estate of Barbara Gladstone—on Thursday (15 May).