Sotheby's has been selling like a champ in 2007, with a grand total of about $6 billion worth of art at auctions and in private transactions. After falling behind Christie's International in 2006, Sotheby's is now drawing even with its rival, according to Bloomberg.com.  read more »

Nancy Goliger, an executive of creative advertising at Paramount, and Bruce Berman, CEO of Village Roadshow Pictures, have been building a photography collection since 1991 — commissioning emerging artists to travel and take pictures.

Now that they're divorcing, about 500 works by artists including Diane Arbus, William Eggleston and Walker Evans are heading to auction at Christie’s in New York, starting in April.  read more »

Sarah Jessica Parker, Marc Jacobs and Elizabeth Hurley all showed up to the Christie's auction last night, witnessing Andy Warhol's "Liz" painting sell for $23.5 million, according to The New York Times. The 40-inch-square painting, one from a series of 13, originally belonged to Hugh Grant, and will now be passed on to an anonymous bidder.  read more »

With all the hubbub about the Christie's and Sotheby's sales this week, financial folks are keeping an eye on auctions to see if the art market is slowing.

The New York Times reports:  read more »

It's been three years since Sotheby's has been able to match or beat Christie's sales totals. But this season, with all eyes fixed on Sotheby's as never before, the house comes out swinging with two major Francis Bacon canvases, a self-portrait and Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1. In the other corner, there's Christie's Andy Warhol's Liz, estimated at between $25 million and $35 million; Gerhard Richter's Dusenjager, estimated at between $10 million and $15 million; and Lucian Freud's Ib and Her Husband.

The New York Sun reports:

Each house has a monumental Jeff Koons sculpture from his celebration series. Sotheby's has "Hanging Heart," estimated at between $15 million and $20 million; Christie's has "Diamond (blue)," (estimate upon request). Both works are mammoth — too big to be displayed in anything less than a lobby.

Both houses have black-and-gray Rothkos. Sotheby's untitled picture is estimated at between $12 million and $18 million, while Christie's is selling one estimated at between $10 million and $15 million. Each house has additional Rothkos. Sotheby's has a smaller, untitled canvas that is blue-onblue and estimated at between $3.5 million and $4.5 million. Christie's has two more major works in "Untitled (Red, Blue, Orange)," estimated at between $25 million and $30 million, and "No. 7 (Dark Over Light)," estimated at between $20 million and $30 million, and a minor work, "Green, Blue, Green on Blue," estimated at between $3 million and $5 million.

You can watch this week's auctions live on the web here and here.

“L’Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue,” a 1937 Matisse canvas depicting one of the artist’s favorite models lounging in a heavily patterned interior, went for $33.6 million at the Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art auction last night at Rockefeller Center.

The New York Times reports:  read more »

Just dying to know how much those Monets and Picassos are gonna go for tonight at the Christie's Impressionist & Modern Art Auction at Rockefeller Center?! Well, we aren't either but you can watch it, nonetheless, live on the Christie's site starting at 6:30, according to CultureGrrl. We see drinking game potential.

Flush from record-setting May and June sales in New York and London, Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and the boutique house Phillips de Pury assumed that the good times would roll on. But will the art market bubble finally burst this year?

Carol Vogel of The New York Times writes:  read more »

Christie’s New York will show Faces in Art—Iconic Portraiture, a select exhibition of paintings from Rubens’ two intimate studies of a young man and Andy Warhol’s sexy Liz, for just three days, starting today.

Marion Maneker of The New York Sun writes:

A week before the November auctions — which may prove to be among the biggest ever — this Christie's show is a reminder of the art history that is meant to drive this form of conspicuous consumption. "Faces in Art" brings together works from five upcoming sales (Old Masters, Impressionist and Modern, Postwar and Contemporary, Latin American, and Chinese Contemporary) around the theme of portraiture. It has the added benefit of giving those of us who aren't top-tier art collectors the chance to see how the most accomplished collectors approach their art. Mr. Bennett has put aside both his salesman's role and scholar's eye to assemble a fantasy collection — a sort of Rotisserie-league art collection — that a wealthy patron might have put together if they could wander around in Christie's vaults for a few weeks.

• Sotheby's contemporary art whiz Tobias Meyer has bought 54 acres in New Milford, which cost him $1.2 million. The neighborhood gossips will be happy to know that Mr. Meyer's rival at Christie's moved to the area last year. Who owns more land? And will they have an artsy neighborhood turf war? [WSJ]
• Elsewhere in America, November new home sales picked back up after a steep October fall. (And yet the glut of unsold new homes is still much higher than it was last year.) [NY Times]
• What does Joe Blog Reader think will happen in New York's near future? Curbed's comment board has some wonderful prophesies for next year's successes: Long Island City, Williamsburg, Philadelphia, Upper West Side, SoHa and CeHa, Flushing, Flatiron, Financial District, Chinatown, Astoria. And yet two out of four Observer writers agree: Williamsburg is still super uncool. [Curbed]
• CNN is reporting that Trump Mortgage CEO E.J. Ridings badly inflated his resume. Apparently, he wasn't "a top executive at one of Wall Street's most prestigious investment banks," or an "established leader" in mortgages, or a 15-year veteran of the financial industry. Oops. [CNN/Money]
- Max Abelson]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35518#comments Real Estate Christie's International plc Sotheby's Holdings Inc. Tobias Meyer Williamsburg Wed, 27 Dec 2006 11:08:15 -0500 Observer Staff 35518 at http://www.observer.com