Blockbuster Collections Could Deliver More Than $1 Billion at Auction This Spring. For the Major Houses, the Race Is On

The old art-world adage that the “three Ds”—debt, divorce, and
death—are the main forces driving masterpieces to the market is
ringing truer than ever with the spring auction season on the
horizon (perhaps minus the debt). Several art collections estimated
to be worth north of $1 billion combined are expected to hit the
block this year, marking a considerable boost from a fairly
mediocre 2019.

The acrimonious—and at times seemingly endless—divorce
proceedings of real-estate titans Harry and Linda Macklowe has
resulted in the court-ordered sale
of a stunning modern and contemporary collection worth upwards of
$700 million. It took almost a year for the Macklowes to come to an
agreement on a court-approved middleman or “receiver”—far exceeding
the judge’s 45-day deadline—which has given the major auction
houses plenty of time to hone their pitches. Now, observers say,
the collection could be coming to the block as soon as this
May.

On the flip side, the sudden death of longtime patron and avid
art collector Donald Marron, who passed away in December at age 85
from a heart attack, has put his own massive blue-chip collection,
reportedly worth around $450 million, in play. According to Bloomberg,
Marron’s heirs have already invited auction houses to submit bids
for the right to sell the collection.

The recent deaths of other top collectors, including the
92-year-old Denver-based cable television mogul Ginny Williams and the
91-year-old self-taught art expert Hester Diamond, may
push even more blue-chip works toward the auction block this year.
Williams assembled an enviable collection of Modern art headlined
by such female masters as Helen Frankenthaler and Louise Bourgeois;
Diamond started out buying the best of Modernism before switching
to Old Masters.

All of this has made for a furious pace of business-getting
activity at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips, as specialist
teams work to assemble competitive proposals. The stakes are even
higher because recent seasons have offered a relative dearth of
trophies. In fact, in 2019, the sale of works priced $10 million
and up dropped a staggering 35 percent, according to Artnet
Analytics.

It’s not surprising, then, that the likelihood that both the
Macklowe and Marron collections will hit the auction block this
spring has jolted the art world into high alert.

The Race Begins

No one we spoke to appeared concerned about the possibility of
bringing so much “A” material to auction at once. The art-market’s
theory has always been that there will be demand for the best of
the best no matter what.

But if houses have to bid high or make extraordinary guarantees
to secure collections, they’re going to want to bring those
trophies to the block as soon as possible to balance the risk on
their books. “There are probably more guarantee asks in the market
by total value than at any single moment in history,” says Evan
Beard, a managing director of fine art services at Bank of America
Private Bank. He estimates the figure is at least $1 billion.

Another key factor in the rush? The upcoming US presidential
election in November, which several sources said collectors and
auction houses alike want to get ahead of, especially when it comes
to seven- and eight-figure works.

Now, the game is on for market-watchers to predict who will win
the battle for business. Some say Sotheby’s new owner Patrick
Drahi could bid big in an effort to make a splash in his first
major season at the helm. But others suggest that Sotheby’s state
of flux—with ongoing cost-cutting
layoffs and new leadership still finding its footing—could
count as a strike against the auction house, if it even wants to
make a major play for the material at all.

“We know [Christie’s owner François] Pinault and his family have
an appetite for risk on big deals,” observed Michael Plummer,
co-founder of the advisory firm Artvest Partners. “It remains to be
seen whether Drahi has the same kind of appetite. You have to be a
certain type of individual to bet so much on these major sales, and
also, Drahi may have plans to focus his capital on entirely new
businesses, separate and apart from the auctions.”

Some have wondered whether real-estate mogul Harry Macklowe’s
business connection to Phillips might also be a factor. His firm
owns the building that will eventually become their new
headquarters—the same one he infamously draped with
a giant photo banner of himself and his new wife last March.

Is $1 Billion Just The Start?

Last November’s New York auctions at the three major
houses pulled in a combined $1.1
billion. The Macklowe and Marron collections have the potential
to account for that, or more, on their own.

Of the two collections, Macklowe is the easier read, mostly
because so much has been made public as a result of divorce
proceedings. An Andy Warhol Marilyn estimated to
be worth $50 million, nine works by Picasso, a Jackson Pollock
worth up to $35 million, roughly a dozen works by Jeff Koons
(including a $10 million bronze sculpture Vest with
Aqualung), and a $12 million Brice Marden are among
the trophies headed to the block.

In all, there are 165 artworks that New York judge Laura Drager
ordered the couple to divide and sell as their 59-year marriage
came to a bitter end. Last October, Artnet News learned
that veteran art dealer Michael Findlay had been appointed as
receiver of the collection, tasked with overseeing the sale of the
massive trove. In 2015, the year before the Macklowes began
their divorce, Christie’s provided an insurance appraisal of
the entire collection at $937 million.

Though Artnet News understands Findlay retains decision-making
authority with respect to dispersal of the collection, former
Christie’s global chairman of 20th-century art, Laura
Paulson, is helping advise Linda Macklowe. Tobias Meyer, a former
Sotheby’s contemporary specialist who advised on the sale of the
late SI Newhouse’s collection at Christie’s last spring, is
advising Harry Macklowe. As former rainmakers at rival auction
houses, Paulson and Meyer are no strangers to being on opposing
sides.

Harry and Linda also initially hired individual experts to
evaluate the artwork, resulting in appraisals that were often
millions, and sometimes tens of millions, of dollars
apart. According to the Macklowes’ separate valuations in late
2018, the fair market value of the collection could range anywhere
from $625.6 million to $788.7 million.

Inside the Marron Collection

There may be less information publicly available about Marron’s
holdings, but there is plenty of anecdotal and reported buzz about
what the financier acquired over his long collecting career.
Marron, who assembled a corporate collection in the decades he was
involved in finance, was also a generous donor to and former
president of the the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

According to Bloomberg,
stars of the Marron collection include a Picasso portrait of Dora
Maar and a 1957 Mark Rothko canvas. The record for a Picasso
portrait of Dora Maar is $95 million, according to the Artnet Price
Database, set at Sotheby’s in 2006; the record for Rothko from 1957
is $46 million, while the artist’s overall auction record is $86
million.

With too march art to fit in his
Upper East Side apartment, Marron also leased two rooms in the
Fuller Building, according to a remembrance of the
collector by Michael Shnayerson. They housed works by Mark
Bradford, Ellsworth Kelly, Willem de Kooning, Mark Grotjahn,
Gerhard Richter, Brice Marden, Ed Ruscha, Jonas Wood, Albert
Oehlen, Richard Prince, and Laura Owens. The display also included
younger artists Marron was a fan of, such as Christian Marclay,
Djordje Ozbolt, and Harmony Korine.

It is not yet clear how much of this trove will be sold at
auction, and what might be kept by the family or donated to
institutions. Regardless, the competition is well underway.

Additional reporting by Julia Halperin

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Billion at Auction This Spring. For the Major Houses, the Race Is
On appeared first on artnet News.