Art auction market report: October 2019

In October 2019, ArtSell recorded 7,523 auction lots from 30 auction houses, of which 5,206 sold (69% sell-through). The 5,206 sales with a published price total $81,777,082, with a median of $1,810 (USD at the sale-date rate). The top sale was Alex Katz, “Blue Umbrella I”, at $4,144,163 (Phillips). 15 artists set a new high compared with every earlier result in the database.

Lots offered

7,523

30 houses

Sold

5,206

69% sell-through

Total

$82M

5,206 priced sales

Median

$1.8k

priced sales

Top sales

#	Work	Artist	House · date	Price
1	Blue Umbrella I, 1972	Alex Katz	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$4,144,163 (£3,375,000)
2	Beaver Lake, 1998	Hurvin Anderson	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$2,670,683 (£2,175,000)
3	Value 35, 2010	Mark Bradford	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$2,375,987 (£1,935,000)
4	Abstraktes Bild, 1994	Gerhard Richter	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$2,081,291 (£1,695,000)
5	AT THIS TIME, 2013	Kaws	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$1,786,595 (£1,455,000)
6	Maschine, 1993	Thomas Schütte	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$1,491,899 (£1,215,000)
7	UNTITLED, 2014	Kaws	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$1,337,183 (£1,089,000)
8	Untitled, 2012	Rudolf Stingel	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$1,270,877 (£1,035,000)
9	Untitled	Keith Haring	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$1,197,203 (£975,000)
10	Cruella de Vil	Keith Haring	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$1,197,203 (£975,000)
11	Untitled (Bacon), 2005	Zeng Fanzhi	Phillips · Oct 3, 2019	$906,549 (£735,000)
12	The Exorcist, 2007	Luc Tuymans	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$828,833 (£675,000)
13	Untitled, 1996	Anish Kapoor	Phillips · Oct 2, 2019	$698,675 (£569,000)
14	#2, 1964	Wojciech Fangor	Polswiss Art · Oct 8, 2019	$684,639 (PLN 2,700,000)
15	House of Pictures, 2002 - 2003	Peter Doig	Phillips · Oct 3, 2019	$684,537 (£555,000)

Top American artists

Ranked by total of priced sales in the month; region from the artist’s recorded nationality.

Top American artists, October 2019
#	Artist	Total sold	Priced sales	Top result
1	Alex Katz American	$4,319,850	8	Blue Umbrella I — $4,144,163
2	Kaws American	$3,579,292	6	AT THIS TIME — $1,786,595
3	Keith Haring American	$3,155,856	12	Untitled — $1,197,203
4	Rudolf Stingel American	$1,700,642	2	Untitled — $1,270,877
5	Andy Warhol American	$1,489,807	35	Cowboys and Indians — $475,000
6	George Condo American	$1,077,326	4	Untitled — $578,341
7	Ed Ruscha American	$681,969	20	Street Greed — $291,626
8	Jean-Michel Basquiat American	$646,000	2	Portfolio I — $596,000
9	Richard Serra American	$580,746	3	Elevational Weights, Vertical Mass — $548,871
10	John Baldessari American	$576,080	7	Intersection Series: Automobile / High Rise Building — $353,021

Top European artists

Top European artists, October 2019
#	Artist	Total sold	Priced sales	Top result
1	Gerhard Richter German	$3,456,945	12	Abstraktes Bild — $2,081,291
2	Hurvin Anderson British	$2,670,683	1	Beaver Lake — $2,670,683
3	Thomas Schütte German	$1,923,589	2	Maschine — $1,491,899
4	Gio Ponti Italian	$910,005	21	Important executive desk — $247,942
5	Peter Doig Scottish	$847,429	6	House of Pictures — $684,537
6	Wojciech Fangor Polish	$843,671	3	#2 — $684,639
7	Günther Förg German	$843,258	3	Ohne Titel — $431,690
8	Luc Tuymans Belgian	$828,833	1	The Exorcist — $828,833
9	Alighiero Boetti Italian	$780,134	2	Ogni lettera un suono — $548,871
10	Anish Kapoor British	$698,675	1	Untitled — $698,675

New artist records

The artist’s best price this month exceeded every earlier priced result for them in the ArtSell database (artists with at least three earlier priced results).

Artist	Work	Price	Previous high
Alex Katz	Blue Umbrella I Phillips	$4,144,163	$408,306 (220 earlier)
Hurvin Anderson	Beaver Lake Phillips	$2,670,683	$2,365,268 (11 earlier)
Jenny Holzer	Red Yellow Looming Phillips	$534,137	$471,000 (58 earlier)
Robert Mangold	A Curved Line and a Diagonal within a Distorted Rectangle (Yellow) Phillips	$519,402	$30,000 (55 earlier)
Cory Arcangel	Photoshop CS: 110 by 72 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient "Spectrum," mousedown y=31100 x=1500, mouse up y=32850 x=800 Phillips	$399,068	$399,000 (17 earlier)
Pietro Chiesa	Important and rare illuminated drinks cabinet Phillips	$367,914	$106,250 (43 earlier)
Tschabalala Self	Florida Phillips	$337,673	$301,958 (3 earlier)
Yannis Kounellis	Untitled Phillips	$337,673	$224,689 (35 earlier)
Matthew Barney	CREMASTER 1: The Goodyear Waltz Phillips	$262,098	$118,750 (21 earlier)
Hannah Wilke	S.O.S. Starification Object Series (Performalist Self-Portrait with Les Wollam) Phillips	$225,000	$68,750 (6 earlier)
Raoul De Keyser	Kabinet Phillips	$199,534	$62,573 (4 earlier)
Dominik Skutetzky	Obed kotlára SOGA	$133,560	$104,969 (17 earlier)
Ado Chale	'Goutte d’eau' low table Phillips	$111,974	$66,358 (12 earlier)
Ed Moses	Untitled Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)	$100,000	$50,000 (52 earlier)
Venini	Pair of large and rare ceiling lights Phillips	$95,978	$52,388 (36 earlier)

Auction houses this month

Phillips (1,102)Bonhams (605)Van Ham (543)León Gallery (463)Artmark (444)Sworders (432)Twents Veilinghuis (416)Pananti (353)Wright (336)Maison Bibelot (331)Smith & Singer (281)Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA) (268)im Kinsky (236)Agra-Art (230)Pandolfini (185)Strauss & Co (166)deVeres (164)Morgan O'Driscoll (147)Crocker Farm (147)Sopocki Dom Aukcyjny (138)Helmuth Stone Gallery (90)Clarke Auction Gallery (89)Polswiss Art (77)Leonard Joel (76)HAUS Galerii (45)Toovey's (44)SOGA (41)Michaan's Auctions (28)Olympia Auctions (26)Colasanti Casa d'Aste (20)