The Contemporary Art auctions were led by Barkley Hendricks’s portrait of Jackie Cameron Jackie Sha-la-la (Jackie Cameron). The painting from 1975 epitomizes the most celebrated elements of Barkley’s career – technical mastery, narrative specificity, and an inimitable aura. A portion of the proceeds from the sale will benefit Art for Guernsey's BLM exhibition and Artist in Residence program.

Helen Frankenthaler
Giant Step
1975
Estimate $1.2/1.8 million
Sold for $2.4 million

Helen Frankenthaler’s monumental Giant Step is a dramatic tour-de-force from the artist’s most celebrated period of production. Frankenthaler’s thirteen-foot masterpiece is distinguished by its inclusion in a number of the most significant exhibitions of Frankenthaler's career, most notably as the centerpiece in the artist's lauded 1975 show at Andre Emmerich Gallery in New York and in her highly acclaimed 1978 retrospective at Bennington College in Vermont.

Fernando Botero
Leda and the Swan
Conceived in 1996, Cast in 2018
Estimate $1.2/1.8 million
Sold for $2.4 million

Works by Fernando Botero also brought strong prices across both sales. A masterful play of volumes on a monumental scale, Fernando Botero’s Leda and the Swan is an iconic example of the artist’s mature sculptural practice. In the present work, Botero places himself in dialogue with the vast canon of Western art history, adapting a celebrated subject from Classical antiquity.

Wayne Thiebaud
Single Triple Decker
2004
Estimate $1.5/2 million
Sold for $2.3 million

Following Sotheby’s record-breaking sale of Wayne Thiebaud’s Encased Cakes in our Contemporary Art Evening Auction last November, the artist’s Single Triple Decker achieved $2.3 million in our Contemporary Art Day live auction, just two days after his 100th birthday. An exquisite example of the celebrated artist’s most mouthwatering and iconic paintings of sweet treats, the present work endures as a powerful tribute to the cultural consciousness of modern America. Recurring throughout Thiebaud's oeuvre, the ice cream motif is represented in many of his most iconic works, repeatedly enticing the viewer to enjoy the tantalizing dessert.  

Betye Saar
ABCD Education
2001
Estimate $20/30,000
Sold for $81,900

Works by Betye Saar achieved multiples of their high estimates and set a world auction record for the artist in our Contemporary Art Day online auction. Saar’s ABCD Education achieved $81,900 - more than 2x its $30,000 high estimate, followed by Honey, which achieved $44,100 - nearly 3x its $15,000 high estimate. An exhibition of the artist’s work titled ‘Betye Saar: Call and Response’ is now on view at The Morgan Library and Museum in New York.
Scott Niichel, Co-Head Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department in New York, and Head of Day Sale, commented: “We are absolutely thrilled with the results from yesterday’s auction, which set a new record for an online sale at Sotheby’s. We were especially proud to see strong interest across the many private collections on offer, in particular the collections of Sandra Moss, Audrey Zauderer and John Richardson, which not only exceeded their high estimates, but were 100% sold. Their results further signal that the top end, fresh to market private material will continue to find a place in our online sales. Among the works emerging from world-class museums, we were particularly honored to be entrusted with paintings and works on paper from the Brooklyn Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which also went 100% sold. Sculpture by the most recognizable artists of the 20th century in the form of Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, and Henri Matisse, also performed exceptionally well – most clearly evidenced by the result for Salvador Dali’s Surrealist masterpiece Untitled (Le Pain et le vin) – which achieved the third highest price for a sculpture by the artist at auction.”

Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer
Paysage montagneux
1912
Estimate $150/250,000
Sold for $2 million
RECORD FOR THE ARTIST AT AUCTION

The sale was led by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer’s monumental work, Paysage montagneux, which soared to $2 million after competition from six bidders – shattering its pre-sale high estimate by more than 8x and establishing a new auction record for the artist. Painted in 1912, the Symbolist artist depicts an alpine lake, shrouded in a misty haze of clouds but illuminated by the pink light of dusk or dawn. Pine trees along the shore are reflected in the mirror-calm lake, as are the jagged snow-capped cliffs seen at the top of the composition. The saturated, candy-color hues and mystical atmosphere of the work define Paysage montagneux as one of Lévy-Dhurmer’s distinctive compositions. The work first appeared in the collection of successful industrialist and engineer Auguste Rateau (1863-1930), and was offered in yesterday’s sale from the collection of John Richardson, the renowned art historian and award-winning biographer of Pablo Picasso.

Edgar Degas
Femme debout et vue de face agrafant son corset
Circa 1883
Estimate $1.2/1.8 million
Sold for $1.4 million