The highest-estimated lot of the Spring auction season – a bronze bust by Alberto Giacometti – went unsold at Sotheby’s New York on 13 May, highlighting market caution around trophy works amid ongoing financial uncertainty and renewed tariff concerns.
Titled Grande tête mince, the 1955 sculpture depicts the artist’s younger brother, Diego, and carried an on-request estimate of US$70 million. But after opening at US$59 million, auctioneer Oliver Barker’s efforts to coax interest – including a series of chandelier bids – were met with silence. After four tense minutes, the gavel came down at US$64.2 million, and the lot was passed. Proceeds were intended to benefit charitable causes.
The seller was the Soloviev Foundation, established by Stefan Soloviev, son of the late New York real estate magnate and mega-collector Sheldon Solow. Unlike most high-value consignments today, the work was offered without a financial guarantee – an arrangement in which either the auction house or a third party agrees in advance to bid, ensuring the work sells even if no new bidders emerge.
The original owner of the work, Solow – widely regarded as one of the foremost Giacometti collectors, at one point owning at least four of the artist’s most iconic sculptures – was known for taking calculated risks at auction. Rather than accept guarantees, he often negotiated enhanced-hammer agreements: deals that entitled him to a share of the auction house’s commission if the final price exceeded a certain threshold.
Oliver Barker, Chairman of Sotheby's Europe, auctioneering the sale
Lot 17 | Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966) | Grande tête mince, painted bronze | Property of the Soloviev Foundation
Conceived in 1954 and cast in 1955 by Susse Fondeur
Cast in an edition of 6 during Giacometti’s lifetime, this unnumbered bronze is believed to be the only painted cast, making it unique
Height: 65.4 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Maeght, Paris (acquired directly from the artist and on loan to the Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence 1964-80)
- Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above on 12 September 1980)
- Acquired by descent from the above by the present owner
Estimate upon request (Expected to sell in excess of US$70 million)
Unsold
An embodiment of existentialist ideals during the war years, Giacometti’s totemic sculptures of elongated human figures have long been considered crown jewels in high-end collecting circles. He holds the top three auction records for sculpture – and remains the only artist to have broken the US$100 million mark in the category:
- Pointing Man (1947) | Sold for US$141.3 million to hedge fund mogul Steve A. Cohen by Sheldon Solow at Christie’s New York in 2015
- Walking Man I (1961) | Sold for US$103.4 million to London-based billionaire Lily Safra by German banking group Commerzbank at Sotheby’s London in 2010
- Chariot (1950) | Sold for US$101 million to Steven A. Cohen by Greek shipowner Alexander Goulandris at Sotheby’s New York in 2014
More recently, Giacometti’s Le Nez has been at the center of an ongoing legal dispute between crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and entertainment mogul David Geffen. Sun purchased the 1947 sculpture at Sotheby’s in 2021 for US$78.4 million, but the piece is now in Geffen’s possession, following what Sun claims as an unauthorized private transaction. In response, Geffen has filed a countersuit, dismissing Sun’s claims as little more than “seller’s remorse.”
Alberto Giacometti | Pointing Man (1947) | Sold for US$141.3 million in 2015 at Christie’s New York (Auction record for a sculpture)
Alberto Giacometti | Walking Man I (1961) | Sold for US$103.4 million in 2010 at Sotheby’s London
Alberto Giacometti | Chariot (1950) | Sold for US$101 million in 2014 Sotheby’s New York
Alberto Giacometti in his Paris studio in 1962
Born in 1901 in Switzerland and based in postwar Paris, Alberto Giacometti became synonymous with existential modernism, his work encapsulating the intellectual anxieties and emotional austerity of the era. His signature tall, knife-thin everyman figures – often walking, standing, or pointing – reflect the fractured psyche of the postwar world. His busts express a similar tension through a different register, conveying psychological depth on a more intimate scale.
Cast in 1955, Grande tête mince portrays Giacometti's younger brother Diego, a fellow sculptor and designer who served as his lifelong muse. Diego first posed for Giacometti in 1914 and worked as his studio assistant from 1929 onward.
The bronze was produced in an edition of six. One example sold for US$53 million at Christie’s in 2010, against an estimate of US$25 million. Another sold for US$50 million at Sotheby’s in 2013, when it was estimated at US$35 million. The Solow-owned cast is believed to be the only one with a “richly painted” surface.
The sculpture was exhibited at the 1956 Venice Biennale and remained on view for nearly two decades at the Fondation Maeght in southern France, before Solow acquired it from Galerie Maeght – Giacometti’s primary dealer – in 1980.
Diege Giacometti in the studio circa 1955
The present lot
The edition Christie's sold for US$53 million in 2010
The Giacometti bust was meant to be the trophy lot of Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction. Its failure to sell, however, amplified broader concerns about the market’s appetite for top-tier works. The sale achieved a hammer total of US$152 million (US$196.2 million with fees), falling short of its pre-sale low estimate of US$240.3 million. Of the 60 lots offered, 10 failed to sell and five were withdrawn, resulting in a sell-through rate of 83%.
Sotheby’s had arranged financial guarantees for 27 lots, all but three of which ultimately sold to their third-party backers. The top lot of the evening was Pablo Picasso’s Homme assis (1969), which brought US$15.1 million with fees, landing within its estimate. Other eight-figure results included a vivid Georgia O’Keeffe flower painting at US$12.9 million and a René Magritte at US$10.4 million. A double-pedestal lamp designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1904 for the Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield, Illinois, sold for US$7.5 million after a 10-minute bidding battle – more than doubling the architect’s previous auction record, set in 2023.
Christie’s, by contrast, posted stronger results the night before, buoyed by a standalone US$272 million sale of the Leonard and Louise Riggio Collection – a major consignment Sotheby’s had also pursued, reportedly in partnership with Pace Gallery. Christie’s secured the collection with more favorable terms, guaranteeing the entire offering, with irrevocable bids on two-thirds of the works – including a US$47.5 million Mondrian and a US$34.9 million Magritte that sold to a third-party backer after receiving a single bid.
Combined with its regular 20th Century Evening Sale, which brought US$217 million with fees and saw all 35 lots sold, Christie’s achieved a total hammer of US$410 million (US$489 million with fees), short of its US$414 million low estimate. Notably, a US$30 million Warhol electric chair painting was withdrawn. Top lots included a US$43 million Monet and a US$37.7 million Rothko from the estate of Anne Bass.
The top three lots sold and a new auction record at Sotheby's Modern Evening Auction:
Lot 38 | Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) | Homme assis, oil and Ripolin on canvas
Executed on 10 December 1969
129.9 x 97.2 cm
Provenance:
- Family of Lola Ruiz Picasso Vilato (the artist's sister)
- Galerie Malingue, Paris
- Private Collection, Beverly Hills (acquired from the above in 1979)
- Sotheby's, New York, 4 November 2014, lot 22 (consigned by the above)
- Private Collection, United States (acquired at the above sale)
- Marisa del Re Gallery, New York
- Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York
- Acquired from the above in May 2017 by the present owner
Estimate: US$12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Hammer Price: US$12,600,000
Sold: US$15,100,000
Lot 42 | Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 - 1986) | Leaves of a Plant, oil on canvas
Executed in 1942
101.6 x 76.2 cm
Provenance:
- Doris Bry, New York
- Private Collection, San Antonio (acquired in 1969)
- Acquired from the above in 1978 by the present owner
Estimate: US$8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Hammer Price: US$10,750,000
Sold: US$12,972,500
Lot 11 | René Magritte (1898 - 1967) | La Traversée difficile, oil on canvas
Executed in 1963
81.3 x 100.2 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Alexandre Iolas, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in 1963)
- Private Collection (acquired from the above circa 1966)
- Renato Casella, Venice (acquired by November 1984)
- Galleria il Milione, Milan
- Acquired from from the above in 1985 by the present owner
Estimate: US$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Hammer Price: US$8,200,000
Sold: US$10,040,000
Lot 36 | Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 - 1959) | An Important Double-Pedestal Lamp for the Susan Lawrence Dana House, Springfield, Illinois, iridized and opalescent glass, brass-plated “colonial” zinc came, bronze (Auction record for the artist)
Designed circa 1903 and executed by the Linden Glass Company, Chicago, Illinois, circa 1904
59.7 x 81.9 x 48.9 cm
Provenance:
- Susan Lawrence Dana, Springfield, Illinois (commissioned directly from Frank Lloyd Wright in 1902)
- Charles and Nanette Thomas, Springfield, Illinois (acquired from the above through the acquisition of the Susan Lawrence Dana House in 1944)
- Payne Thomas (acquired by descent from the above)
- Private Collection (acquired by descent from the above)
- Christie's New York, 10 December 2002, lot 25 (consigned by the above)
- Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
Estimate: US$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Hammer Price: US$6,100,000
Sold: US$7,492,000
Auction Details:
Auction House: Sotheby's New York
Sale: Modern Evening Auction
Date: 13 May
Number of Lots: 60
Sold: 50
Unsold: 10
Sale Rate: 83%
Sale Total: US$196,225,600