During this season’s Marquee Week New York, Sotheby’s The Macklowe Collection Sale on 16 May was a historic night. American real estate tycoon, Harry Macklowe's high-profile divorce from his former wife released their blue-chip Modern and Contemporary Art Collection on the market.
As the second part of the Macklowe Collection Sale, all 30 lots offered were sold in a white-glove sale – achieving a sale total of US$246 million dollars. The sale’s most expensive painting was Rothko’s abstract chef-d’oeuvre, Untitled, which fetched US$48 million dollars.
In addition to the US$676 million dollars garnered in the first sale in November 2021, the combined total of the two Macklowe Collection Sales achieved US$922 million dollars. It became the most valuable art collection in auction history – its sale total surpassed The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller Sale at Christie’s New York in 2018.
Harry and Linda
The second Macklowe Collection Sale saw a fully packed audience
Harry Macklowe is an American tycoon, with investments in real estate development in New York. At its peak, his net worth was as high as US$2 billion dollars. In 2016, his former wife, Linda, filed to divorce after 50 years of marriage.
The Collection of Harry and Linda were put up for auction, because the two parties failed to agree on the valuation of most of the art collection in the divorce case. A judge in New York ordered the sale of the Collection and to split the proceeds. After fierce competition with its main rival, the artworks were ultimately consigned to Sotheby's.
Rothko's Untitled (left) and Giacometti's Stele II (right) was part of the Macklowe Collection's second sale, and exhibited in Hong Kong earlier this year
Rothko's No. 7 (centre right) was part of the Macklowe Collection's first sale, and exhibited in Hong Kong in 2021
The last time a private art collection with such magnitude was auctioned was The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller Sale in 2018. At the time, Christie's held a wide range of auctions for the third generation of the Rockefeller family – David (1915-2017) . They featured Western Masters such as Picasso, Monet and Matisse. In the end, it achieved US$835 million dollars in total.
As for the 65 works as part of the Macklowe Collection, they were auctioned at Sotheby's in November 2021 and on 16 May 2022. All lots were guaranteed by the international auction house or a third party. In the end, all lots were sold, which resulted in two white-glove auctions with a sale total of US$898 million dollars – surpassing the Rockefeller Collection Sale to become the most expensive art collection in auction history.
Click here for the first part of The Macklowe Collection Sale article.
Lot 8 | Mark Rothko | Untitled, Oil on canvas
Created in 1960
178.4 x 189.2 cm
Provenance:
- Estate of the artist
- Pace Gallery, New York
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in June 1983
Estimate: US$35,000,000 – 50,000,000
Hammer Price: US$41,500,000
Sold: US$48,008,000
In the first sale during November 2021, Rothko's No. 7 painting (1951) performed the most brilliantly – which sold for US$82.4 million dollars. In this second sale, another work by the American artist was the most expensive lot once again.
The auctioneer, Oliver Barker, started the bidding at US$30 million dollars. There were two main telephone bidders through Patti Wong, Sotheby's Chairman of Asia; and Gregoire Billault, Chairman of Contemporary Art Department, New York. The hammer was dropped at US$41.5 million dollars, and the winning bid was by Billault for his client with paddle number 589. In the end, the painting fetched US$48 million dollars with buyer’s premium.
Mark Rothko's Untitled painting was competed between Gregoire Billault (left) and Patti Wong (right)
Both Untitled and No. 7 are Rothko's iconic rectangular colour field paintings. The bright, vivid colours of the 1950s were replaced by a darker colour palette as seen in this present painting – using deep red, purple and blue hues.
This work is one of 19 paintings by Rothko created in 1960 which were exhibited. Nearly half of which reside in Museum Collections – such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Lot 5 | Gerhard Richter | Seestuck (Seascape), Oil on canvas
Created in 1975
199.4 x 300.4 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Cologne
- Private Collection, Switzerland
- Galerie Art Focus, Zurich
- Private Collection, Seoul
- Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in June 1998
Estimate: US$25,000,000 – 35,000,000
Hammer Price: US$26,000,000
Sold: US$30,198,000
David Galperin with the winning bid
Richter created a series of Photo Paintings based on real-life images
The sale's second most expensive lot was Richter's Seestuck (Seascape) painting. The bidding started at US$20 million dollars. After more than 5 bids, the hammer was dropped at US$26 million dollars. The winning bid was by David Galperin, Head of Contemporary Art Department, Americas; for his client with paddle number 47. In the end, the painting garnered US$30.1 million dollars with buyer’s premium.
Drawing on his concurrent photography practice, Richter based his Seascapes on source images from his own archive – but through his remarkable painterly prowess pushes the horizon further into transcendent abstraction. One of four 2- by 3-metre canvases depicting this subject, all of which were created in 1975 and are housed in prominent private collections worldwide –including the Froehlich Collection in Stuttgart. This group of works straddles the readily drawn schism separating Richter’s abstract works from the hyperreal Photo Paintings.
Inspired by German Romanticist painter, Caspar David Friedrich; this present work captures Richter’s fascination with clouds and seascapes. Drawing on his concurrent photography practice, Richter bases his Seascapes on source images from his own archive, but through his remarkable painterly prowess pushes the horizon further into transcendent abstraction.
This work is one of more than 20 series of paintings by Richter created between the late 1960s and 1990s. Nearly half of them were exhibited in prominent institutional collections – such as Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris; and the National Gallery, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Lot 12 | Andy Warhol | Self Portrait, Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas
Created in 1986
203.2 x 203.5 cm
Provenance:
- Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in April 1989
Estimate: US$15,000,000 – 20,000,000
Hammer Price: US$16,000,000
Sold: US$18,708,500
Yasuaki Ishizaka with the winning bid
The sale's third most valuable lot was Warhol's Self Portrait. The bidding started at US$12.5 million dollars. After more than 5 bids, the hammer was dropped at US$16 million dollars. The winning bid was by Yasuaki Ishizaka, Chairman, Japan; for his client with paddle number 41. In the end, the painting netted US$18.7 million dollars with buyer’s premium.
One of Warhol’s last works, it was part of his Fright Wig painting series. Despite being one of the most famous artists of his time, Warhol remained a private individual – shielded by the characters he played and the masks he wore. Other self-portraits of similar size from the Fright Wig series are collected by various prestigious institutional collections around the world – including the Tate Gallery, London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh.
As for this self-portrait, it was exhibited twice at the Anthony d’Offay Gallery in London. The first time was in the 1986 exhibition, Self-Portraits; while the second time was in the 1996 exhibition, Vanitas: Skulls and Self Portraits, 1976-1986.
Other highlight lots:
Lot 9 | Willem de Kooning | Untitled, Oil on canvas
Created in 1961
203.2 x 178.1 cm
Provenance:
- Modarco S.A. Collection, Geneva (acquired from the artist in 1973)
- M. Knoedler & Co., New York
- Private Collection, New York
- Pace Gallery, New York
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1983
Estimate: US$7,000,000 – 10,000,000
Hammer Price: US$15,200,000
Sold: US$17,789,300
Lot 7 | Cy Twombly | Synopsis of a Battle, Oil based house paint and wax crayon on canvas
Created in 1968
128.3 by 149.2 cm
Provenance:
- Sergio Tosi, Milan
- Rachel Adler, Caracas
- James Goodman, New York
- Galerie Folker Skulima, Berlin / The Mayor Gallery, London
- O.K. Harris, New York
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in January 1979
Estimate: US$12,000,000 – 18,000,000
Hammer Price: US$13,000,000
Sold: US$15,261,500
Lot 6 | Robert Ryman | Swift, Oil on canvas
Created in 2002
213.4 x 213.4 cm
Provenance:
- PaceWildenstein, New York
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in October 2003
Estimate: US$8,000,000 – 12,000,000
Hammer Price: US$9,000,000
Sold: US$10,665,500
Lot 16 | Willem de Kooning | Untitled XIII, Oil on canvas
Created in 1984
177.8 by 203.2 cm
Provenance:
- Anthony d’Offay, London
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in April 1987
Estimate: US$7,000,000 – 10,000,000
Hammer Price: US$7,550,000
Sold: US$8,999,450
Lot 20 | Alberto Giacometti | Stele II, Bronze
Created in 1961
Height: 165.3 cm
Provenance:
- Galerie Maeght, Paris
- Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris
- Eleonor Bruce, Huttington, New York (acquired in February 1960)
- Mr. and Mrs. Louis D. Cohen, New York (sold: Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, October 23, 1974, Lot 265)
- Sidney Janis Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale)
- Acquired from the above by the present owner, on January 19, 1983
Estimate: US$7,000,000 – 10,000,000
Hammer Price: US$7,200,000
Sold: US$8,597,300
Lot 18 | Mark Grotjahn | Untitled (Side Swiped and Carved Face 41.32), Oil on cardboard mounted on linen
Created 2009-2010
269.9 by 179.1 cm
Provenance:
- Anton Kern Gallery, New York
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in April 2011
Estimate: US$6,000,000 – 8,000,000
Hammer Price: US$6,800,000
Sold: US$7,500,000
Lot 11 | Brice Marden | Elements IV, Oil on canvas; in eight parts
Created in 1983-1984
214 by 184.2 cm
Provenance:
- Pace Gallery, New York
- Acquired by the present owner from the above in March 1985
Estimate: US$6,000,000 – 8,000,000
Hammer Price: US$6,200,000
Sold: US$7,001,800
Auction Details:
Auction House: Sotheby’s New York
Sale: The Macklowe Collection
Date: 16 May 2022
Number of lots: 30
Sold: 30
Sale Rate: 100%
Sale Total: US$246,057,550