Freud, Koons Set Records at Christie's N.Y.C. Auction (Update1) 2007-11-14 10:41 (New York) (Adds share-price information in fifth paragraph.) By Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Lucian Freud, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince and nine other artists broke auction records last night at Christie's International in New York, easing concern that an 11- year bull market in art may be ending. U.S. bidders dominated the $325 million auction, the second- largest ever for postwar and contemporary art. The total was in the middle of Christie's estimated range and only five of the 67 lots failed to sell. ``It was a wonderful surprise,'' said Asher Edelman, a New York dealer and one-time corporate raider. ``I was wrong. I had expected a seriously difficult auction.'' Last week, Sotheby's, the world's second-largest auction house, fell short of its low estimate at a sale of Impressionist and modern works, contributing to a 35 percent drop in the company's stock in two days. The Impressionist sale at Christie's, the biggest art seller, was in the middle of its estimated range. Sotheby's holds its contemporary auction this evening. Sotheby's shares rose $1.58, or 4.5 percent, to $36.27 at 10:36 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Christie's top lot last night was a sultry 1955 blue-and- orange canvas by Mark Rothko, ``Untitled,'' which sold for $34.2 million, above the $30 million high estimate. The rally began with a slew of offerings tailored to current tastes for the big and the bright. Chinese paintings sold easily, including Zhang Xiaogang's 1993 ``Bloodline Series: Mother With Three Sons (The Family Portrait).'' The picture of the artist's mother fetched a record $3.96 million, almost double the $2.2 million presale estimate. Prince's Pulp Nurse Richard Prince's drippy red ``Piney Woods Nurse'' (2002), from his series of masked nurses ripped from the pages of pulp fiction, sold for $6.1 million, almost triple the $2.2 million high estimate. Prince's works have been selling all week and, not coincidentally, he has a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum. Freud achieved a record for a 1992 painting of his daughter entwined with her husband. Estimated to sell for up to $20 million, it made $19.4 million. Lucian is a grandson of Sigmund Freud. ``It was the world's shortest recession,'' said New York dealer Marc Glimcher of PaceWildenstein, after the sale. The mood after the sale was one of relief, following last week's poor showing at Sotheby's Impressionist sale. ``I'm stunned,'' dealer Barbara Gladstone said. ``Clearly people wanted to buy.'' Pricey `Liz' A few of the higher-priced lots struggled to reach their presale predictions. A turquoise 1963 Andy Warhol portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor sold for $23.6 million, below its $25 million low estimate. ``Liz,'' sold by British actor Hugh Grant, attracted lackluster bidding from just two contenders, including Alberto Mugrabi, a dealer heavily invested in the artist. Grant bought ``Liz'' for $3.6 million in 2001 at Sotheby's. Christie's Brett Gorvy said before the sale that people may be upset that a celebrity with little art-world experience seemed to be headed for a huge profit. ``Everyone knew what it was bought for,'' dealer Iwan Wirth said. The auction's 10 Warhols raised $70.4 million, accounting for about 22 percent of the tally. Jeweler Laurence Graff, perched in the front row, bought several. Jeff Koons's ``Diamond (Blue),'' a 7-foot-tall stainless- steel sculpture resembling a faceted stone in a setting, sold for $11.8 million. It was a record for the artist even though the price didn't reach the $12 million-$20 million presale estimate. Like the slim bidding for Warhol's ``Liz,'' the Koons attracted just two suitors. Dealer Larry Gagosian, who sold the piece earlier, was the winning bidder. Polishing the `Diamond' Koons's ``Diamond'' sat on the sidewalk outside Christie's Rockefeller Center headquarters before the auction and received frequent cleaning to remove traces of dirt, rain and bird droppings. The massive piece was completed just last year and sold at Gagosian's gallery for about $3.5 million, dealers said. All auction prices include a buyer's premium, or commission, of 25 percent of the hammer price up to $20,000, 20 percent of the price from $20,000 to $500,000, and 12 percent above $500,000. Christie's held the largest-ever auction of postwar and contemporary art in May, totaling $384.7 million. Last night's sale followed the U.S. stock market's biggest one-day rally in almost two months, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 2.5 percent. Sotheby's stock gained 7.2 percent. With 51 lots selling for more than $1 million, the influence of Wall Street's multi-billion-dollar losses linked to subprime home loans wasn't apparent. ``It doesn't look like a lot of these people were holding subprime paper,'' dealer Perry Rubenstein said. (Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff write on the art market for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are their own.) --With reporting by Katya Kazakina in New York. Editors: West (adm). To contact the writers of this story: Lindsay Pollock in New York at lindsaypollock@yahoo.com. Philip Boroff in New York at pboroff@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at +1-212-617-3486 or mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net. [TAGINFO] CHRS LN CN BID US CN NI MUSE NI CULTURE NI LIFENEWS NI ART NI AUCTION NI COLLECT NI SPEND NI LUX NI GEN NI METRO NI NYC NI NY NI US NI UK NI CHINA NI HK #<521010.378786.1.0.65.28612.25># #<285437.3732357.1.0.65.28612.25># -0- Nov/14/2007 15:41 GMT