Colored Lollipops, Seven Suckers, set a record of $4.5 million at Christie's

Wayne Thiebaud
Seven Suckers
oil on canvas
19 x 23 in. (48.3 x 58.4 cm.)
Painted in 1970.
Estimate 1,400,000 - 1,800,000 U.S. dollars
SOLD for 4.5 Million

Wayne Thiebaud retired from full-time teaching in 1990. He lives in Northern California and continues to paint.
Thiebaud's brightly colored lollipops, Seven Suckers, set a record of $4.5 million for the artist tonight at a Christie's International auction in New York.
The sale of works from the collection of the late New York dealer Allan Stone tallied $52.4 million, under the $59.7 million high estimate. Of 71 lots offered, just seven didn't sell. [from Bloomberg]

Matisse Sells for $33.6 Million at Christie's Tonight

The U.S. art market passed its first major test amid the subprime mortgage meltdown, as Christie's International sold $395 million of Impressionist and modern works tonight in New York. [from bloomberg]
The first big sale at Christie’s Impressionist and modern art auction, Matisse’s “L’Odalisque, harmonie bleue,” which sold after an extended bidding war between a telephone bidder and a male bidder in the room. It was estimated to sell for $15-$20 million.

Art Auction Christie’s New York Sept.10

Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled
1982
$1,161,000
Christie’s New York
Sept. 10, 2007

The top lot, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s untitled 1982 acrylic and oil stick on canvas, featuring a skull-like face with a crown on a turbulent background of blues, whites and burgundies. With a presale estimate of $1,200,000-$1,800,000, the painting ultimately sold for $1,160,000, presumably close to its undisclosed reserve. Still, $1,000,000-plus is a good price for a work that some observers thought marginal and haphazard. [from artnet]

"Most of the art press is writing about the sky falling," wrote Josh Baer, "but the art business is very strong. Demand is strong." [from Josh Baer, publisher of the Baer Faxt art-market newsletter]