Andy Warhol’s 10 Days of Fame

The vigorously promoted, lavishly publicized 10-day auction of the late Andy Warhol’s collection came to a sedately spectacular conclusion Tuesday at Sotheby’s.

Die-hard dealers and collectors calmly bought up every single scrap of contemporary art owned by the artist. The final morning session rang up $2.8 million in sales and pushed the auction’s total to $25.3 million.

The 10-day affair was an auction to remember, primarily as a social phenomenon. People traveled long distances to pay big bucks for the rare and the ridiculous--anything that fell into Warhol’s hands or bore his stamp of approval.

While the sale failed to offer something for everyone’s budget, it provided a scene that proved irresistible. On the peak day, April 24 (Sotheby’s first auction ever on a Sunday), 10,000 people attended the sale and exhibition of Warhol’s estate.

During the course of the auction the roster of celebrities included Bianca Jagger, Paloma Picasso, Fran Leibowitz and Sylvester Stallone, with his bodyguards.

Among the Los Angeles contingent were dealers Margo Leavin, Manny Silverman, Fred Hoffman and Marc Richards and such major collectors as Douglas Cramer, Robert Halff and Eli and Edye Broad.

Audiences varied from one sale to another. The crowd included voyeurs and novices, but a proliferation of dealers gave the sales a tone of serious business.

Looking back over the whole auction, John L. Marion, chairman of Sotheby’s, said “the orderliness of the crowd” was the most surprising element.

“It was an event that I will never forget,” Marion said. “Cataloguing 10,000 objects, publishing and marketing a six-volume catalogue, touring an exhibition and managing the largest crowds in the history of auctions made it a great challenge to the auction process.”

Publicity and profit made the effort worthwhile, he said. “There was tremendous interest from all over the world” and, best of all, the affair “brought new collectors into the process.”

“Auctions are free until you raise your hand,” Marion said. “We provide one of the best shows in town.”

Monday’s glittery, ticketed affair drew an overflow crowd of affluent clients. The crowd dwindled Tuesday morning, but bidding never faltered. Though the final sale offered lower-priced items and no masterpieces, many lots commanded two or three times their estimates.

Sotheby’s had estimated that the two sessions would gross between $3.2 million and $4.2 million. Instead, the total was $7.9 million. All but three of the 82 lots of contemporary art reached or exceeded Sotheby’s estimates.

Small works on paper by German artist Joseph Beuys made the most spectacular rise. One sheet valued at $5,000-$6,000 soared to $55,000. Another, estimated at $15,000-$20,000, escalated to $121,000.

A drawing of a foot by Tom Wesselmann shot up to $24,200 from an estimate of $4,000-$5,000. A 5-by-11-inch solid red painting by Yves Klein brought $56,000; it had been estimated at $15,000-$20,000. David Hockney’s drawing of a woman lying on a bed, estimated at $8,000-$10,000, sold for $77,000.

Drawings by Cy Twombly and Claes Oldenburg, transfer prints by Robert Rauschenberg and acrylics by Sam Francis were eagerly snapped up. One surprise purchase was a spare abstraction by Max Bill that brought $88,000, far outstripping its estimate of $8,000-$12,000.

Likenesses of Warhol also did stunningly well in the Monday-night sale. Hockney’s sensitive color-pencil portrait, estimated at $60,000-$80,000, fetched $330,000. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s double portrait of himself and Warhol zoomed past its $10,000-$15,000 estimate, finally bringing down the gavel at $99,000.

Sotheby’s had grouped the 10,000 items in Warhol’s collection in 2,526 lots and divided them into six categories. All but one of them--American Indian art--doubled the auction house’s estimates. Two groups--contemporary art and jewelry and watches--completely sold out.

The other Warhol sales also resulted in impressive figures: $5.3 million for Art Nouveau and Art Deco material; $2 million for a mixed bag of collectibles, jewelry, furniture, decorations and paintings; $1.7 million for jewelry and watches; $879,247 for American Indian objects; $7.5 million for Americana and paintings, drawings and prints.

Only 78 lots in the entire 10-day auction failed to sell, and there seemed to be no pattern to the rejected pieces. Said Sotheby’s Marion: “I guess people just got tired.”