Contemporary art auction sets records at Christie’s

A Christie’s International auction in New York totaled $133.7 million Wednesday night, the highest ever for Contemporary art, and produced 13 other records for artists at auction. The total, about halfway between the low and high presale estimates, was almost double Tuesday’s $68 million Contemporary art sale at Sotheby’s Holdings Inc.

The top lot was Edward Hopper’s 1965 “Chair Car,” a somber tableau of four isolated figures riding a train in the raking afternoon light. The painting, the first major Hopper to come to auction since 1990, sold to New York’s Berry Hill Galleries for $14 million, $1 million under the unpublished estimate.

The sale’s success was no surprise. For the last few seasons, demand for top-flight Contemporary work has exploded, creating sold-out gallery exhibitions and waves of auction records.

“Sailcloth,” a 1949 cream-colored abstract by Willem de Kooning, sold for $13.1 million, above the high estimate of $12 million. “Untitled,” a dark burgundy 1964 painting by Mark Rothko, matched the high estimate of $10 million.

At Sotheby’s auction, top prices included a $12.6 million price for Andy Warhol’s 1963 portrait of Elizabeth Taylor and $5.2 million for Roy Lichtenstein’s “Blue Nude,” more than double the low estimate. Seven artists, including Andreas Gursky and Kara Walker, attracted their highest prices ever at auction. “John,” a Chuck Close portrait, sold to an unidentified private collector for $4.8 million.