The ultra-high-end art market, which has shrunk somewhat in recent years, is once again heating up.T..

The biggest issue at the auction was by Jackson Pollock and Constantine Brancusi. Both works were highly anticipated, with a pre-auction estimate of $100 million.

Jackson Pollock’s “Number 7A, 1948” was sold for $181.2 million (about 270 billion won) as an 11-foot masterpiece featuring Pollock’s unique technique of scattering paint on the canvas. This is a writer’s record high, easily exceeding the $61.2 million recorded by “Number 17, 1951” in 2021. After seven minutes of intense competition, an anonymous telephone bidder became the new owner of the work, which made Pollock proudly on the “nine-digit (more than $100 million) club” along with Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso.

Constantine Brancusi’s “Danäde” (1913) is a 28-cm-tall gilt-bronze bust and sold for $108 million (about 162.6 billion won). This is also a record that broke the artist’s highest price ($71.2 million) set by other bronze works eight years ago.

The title of the work is derived from Greek mythology. Daideh was the daughter of the Libyan king, who was forced to marry the king’s nephew, but killed her husbands on the night of their wedding.

To highlight the value of this work, Christie’s side engaged in aggressive marketing, such as producing advertisements using actor Nicole Kidman. For Brancusi’s work, he set up a temple-like space and invited Kidman to film an advertising video dancing around the oval face of Marguerite Pogany, Brancusi’s Hungarian girlfriend at the time.

Divide and sell to create a new trend

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Both Pollock and Brancusi’s masterpieces were in the collection of S.I. Newhouse Jr., publisher of Condé Nast, who died in 2017. Condenast owns Vogue magazine and New Yorker magazine.

Of note is Newhouse Estate’s unique split sale strategy. Unlike Paul Allen’s $1.6 billion collection, which heated up 2022, which sold off in just two days, Newhouse worked with art advisor Tobias Meyer on a strategy to present the works sequentially while keeping an eye on market conditions.

The auction was its third and largest sale, with a total sales of $630.8 million, well above original expectations. As a result, the accumulated auction revenue of the Newhouse Collection exceeded $1 billion. “This method requires patience from sellers, but it is an efficient model for auction houses to focus more on individual works and attract many bidders,” Christie’s expert Max Carter said.

A revival of 20th century art? Picasso and Roscoe propaganda

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In addition to the New House Collection, works by contemporary art masters were sold at high prices at the 20th-century art evening sale.

Three works showing Pablo Picasso’s artistic transition were very popular. The 1909 bronze bust Fernande was sold for $48.4 million, the 1907 Women’s Head, which is a preparation for Avignon’s Maidens, was sold for $14.4 million, far exceeding the estimate, and the 1913 Cubism masterpiece Man with a Gertrude Stein’s was sold for $41 million.

Mark Rothko’s 1964 work “No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe,” presented by art collector Agnes Gund, was sold for $98.4 million (W148 billion), beating the $80 million estimate. This is a record that broke Roscoe’s previous high of $85.8 million set in Sotheby’s a few days ago.

Newhouse was fascinated by masters such as Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, and Jasper Johns, but according to experts, he often valued historical significance over bright colors and traditional beauty. “These pieces are not just trophies to look at,” said David Norman, an art adviser who did not have direct collaboration with the Newhouse family. “They are works that serious collectors would have, and they contain deep meaning and art history.”