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[NEWS] Rothko, Warhol, Richter to Lead Second Part of Macklowe Sale at Sotheby’s


February 22, 2022


Mark Rothko, Untitled,, 1960 (Photo by SOTHEBY'S) 




Following a blockbuster $676.1 million sale of works owned by Harry and Linda Macklowe in November that helped kickstart the art market during a mid-pandemic slump, the second half of the divorcing real estate developers’ storied art collection will be sold at Sotheby’s this May. The first sale in Noveber brought in a collosal $676.1m (with fees), against a pre-sale estimate of $439.4m to $618.9m (pre-sale estimates are calculated without fees)—the highest ever total in Sotheby's history. Records were set for Agnes Martin, Jackson Pollock, Robert Irwin and Michael Heizer.


 The auction house will sell 30 additional pieces from the Macklowe collection—including landmark works by Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, and Andy Warhol —at a standalone sale on May 16 in New York that is expected to achieve in the region of US$200 million.



Mark Rothko, Untitled,, 1960 (Photo by SOTHEBY'S) 



 Estimated at $35 million–$50 million, an untitled Rothko painting from 1960 seems poised become one of the most expensive artworks sold at auction this spring. It has never been exhibited publicly. The November Macklowe sale included Rothko’s No. 7, 1951, from a period when the artist’s abstractions were defined by “vibrant contrasting colors” and “experimentation with forms and geometric composition.” Nearly a decade later, in 1960, the artist becomes more introspective, and his color palette becomes “more atmospheric,” Galperin says.  

Sotheby’s chairman and worldwide head of business development for global fine art, Mari-Claudia Jimenez, said the result achieved in the November sale—which far surpassed its $439.4 million estimate—was encouraging. Amid what she described as “a deep market for masterpieces,” Jimenez predicted that this second Macklowe would also exceed expectations.  
 

 

 

 


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