Art Auction Highlights: Elvis, Marlon, Inkjet, Scribbles and $100 Million Chariot

Wade Guyton Vincent Van Gogh Sothebys Phillips New York Jeff Koons Jasper Johns Francis Bacon Fall auction Elvis Presley Cy Twombly Christopher Wool Christoes Auction record art auctions Art Andy Warhol Alexander Calder

Andy Warhol, 1963, Triple Elvis & Four Marlons, each set. $40-60 million

Wade Guyton, 2006, Untitled, est. $4-6 million

Cy Twombly, 1970, Untitled, est. $35-55 million

Francis Bacon, Seated Figure, 1960, est. $40-60 million

Christie’s & Sotheby’s (and to a somewhat lesser degree, Phillips) auction houses are offering some 2,300 lots during two weeks of sales of Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art. The total is expected to top the $1.8 billion total from last November’s auction but might not hit the $2.2 billion record set in May 2014.

A bronze “chariot” sculpture by Alberto Giacometti from ’51-’52 has been in the same private collection for more than forty years is valued at more than $100 million at Sotheby’s. It’s not a stretch since a Giacometti’s went for $103.4 million in 2010.

Sotheby’s has Van Gogh’s 1890 “Still Life, Vase With Daisies and Poppies” valued at $30-$50 million which has been on view for the past 30 years at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. Edouard Manet’s “Le Printemps,” at Christie’s, estimated at $25-35 million, has also been in the same collection for more than 25 years and on on loan to the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Wade Guyton is a fairly new entry into the “evening auction pantheon”. His untitled inkjet painting by just 8 years ago set is estimated at $4-6 million. His work came to auction first just six years ago, when an untitled inkjet painting sold for $72,500 at Christie’s.

On November 10, Sotheby’s hosts a single sale of oil heiress and philanthropist Bunny Mellon’s art collection, and two paintings by Mark Rothko are estimated to sell for as much as $20-30 million, respectively.

Christie’s November 12 evening auction, among MANY offerings, has two major paintings by Warhol – a 1963 triple screen print of Elvis Presley and a 1966 black and white screen print of Brando on a motorcycle, “Four Marlons.”. Each is more than 6-feet tall and estimated at $60+ million. Francis Bacon’s huge 1960 canvas, part of his series of Papal portraits, is estimated to sell for $40-60 million. Get out your VISA Black Cards, kids.