FALL ART AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS: ELVIS, MARLON, INKJET, SCRIBBLES & $100 MILLION CHARIOT

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 byAlberto 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 millionwhich 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 from just 8 years ago is estimated at $4-6 million. His work came to auction first 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.

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

Alberto Giacometti, 1951-52, Chariot, est. $100 million

Vincent Van Gogh, 1890, Still Life, Vase With Daisies and Poppies, est. $30-50 million

Pablo Picasso, 1969, Homme Assis, est. $8-12 million

Alexander Calder, Blue Flower, Perforated Red, est. $2.5-3.5 million

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1994, est. $15-20 million

Christopher Wool, Untitled, 1990, est. $12-18 million

Jeff Koons, Balloon Monkey (orange) 2014, est. $20-30 million