Sotheby’s Surprises Market With Highs and Lows
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art sale last night, already overshadowed in advance by Christie’s much larger sale tonight, still managed to offer a few moments of drama.
A Modigliani painting of a young boy (“Le fils du concierge”), estimated to sell for $14,000,000 to $18,000,000, sold for almost twice the low estimate after fierce bidding. A blonde woman, wearing black with a red scarf knotted around her neck ––and, of course, a cell phone to her ear –– bid repeatedly against a Sotheby’s representative at one of the phone
banks, finally winning the painting. As Sotheby’s auctioneer, Tobias Meyer, looked back and forth between the two, the woman made her bids with only the slightest gesture –– a tiny, sharp nod.
Later in the evening, a small Picasso (“Nu Assis sur Bleu”) sold for almost three times its estimate ($4.328 million, including the buyer’s premium), to the Manhattan dealer David Nahmad, sitting in the first row. Mr. Nahmad also purchased a Modigliani (“Paul Guillaume”) and a Míro (“Peinture”).
Surprisingly, out of 83 lots, 11 went unsold, including some with high estimates, like Monet’s “La Plage à Trouville (estimated to sell for $16.5 million to $20 million) and Picasso’s “Le Sauvetage” (estimated at $12 million to $16 million). In each case, Mr. Meyer did a valiant job of trying to disguise the lack of bids.
Soon after a Chagall estimated at $5 million to $7 million failed to attract bidders, there was a needed moment of levity: A nude by the German Expressionist Erich Heckel emerged on the turntable, but rotated 90 degrees to the right. (It was, in fairness, a difficult pose for the art handlers to parse.) The specialist in charge, David Norman, hopped up and turned it right side up, to much laughter.