The World Is Open
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.

As an extraordinary offering of contemporary paintings was hammered down at Christie’s Tuesday night — setting 16 records in the process — it occurred to us that we live in a wonderful world here in New York. It used to be that auctions of great art were a rarified event, open only to the super rich. Today, it is possible for any New Yorker with a computer to go on the World Wide Web and watch a broadcast of the live auction at Christie’s as it is happening, to then go to The New York Sun’s own live blog of the auctions and follow results, and then read thoughtful coverage and analysis in the morning paper. For those who love great art, it’s a moment to savor.
The sale at Christie’s saw six records fall within the first half hour, as our Marion Maneker reported in yesterday’s Sun. Records set in the evening included: Lucian Freud’s “Ib and Her Husband” for $19.3 million; Thomas Struth’s “Pantheon, Rome” at $1.04 million; Yoshitomo Nara’s “Princess of Snooze” at $1.49 million; and Rudolph Stingel’s untitled work at $1.21 million. But, Mr. Maneker reported, the most electric moment of the evening came early on when Richard Prince’s “Piney Woods Nurse” far exceeded the previous record price for his work — $2.5 million — to sell for $6.08 million. And then there was the Andy Warhol portrait of Muhammad Ali that, though estimated at between $2 million and $3 million, got hammered down for $9.22 million.
Last night, all eyes turned to the auction room at Sotheby’s — and the live blogs of the event — when its lots of postwar and contemporary art went under the hammer. What we love about all this is not so much the fact that records might be set. After all, they might not be set; Sotheby’s had an off night at its auction of Impressionist and Modern art last week. What we enjoy about the moment is the openness, the transparency that’s accentuated with the auction process is combined with the reach of the World Wide Web. And the excitement (and astonishing value) that can be created when one genius sits before a piece of blank canvas with a few tubes of paint, a brush, and the boundlessness of the human imagination.