Contemporary art sales break new records at Sotheby's, Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

AFP — Sotheby's auction house announced sales of more than 315 million dollars at a late Wednesday auction of contemporary art, hailing a 17-year record after worries that sales would slip due to the weaker US economy.

The sale came 24 hours after a similar auction at rival Christie's totaled 325 million dollars and broke 16 records, according to Christie's honorary chairman Christopher Burge.

Of 71 items up for auction at Sotheby's only six did not find a buyer. Of those sold, more than half exceeded the asking price, said Sotheby's vice president and head of contemporary art Tobias Meyer.

One of two canvases by artist Francis Bacon, "Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1" went for nearly 46 million dollars, including commission, to French art broker Philippe Segalot.

A self-portrait by the same artist went for 29.5 million dollars -- more than 33 million dollars with sales commission -- to a telephone bidder.

Segalot also bought "Shadow," an acrylic on canvas by Andy Warhol for 7.6 million dollars, as well as a Robert Ryman canvas for 4 million dollars.

Buyer Larry Gagosian scooped up one of the stars of the evening -- "Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)" by Jeff Koons, a giant hanging steel heart that went for 23.5 million dollars.

"It's one of the greatest Jeff Koons' pieces. It's the highest price for a living artist," said Burge.

Just the previous evening Gagosian at Christie's bought "Diamond" (Blue), a giant Koons sculpture of an engagement ring, for 11.76 million dollars.

Chinese artists also did well.

The oil canvas "Series 2, No. 6" by Fang Lijun, estimated at between 800,000 and one million dollars, sold instead for four million dollars.

An oil portrait of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong by Yan Pei Ming sold for 1.5 million, also above its initial asking price of 800,000.

And "Three Comrades" by Zhang Xiaogang went for nearly five million dollars with commission, while its initial estimate was at four million dollars.

"We had plenty of bids on Chinese art, from all over the world," said Meyer. "The market has become global, it's a global community," he said.

However Willem de Kooning's "Untitled (Woman)," oil on paper, estimated at between two and three million dollars, did not find a taker.

The evening showed that Sotheby's was on the rebound following a disappointing sale of impressionist and modern art on November 7, which fell short of expectations with works by several major artists failing to find buyers.

Its quarterly report released Friday said the company scored a 20.9 million dollar loss from continuing operations, mainly due to 14.6 million dollars in losses from guarantees for this week's auction made before the quarter's close on September 30.

Stung by the bad sales, Sotheby's saw its share price plunge by 38 percent by last week's end.