The top lot of the sale was Yves Klein’s Archisponge (RE 11), which brought $21,362,500. Photo: Sotheby's

NEW YORK, NY.- Tonight at Sotheby’s, the Evening sale of Contemporary Art brought $125,131,500 million (est. $202,400,000/ 280,400,000*). The top lot of the sale was Yves Klein’s Archisponge (RE 11), which brought $21,362,500. Artist records were set tonight for Philip Guston, Beggar’s Joys, which achieved $10,162,500; John Currin, Nice ‘N Easy, which realized $5,458,500; and Richard Serra, 12-4-8, which fetched $1,650,000. The sale was 68.2% sold by lot, with 43 of 63 works offered finding buyers.

Tobias Meyer, Worldwide Head of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s and the evening’s auctioneer, said, “Tonight we saw a seasoned, smart collecting community responding to great material at levels that were achievable. The American collecting community bought works of quality with intelligence, for the right price.”

Alex Rotter, Head of the Contemporary Art Department in New York, said, “Tonight, American buyers were the most active, but there was also competitive bidding from Europe. This market has gone up more than 250% in the past two years, and the global financial turmoil obviously has brought a correction. Tonight’s sale, which was put together during the summer in a very different economic environment, brings us back to the levels of the autumn of 2006, when the evening sale also brought $125 million.”

Anthony Grant, International Senior Specialist of Contemporary Art, said, “Tonight we offered great examples from the spectrum of post-war art. After our great success with the spectacular Yves Klein from the Lauffs Collection last May, a Private Collector decided to consign the Klein, and it did not disappoint, selling for over $21 million, not quite reaching the artist record of $23.6 million. We did however set a record for Philip Guston, when Beggar’s Joys brought over $10 million. Guston’s previous record was set in 2005, when The Street sold for $7,296,000. Another important artist record was set for John Currin’s, Nice ‘N Easy, one of the most sought-after lots of the night, which realized $5.5 million. This work was included in the famous Carnegie International 1999/2000 which proved to be a watershed exhibition for the artist.”

Highlighting this evening’s sale was Yves Klein’s Archisponge RE 11 from 1960, the most significant work in the artist’s Relief Eponge series, which sold for $21,362,500. This outstanding price follows closely behind the record set for the artist just last May at Sotheby’s when his gold Monochrome, MG 9, circa 1962, from the Collection of Helga and Walther Lauffs, brought $23,561,000.

A new auction record was achieved this evening for Philip Guston when his rare and important abstract expressionistic painting Beggar’s Joys, from 1954-55, sold for $10,162,500. Beggar’s Joys is a masterpiece from Guston’s first major innovative period in which he moved away from the figurative art of the 1930s toward his unique brand of abstraction in the early 1950s. Most of the artist’s works from this period are in the collections of major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the present work was exhibited extensively, including in several traveling retrospectives of the artist’s work.

Another auction record was established for John Currin tonight when his Nice ‘n Easy from 1999, sold to a client on the phone for $5,458,500 after extended bidding.

Roy Lichtenstein’s Interior with Red Wall (lot 47, est. $8/12 million) brought $7,026,500. In this series, his sources were advertisements of an American scene of a different type – the domestic interior. Presented in a highly stylized manner, the painting focuses on the myth of American domestic bliss, ironically defined by seductive possessions and uniformity.

Roy Lichtenstein’s Interior with Red Wall (lot 47, est. $8/12 million) brought $7,026,500. In this series, his sources were advertisements of an American scene of a different type – the domestic interior. Presented in a highly stylized manner, the painting focuses on the myth of American domestic bliss, ironically defined by seductive possessions and uniformity. Photo: Sotheby's.