On November 16th and 17th of last year, an auction of Latin American Art was held at Sotheby’s in New York. The total sales for the auction were $20,221,938. The auction focused on retrospectives of Rufino Tamayo and Jesus Rafael Soto but also included works from many Latin American artists both past and present (Fernando Botero), mostly from the twentieth century. The auction was laid out commercially rather than historically as we read about in Sarah Thornton’s chapter. The first day of the auction, in which Lots 1-59 were for sale, contained the most desirable works as they sold for significantly higher prices than those of the second day. The only work in the auction that sold for over one million dollars was Lot 6 at $2,210,500 which was “Watermelon Slices” by Rufino Tamayo, the feature work of the auction. During the second day, only a few works even exceeded $100,000 with the lowest sale of the auction being Lot 110 at $4,688 for “Naturaleza Muerta” by Emilio Pettoruti. One of Alfredo Ramos Martinez’s most important and famous works, “La India del Lago” sold for $962,600 (Lot 14).
I suspect that similar to the contemporary art auctions that Thornton described, the Latin American art patrons are an insular group in which, “With few exceptions, everyone sits in exactly the same spot they did last year.” While much of the Latin American art for sale is very significant and fine quality art, the market is not nearly as strong as that for contemporary art, for which a sale on November 9, 2011 brought in $315,837,000. The “specialists” involved in the Latin American art auction were Carman Melian, Ana Maria Celis, and Andrea Zorilla. Melian had an important role in the 2006 sale of Frida Kahlo’s “Roots” which was a record sale for Kahlo’s work at $5.6 million. As mentioned by Thornton, the catalogue is the main marketing tool for the auction. For each piece, the catalogue for this auction included a color picture, provenance and exhibitions, a list of literature regarding the artist, and a “note” that provided a brief biography of the artist and description of the work.
By comparing the images of auctions by Christie’s in 1810 and 2008, and Thornton’s reading about auctions, it becomes clear that the auction world has changed in some ways. The auction room appears to be much more organized (assigned seats) and crowded, with less room for movement in its current state than in the past. Much of the art displayed on the walls has been replaced by television monitors and a “scoreboard or currency converter.” While many buyers and sellers surely have similar motives to those of the past, I think there is presently a stronger emphasis on art as investment. In addition, buyers can now participate in an auction without being present through the use of phones and the internet which obviously was not possible in 1810. The type of work sold at auctions has also changed. Before the 1950’s, art by living artists was not commonly sold in auctions because, “living artists are perceived as unpredictable and inconvenient.” This has changed drastically as much of the art now sold is by living artists and the demand continues to rise.
Here is a link to a Youtube video of the most recent auctions of Latin American Art by Sotheby's and Christie's in New York: http://youtu.be/NxQW2RiuIwM
Here are Tamayo’s “Watermelon Slices”, Botero’s “Ballerina” and Ramos Martinez’s “La India del Lago” sold at the Latin American art auction at Sotheby’s last November:
