Friday, November 11, 2005
$23,800,000
A record was set Tuesday evening in New York when Cube XXVIII by artist David Smith sold for $23.8 million. That is the highest price ever paid at auction for contemporary art.To quote the NY Times
Larry Gagosian, the Manhattan dealer, fought off five aggressive bidders and paid $23.8 million at Sotheby's.Bird was at the auction and dropped out of the bidding at $16 million.
Being a big spender required some effort: Mr. Gagosian's competitors hung on well into the double-digit-millions. All were hoping to own "CUBI XXVIII" (1965), the last of the artist's renowned Cubi series. The catalog designated it as "Property of a Texas Foundation," but before the sale experts identified the foundation as that of the Texas oil heir and financier Sid Bass,.
The reason for the high price was plain to lovers of contemporary art: this elegantly composed melding of boxes and columns may be the last example of the series to come on the market for some time. Most of the others are in museums or collections where they will stay for generations. So this last-chance opportunity was irresistible, which is why the sculpture's final price was nearly double its high estimate, $12 million.
The pigeons outside the World Headquarters had been excited about getting their own artwork on which to roost so they were naturally disappointed with the outcome. Bird cheered them up yesterday when he purchased Smith's Cube XXVII as a substitute. The pigeons are now studying Latin so they can understand which cube they are roosting upon. Cube XXVII is pictured below.
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