Sotheby’s high-stakes auction turned into a jaw-dropping spectacle Tuesday night when a $70 million Alberto Giacometti bronze bust failed to sell, leaving bidders and art insiders gobsmacked.
The pièce de résistance of the evening, Giacometti’s “Grand tête mince (Grand tête de Diego)” carried a sky-high estimate that proved too lofty for the cash-strapped crowd.
Despite starting the bidding at $59 million, Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker couldn’t push the offers beyond $64.25 million, ultimately announcing the bust as a, well, bust.
“There is an argument to be made that while guarantees typically undermine competitive bidding on a lot, in the case of the Giacometti one might have provided collectors with assurance and permission to pursue the sculpture,” Alex Glauber, president of the Association of Professional Art Advisors, told The New York Times.
The monumental bronze, one of six casts modeled after the artist’s brother Diego, was consigned by the Soloviev Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the late real estate titan Sheldon Solow.
Solow, known for shunning auction guarantees, opted for a traditional auction route — a gamble that, this time, didn’t pay off.
“No one who is an informed buyer who is serious in this market — billionaire or not — is going to pay what essentially amounts to a 50 percent premium on something that sold in recent memory,” Todd Levin, a New York-based art advisor, told the Times, referencing a 2013 sale of another cast that fetched just over $50 million.
The artwork’s flop was a crushing blow to Sotheby’s Modern evening sale, where the Giacometti accounted for nearly 30% of the auction’s $240 million low estimate.
In the end, the sale brought in just $152 million, leaving some wondering if the air is too thin at the top end of the market.
“Between Christie’s pulling the Warhol ‘Electric Chair’ and the Giacometti failing to sell at Sotheby’s, it’s clear that the air is incredibly thin at the upper pricing band of the market, even for masterworks by tried and true names,” Glauber added.
Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s head of Modern and Impressionist art, said to the Times that the auction house had anticipated a strong turnout, with “serious interest from major collectors.”
He explained, “We had people poised to bid on this work, and that is why we felt a responsibility to ourselves and to the seller to keep it in the auction and to give it that chance.”
Now, the Giacometti joins a growing list of high-profile works that have been “burned” — a term for pieces that fail to sell and risk becoming toxic on the market.
For Sotheby’s, the $70 million bust is now a bronze elephant in the room.
Sotheby’s previously got a pricey slap on the wrist for allegedly playing fast and loose with tax laws.
Last November, the ritzy auction house agreed to shell out $6.25 million after New York Attorney General Letitia James and state tax honcho Amanda Hiller claimed it helped wealthy clients dodge sales tax on millions in art purchases.
Prosecutors said Sotheby’s winked and nodded as buyers falsely claimed they were resellers — all to save a few bucks on Picasso and Pollock.
The auction giant was ordered to clean up its act and stop playing tax-dodger cupid.
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