Phillips and Sotheby's New York auctions achieve record results in 2020

Phillips and Sotheby's held successful auctions in New York in December 2020, achieving high sales despite the challenging year. Phillips' CEO Edward Dolman announced the highest result in the auction house's history for a New York sale, totaling $134.6 million. Top lots included David Hockney's 'Nichols Canyon' (1980) sold for $41,067,500, setting a record for a landscape by the artist; Clyfford Still's 'PH-407' (1964) for $18,442,500; Jean-Michel Basquiat's 'Portrait of A-One A.K.A. King' (1982) for $11,500,000; and Joan Mitchell's 'Untitled' (1953) for $11,297,500. Amy Sherald's 'The Bathers' (2015) soared from a $150,000 estimate to $4,265,000 after a 15-minute bidding war. Other notable results included works by Jadé Fadojutimi ($378,000), Matthew Wong ($1,252,100), Mickalene Thomas ($901,200), and Kehinde Wiley ($378,000). Sotheby's auction on December 8 achieved $63,329,550, led by Alexander Calder's 'Mariposa' (1951) at $18,188,400 and Pablo Picasso's 'Buste de femme assise' (1962) at $11,179,500. Barkley L. Hendricks' 'Mr. Johnson (Sammy From Miami)' (1972) sold for $4,013,000, and Matthew Wong's 'Pink Wave' (2017) reached $2,349,250.