With the close of Art Basel’s fifth online viewing room, the 2020 art market calendar is just about to come to an close. (And though the in-person fair was cancelled, a few brave souls, including Artnet News’s own Nate Freeman, still ventured down for a considerably scaled-back affair.)
All signs suggest that buying IRL is preferable to buying online, but sales were still made, no matter what.
“We were able to place a major photographic installation by Roni Horn with a private foundation, something we only thought possible at a physical fair before,” art dealer Xavier Hufkens told Artnet News. “We think this testifies to how collectors and curators have grown more familiar and comfortable in acquiring important artworks online.”
A representative for 303 Gallery noted a similar feeling.
“We can show works that normally would not be able to be exhibited in a fair setting due to size, weight, or other technical constraints.” a spokesperson said in an email to Artnet News. “Without the restriction of shipping deadlines, we can also include a higher percentage of never-before-seen works direct from the artists’ studios—as long as it can be documented in time for a fair, we can show it.”
So who sold what? Let’s take a look at the figures…
PAINTINGS
Nicolas Party Portrait with Red Flowers (2020). Image courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
$2.2 million: George Condo, Distanced Figures painting (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$1.2 million: Joan Mitchell’s Untitled (ca. 1956) at David Zwirner
$1.2 million: Bridget Riley, Intervals 4 (2019) at David Zwirner
$900,000: Lisa Yuskavage, Photoshoot (2020) at David Zwirner
$750,000: Alice Neel, Aaron Kramer (1958) at David Zwirner
$675,000: Rashid Johnson, Anxious Red Painting July 8th (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$650,000: Alex Katz, Reflection (2020) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$500,000: Stanley Whitney, Night Cafe Deux (2020) at Lisson Gallery
$475,000: Matthew Wong, Distance (2016) at Karma
$425,000: Avery Singer, Soda gun (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$350,000: Charline von Heyl, Poetry Machine #4 (2020) at Petzel
$350,000: Lorna Simpson, Chance & Change (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$350,000: Oscar Murillo, (untitled) surge (2019–20) at David Zwirner
$350,000: Mary Heilmann, Long Line (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$350,000: A painting by Thomas Houseago at Xavier Hufkens
$300,000: Nicolas Party, Portrait with Red Flowers (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$300,000: David Salle, Thinking, Looking (2020) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$300,000: Nate Lowman, Katrina (2020) at David Zwirner
$250,000: Josh Smith, Deep Mystery (2019) at David Zwirner
$250,000: A painting by Nicolas Party at Xavier Hufkens
$225,000: Glenn Ligon, Study for Debris Field #29 (2018) at Regen Projects
$220,000: A painting by Zhang Enli at Xavier Hufkens
$175,000: Christina Quarles, Get Lifted (2020) at Regen Projects
$150,000: Jules de Balincourt, Take Us With You (2020) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$125,000: Mel Bochner, Sezanne Said (2016) at Peter Freeman, Inc.
$120,000: A painting by Sayre Gomez at François Ghebaly
$100,000: James Nares, Vroom (2020) at Kasmin
$85,000: Kader Attia, Mirror Mask (2020) at Regen Projects
$80,000 each: Dana Schutz, Everything and Nothing and Floating Pieta (both 2020) at David Zwirner
$75,000–100,000: Alex Katz’s Sinead (2017) at Peter Blum Gallery
$75,000: Mernet Larson, Down (after El Lissitzky) (2012) sold to a private institution in China from James Cohan Gallery
$75,000: Lita Albuquerque’s Untitled (2020) at Kohn Gallery (two small works also sold, for $35,000 and $48,000, respectively)
$75,000: Elias Sime, Untitled (2020) at James Cohan Gallery
$70,000: Jane Freilicher, Misty Pond (1969) at Kasmin
$60,000: Vik Muniz, Surfaces: Still life with stone, after Pablo Picasso (2020) at Galeria Nara Roesler
$55,000: Rose B. Simpson, The Remembering (2020) at San Francisco’s Jessica Silverman Gallery
$52,000: A painting by Sayre Gomez at François Ghebaly
$50,000: Candida Alvarez’s Licking a red rose (2020) at Monique Meloche
$50,000: Torey Thornton’s Frankie, Bean, Tom, Odessa, Marisa, Liz, Taline, Susan, Alison, Nina, Marcel, Audrey, Camilla, Ingrid, Kat, Aaron, Lucy, Irina, Matt, Mara, Laura, Victoria, Irina, Lucy, Zsela, Carley, Kristie, (2020) at Morán Morán sold to a collection in Taiwan
$50,000: Silke Otto-Knapp, Group (Svadebka) (2020) at Regen Projects
$45,000–50,000: Vaughn Spann, the prophets will bear witness (2020) sold to Miami-based collectors Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz from David Castillo
$45,000: A painting by Ludovic Nkoth at François Ghebaly
$45,000: Eamon Ore-Giron Infinite Regress CXXXVIII, (2020) at James Cohan Gallery
$45,000: A painting by Daniel Crews-Chubb at Timothy Taylor
$40,000: Keith Mayerson, LeBron Dunk over Garnett (2017) at Karma
$40,000: Mariana Palma, Untitled (2020) at Casa Triângulo
$38,000: Maia Cruz Palileo’s The Answer is the Waves of the Sea, (2020) at Monique Meloche
$36,000: Giulia Andreani, Dribbling (2020) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$30,000–40,000: Hiroki Tsukuda, Vol. 25 (2020) at Petzel
$30,000: Robin F. Williams, Out Witch (Study) (2020) at P.P.O.W.
$30,000: Mernet Larsen, Disagreement, (2011) at James Cohan Gallery
$30,000 each: Three new paintings by Mel Bochner at Peter Freeman, Inc.
$28,000: Conrad Egyir, Grand Prelude, A Song for Four (2020) at Jessica Silverman Gallery
$28,000: Luke Butler, A Color Picture (2020) at Jessica Silverman Gallery
$28,000: Caroline Kent, An improbable concoction, (2020) at Kohn Gallery
$25,000–80,000 each: Three paintings by Tomory Dodge at LA’s Philip Martin Gallery
$25,000–50,000 each: Three paintings by Gene Beery at Parker Gallery
$25,000 each: David Antonio Cruz’s anotherroadblock,butifwego,wegotogether, portrait of the detroit kids, (2020) and icutfromthemiddletogetabetterslice, (2020) at Monique Meloche
$25,000: Theodora Allen, Life Thread (Asclepius) No.3 (2020) at Kasmin
$24,000: Martha Alf, Still life with Tower (1969) at Kohn Gallery
$24,000: A painting by Cassi Namoda at François Ghebaly
$20,000–40,000: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Red Ancestor III (2020) at Morán Morán
$20,000–25,000: Deborah Roberts, A consequence of history (2020) at Stephen Friedman
$20,000: Kate Barbee, Watermelon seeds (2020) at Kohn Gallery
$20,000: Tabboo!’s Spring 2020 (2020) at Karma
$18,500: A painting by Ilana Savdie sold to a US private collection at Kohn Gallery
$18,000: A painting by Cassi Namoda at François Ghebaly
$16,000: Kyle Dunn, Street Lights (2020) at P.P.O.W.
$16,000: William Brickel, An Ordinary Night (2020) at Kohn Gallery
$16,500 each: Two paintings by Heidi Hahn at Kohn Gallery
$15,000: A painting by Holly Coulis at Philip Martin Gallery
$15,000: Elizabeth Glaessner, Hoof Love (2020) at P.P.O.W.
$12,500: A painting by Pamela Jorden at Philip Martin Gallery
$12,000: André Butzer, Untitled (2020) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$12,000: A painting by Candice Lin at François Ghebaly
$12,000: A painting by Van Hanos at Lisson Gallery
$11,500: A painting by Hilary Pecis at Timothy Taylor
$11,000 each: Four paintings by Sayre Gomez at François Ghebaly
$9,000 each : Alex Cerveny, By the rivers of Babylon (2020) and Ipanema era so felicidade (2020) at Triângulo
$5,000–10,000 each: Eight works by Andy Giannakakis at Park View/Paul Soto
$2,000–9,500 each: Three paintings by Kristy Luck at Philip Martin Gallery
SCULPTURES & MIXED MEDIA
John Chamberlain, SUPERSTARMARTINI (1999). Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth.
$2.5 million: An untitled 1958 wire sculpture by Ruth Asawa at David Zwirner
$1–2 million: El Anatsui’s Blood of Sweat (2015) at Edward Tyler Nahem
$1 million: John Chamberlain, SUPERSTARMARTINI (1999) at Hauser & Wirth
$750,000: A photographic installation by Roni Horn at Xavier Hufkens
$650,000: A structure by Carmen Herrera at Lisson Gallery
$425,000: Glenn Brown, Olympus Mons (2020) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$400,000: Simone Leigh, Sphinx (2020) at Hauser & Wirth
$300,000: Carol Bove, Yellow Hardware Romance (2020) at David Zwirner
$200,000: Jack Pierson, HERE AND NOW (2020) at Regen Projects
$180,000: Yinka Shinobare, CBE Water Kid (Girl), (2020) at James Cohan Gallery
$150,000: Jorge Pardo’s Set of 5 Glass Lamps (2019) at Petzel
$100,000: Jack Pierson, Roses Eros (1993) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$85,000: A Tracey Emin neon sculptures at Xavier Hufkens
$85,000: Jac Leirner, Adhesive 36 – Silver, Gold, Precious Stones (2003) at Bergamin & Gomide
$85,000: Bernar Venet, Indeterminate Line (2020) at Kasmin
$85,000: Ian Davenport, Purple and Blue Study (After Bonnard), (2020) at Kasmin
$75,000: Sanford Biggers, Somethin’ Close to Nothin’, (2019) at David Castillo was sold to the City of Miami Beach Legacy Purchase Program
$75,000: Ebony G. Patterson, …they wondered what to do…for those who bear/bare witness, (2018) at Chicago’s Monique Meloche
$75,000: Xaviera Simmons, Vessel (2020) at Miami’s David Castillo Gallery
$55,000: A ceramic by Sterling Ruby at Xavier Hufkens
$45,000: A sculpture by Genesis Balenger at François Ghebaly
$38,000: Andrea Bowers, May the Last Tree Take Me Down, Last Line of “A Greater Silence” by Deena Metzger from Her Book of Poems Burden of Light, 2019 (Ecofeminist Sycamore Branch Series), (2020) at Jessica Silverman Gallery
$35,000: A sculpture by Kelly Akashi at François Ghebaly
$30,000–40,000: Allan McCollum’s The Shapes Project: Collection of Twenty-Four Perfect Couples, 2 (2005-18) at Petzel
$30,000 each: Kathy Butterly, Blue (2020), Deeply Spaced (2020), and Elevate (2020) at James Cohan Gallery
$20,000–25,000: Leilah Babirye, Senga Nanseera (Kindhearted Kuchu Auntie), (2020) at Stephen Friedman
$15,500: Chiffon Thomas, Case (2020) at P.P.O.W.
$12,000: Tursic & Mille, Jeune fille délivrant son oiseau de sa cage, (2020) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$10,000–20,000: Chelsea Culprit, Stardust Under Duress (2020) at Morán Morán
$9,500: An embroidered work by Sophia Narrett at Kohn Gallery
$7,500 each: Three sculptures by Sharif Farrag at François Ghebaly
PRINTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, & WORKS ON PAPER
Walton Ford, MORGUNDÖGG, (2020) at Galerie Max Hetzler.
“In excess of” $1 million: Walton Ford, MORGUNDÖGG, (2020) at Galerie Max Hetzler
$450,000: Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (1969) at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
$200,000–300,000: Cy Twombly, Untitled (1969–71) at Susan Sheehan Gallery
$100,000–150,000: David Hockney’s ink on paper Gregory, Hot Spring Arkansas (1976) at New York’s Kasmin
$60,000: Spencer Finch’s Color Notes (Autumn) 2019 II (2020) at James Cohan Gallery
$52,000: Nicolas Party’s watercolor Trees (2020) at Karma
$38,000: Trenton Doyle Hancock’s Step and Screw: The Approach (2020) at James Cohan Gallery
$35,000: Martin Kippenberger, Untitled (1986) at Bergamin & Gomide
$4,000–12,000 each: Eight photographs by Kwame Brathwaite at Philip Martin Gallery