After surviving last year’s late-breaking drama surrounding a structurally unsound pier, the Armory Show was undoubtedly expecting 2020 to be less eventful (and turbulent) than 2019. This was, of course, not the case. The very real threat of COVID-19 led New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, to declare a state of emergency on the final day of the art fair.

Despite a slightly quieter and less demonstrably affectionate crowd, however, dealers reported reasonably swift sales at the event, especially on VIP day and in the five-figure price range. (Crowds were noticeably thinner after opening day.) Upfor Gallery sold a whopping 34 works, including multiple paintings by “Presents” prize winner Julie Green. Pippy Houldsworth Gallery found buyers for works ranging in price from $8,500 to $95,000 by Mary Kelly, Francesca DiMattio, Jadé Fadojutimi, and Jacqueline de Jong. Sorry We’re Closed sold its entire booth and Bologna-based gallery P420 sold out of works by Adelaide Cioni.

Below, we have pulled together a list of reported sales from the fair, with all prices converted to USD for ease of reading. As always, keep in mind that some dealers occasionally offer inflated figures, while others prefer to report ranges or “asking prices” to obscure actual selling prices, or to cover up the favorable treatment they offer to some buyers, but not to others. We did not include reported sales unaccompanied by a price or price range in our list, so the galleries that tend to disclose figures are disproportionately represented here.

 

PAINTINGS

$280,000: Mary Corse, Untitled (White Narrow Inner Band with White Sides, Beveled) (2020) at Kayne Griffin Corcoran

$280,000: Mary Corse, Untitled (White with Narrow Black Band, Beveled) (2020) at Kayne Griffin Corcoran 

$240,000: Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of Tahiatua Maraetefau II (2019) at Galerie Templon

$225,000: Hans Hofmann’s Yellow (1945) at Hollis Taggart

$125,000: A painting by Michael (Corinne) West at Hollis Taggart

$120,000: Imi Knoebel’s Anima Mundi 8-4 (2019) at von Bartha

$110,000: Omar Ba, World War I (2020) at Galerie Templon

$100,000: A Marina Rheingantz painting at Bortolami

$85,000 each: Two Callum Innes paintings at Sean Kelly Gallery

$60,000 each: Several works by Vik Muniz at Galeria Nara Roesler

$60,000: A painting by Richard Pousette-Dart at Hollis Taggart

$50,000: Laura Lancaster’s Nowhere (2019) at WORKPLACE

$45,000: Hans Hoffman’s The Table (1945) at Hollis Taggart

$36,000: A painting by Sharon Ellis at Kohn Gallery

$35,000: Mary Obering, Byrd Fair Park (1980) at Kayne Griffin Corcoran

$35,000: An Ivan Morley painting at Bortolami

$30,000 each: Four Mary Obering works at Bortolami

$20,000–25,000 each: Two 2019 untitled works by Landon Metz at Von Bartha

$20,000 each: Several portraits by artist Cristina Canale at Galeria Nara Roesler

$25,000: A painting by Caroline Kent acquired by a Texas institution at Kohn Gallery

$12,500–17,000 each: Three paintings by Kate Barbee at Kohn Gallery

$12,000: Nkechi Ebubedike, Ecstasy (2020) at TAFETA

$5,000–25,000 each: Six June Edmonds “Flag” paintings at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

$3,500: Deborah Brown, Beach (2018) at Gavlak

 

SCULPTURES, INSTALLATIONS & MIXED MEDIA

$150,000: Alicja Kwade, Formation (2019) at 303 Gallery

$90,000: A sculpture by Yayoi Kusama at Andrew Kreps

$80,000: Lavar Munroe’s mixed media work 17/18 ‘WWJD’ (2020) at Jack Bell Gallery

$75,000–95,000: All of the plastic Hugo McCloud works at Sean Kelly Gallery

$75,000: Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.), Fearless, Limitless and Free (2015–18) at Gavlak

$70,000: Gisela Colon, Hyper Ellipsoid (Gold Green) (2018) at Gavlak

$60,000: A Julian Charrière sculpture at Sean Kelly

$60,000: A quilt by Sanford Biggers at David Castillo Gallery

$45,000: Leslie Wayne, Here and There (2020) at Durham Press

$40,000: Viola Frey, Untitled (Fan on Hot Bricolage, Vessel Head) (1980–81)

$32,000: Alicja Kwade’s Rain (5 minutes/90 cm) (2019) at 303 Gallery

$21,000 each: Anne Samat, I’m Here to Stay and No Place To Be Ending But Somewhere To Start #1 (both 2020) at Marc Straus

$16,000 each: Edition 2 of 6, plus 2 artist proofs of Maynard Morrow’s bronze stanchion Untitled / Apocalypse (2018) at Gavlak

$12,500 each: Two sculptures by Chiffon Thomas, one sold to a major New England museum from Kohn Gallery

$8,000: Anthony Sonnenberg, Chalice (Bleed Out, Drink Up) (2020) at Gavlak

$3,500 each: Works by Pedro Wirz at Kai Matsumiya

 

PRINTS, DRAWINGS, & PHOTOGRAPHS

$125,000: Yoshitomo Nara’s Untitled (Blue ground, girl in cloud) (2003) at Gavlak

$80,000: Hank Willis Thomas’s UV print “Rated X By An All White Jury” (Black Over Yellor) [sic] (2020) at Kayne Griffin Corcoran

$46,500: Mickalene Thomas’s photograph Racquel #3 at Yancey Richardson Gallery

$45,000 each: Two glass microspheres in acrylic on paper by Mary Corse, Untitled (Red Arch) (2000) and Untitled (2000), at Kayne Griffin Corcoran

$40,000: Mika Tajima’s Art d’Ameublement (Parcel das Tartarugas), (2019) at Kayne Griffin Corcoran

$20,000: Kumasi J. Barnett’s The Amazing Black-Man Neon Sign at Lowell Ryan Projects

$18,500: Rosha Yaghmai’s Window, Book of Kings 2 (2020) at Kayne Griffin Corcoran

$11,000 each: Two collage works by Marcia Kure at Officine dell’Immagine

$7,000-$20,000 each: A series of Dawoud Bey photographs at Sean Kelly Gallery

$5,000 each: Two of Candida Alvarez’s acrylic and pencil on Yupo paper works at Gavlak

$2,500 each: 42 comics at Lowell Ryan Projects