Hot List 2024, the Middle Market

Weak bidding and sell-through in American art sales does stop a few lots from over-performing + Robert Simon pairs Jesse Mockrin with Guido Reni for a rare package deal

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In This Issue

1. New Lives for Old Masters: Robert Simon introduces Jesse Mockrin to Guido Reni.

For Paid Subscribers Only

1. Weak Bidding, Weak Sell-Through But Still Some Strong Prices in American Art Sales: Martin Johnson Heade is the big winner with African-American and Native artists also attracting strong bids

2. Hot List 2024, the Middle Market: As the market turns toward retrenchment, strong bidding for historical artists should be a surprise. But did anyone expect Renoir, Maillol and David Hockney to appear on a Hot List?

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New Lives for Old Masters

Guido Reni, The Penitent Magdalene, left; Jesse Mockrin, Unyielding, 2023, right

Jesse Mockrin is a Contemporary artist with a strong following and great gallery representation with James Cohan. Last Fall, her show of work there attracted another dealer but not one who was likely to try to win Mockrin and her valuable waiting list away from Cohan. Robert Simon, the Old Masters dealer most famous for finding a Leonardo in a Louisiana auction, invited  Mockrin to visit his gallery where she saw Guido Reni’s painting of a penitent Mary Magdalene from 1630. Mockrin was “much taken” with the Reni and, according to Simon, “agreed to paint a painting inspired by it.” Simon intends to sell the two paintings together with an asking price of $550,000. That’s not a terrible price for a Reni alone. Paying that to jump the waiting list for a Mockrin, even a small 13 x 9 inch work like this one, while still getting a Reni, seems like a real opportunity. You can find both paintings hanging side by side at Robert Simon’s booth at The Winter Show at the Park Avenue Armory all this week.

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Weak Bidding, Weak Sell-Through But Still Some Strong Prices in American Art Sales

Three works by Martin Johnson Heade along with a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington as well as works by Joshua Johnson, Edmonia Lewis, James Earle Fraser, David Gilmour Blythe, a book of ledger drawings and an Arapaho child’s robe were all high value works sold at prices well above their estimates during the American art sales in New York this month. 

Overall, the sales were anemic. We don’t have all of the sale data but the data we do have suggests sell-through rates in mid-70% range and a hammer ratio around .95. Those are not strong market signals for Americana writ large. (Though Christie’s did tout that it’s Americana sale, not included in the data mentioned above, was sold at a 1.22 hammer ratio driven by new buyers who represented more than 25% of those who took lots home.)