Christie’s Sales Fell 28% in First Half as Top Consignments Wane
- Postwar and contemporary art down 41% from same period in 2015
- Online sales soar to $28 million with fresh buyers pouring in
Christie’s sales of art and collectibles fell 28 percent in the first half of the year as the supply of top works slowed amid roiling financial markets and uncertainty surrounding Britain’s vote to exit the European Union.
The tally at London-based Christie’s, the world’s largest art broker, dropped to 2.1 billion pounds ($3 billion based on a weighted currency conversion rate) from 2.9 billion pounds a year earlier, the company said Wednesday in a statement. Its most expensive artwork during the period was a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting that sold for $57.3 million in May; at sales in May 2015, Pablo Picasso’s “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)” went for $179.4 million and Alberto Giacometti’s bronze of a pointing man sold for $141.3 million.