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Maurice Sendak, Max Arriving at the Island of Wild Things, Where the Wild Things Are first drawing (1963). Photo: Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

After the American Art sales at Heritage Auctions this past Friday, Aviva Lehmann, who leads that department, sent me a celebratory note. “In a world where everyone is talking doom, we saw activity I haven’t seen since 2007,” she said. Some 332 unique bidders vied for about 220 lots across two sessions—the first, a various-owners sale of American art; the second, a sale of property from the Boy Scouts of America Settlement Trust. Altogether, the sales brought in $12.2 million, with sell-through rates in the high 90s—well above the industry average. As Christie’s and Sotheby’s have shrunk their American Art departments, Heritage has quietly become the leading seller of works from the so-called Golden Age of Illustration—i.e., the era of Norman Rockwell and J.C. Leyendecker. On Friday, the house set a world auction record for the beloved children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. Thirteen bidders chased the original and first drawing for his 1963 classic, Where the Wild Things Are, which eventually sold for $625,000 against an estimate of $150,000. This was almost double Sendak’s previous auction record of $336,000, achieved by Sotheby’s this past December for a poster design. Heritage also sold 13 paintings by Rockwell, eight of which achieved prices above $500,000. The top lot of the day was Rockwell’s 1972 oil on canvas Can’t Wait, depicting a young boy wearing his older brother’s too-large Boy Scout uniform, which sold for $1.3 million. A family scene from 1958, Mighty Proud, of a middle son being fussed over in his Boy Scout uniform, sold for $1.1 million. A consignment from John W. Mecom Jr., the original owner of the New Orleans Saints, included four Ernie Barnes paintings that Mecom acquired in the early 1980s directly from the artist. The group was led by Sandlot Saints, which went for $450,000 against an estimate of $300,000.

A Roman Marble Head of a God, circa 1st-2nd Century A.D. Photo: Courtesy of Freeman’s Hindman

What makes an object from antiquity desirable? First, there’s the material: Classical sculptures are most commonly bronze, marble, or terracotta, and are valued in that order. Bronze is the most rare because so many sculptures were melted down to reuse the metal. Larger objects, of course, are more valuable than smaller ones—a full figure is more valuable than a torso, and a torso is more valuable than a head. And then there is the subject matter and quality. Recognizable subjects, like gods, are generally prized. Marble Roman Head of a God, from the Freeman’s Hindman sale on Thursday, is a good case study, according to Jacob Coley, head of antiquities and ancient art at the house. It is nearly life-size, well-rendered, and features exquisite detailing with Anastole (or Alexander) curls. Quality is especially important for ancient objects—they’ve all gone through centuries of deterioration, but the question is where and how badly. Since the makers are rarely known, the restorer can sometimes add value, and with Marble Roman Head of a God, you can see the seam around the neck where the restorer rounded it out to fit a new bust. It also has a desirable golden-red and brown patina. The preference among today’s collectors is an authentic patina that reflects the object’s age, as opposed to something that glistens like new. Of course, the question of provenance is crucial in the antiquities market as well, given the legalities around the trade in cultural artifacts. Coley undertakes extensive research to date every object in his sale, often scrutinizing works for the method of conservation or mounting, both of which have changed throughout the centuries. While the world auction record for an ancient marble sculpture is $24.6 million (paid for the “Hamilton Aphrodite” at Sotheby’s in 2021), Coley is quick to note that ancient objects don’t have to cost millions, or even thousands. There’s a Sumerian clay cuneiform tablet in Thursday’s sale estimated at just $500 that would look great on any bookshelf.

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The M7, Doha. Photo: Courtesy of Art Basel

Over the phone, Horowitz emphasized that the plan to start small is intentional. “We’ll alight with a very bespoke Art Basel of roughly 50 galleries,” he told me. The fair’s dates were also chosen with care. February gives Art Basel a buffer from its December event in Miami, with enough time after Christmas to get sorted, but before Ramadan, which starts next year in mid-February, and six weeks to go before its Hong Kong event in March. There’s also Qatar’s weather to think about. In February, Doha averages in the low to mid-70s, and it’s already quite hot by this time of year. The temperature hit 109º today. Both Horowitz and Qatar are looking to turn Doha into another regional hub for Art Basel, like Miami and Hong Kong. Although Miami was launched on the strength of a handful of local power collectors, the fair draws enthusiasts from all of Latin America. (The region has a strong history of art collecting in general, and contemporary art collecting in particular.) Hong Kong has recently built more cultural infrastructure, but its appeal was not as a place to give galleries access to local collectors, but rather because the island city was a convenient point for all of Asia to converge. Even Basel itself, while home to local art galleries—especially the gallery of Ernst Beyeler, the fair’s founder—was never a commercial center on the level of New York, London, or Paris. That doesn’t really matter so much. Art Basel wants to help Qatar build a local art market, but that can only be done, as Horowitz said, “hand in hand with the region spanning across North Africa, India, and the Gulf. And, of course, this being an Art Basel event, it will attract people from around the world.”

Doha, it hardly needs saying, is far from being a one-horse town in the sticks. There’s been intense competition between the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and Qatar to build the dominant regional center. Qatar has been investing in the necessary infrastructure for decades. The 2022 FIFA World Cup is merely the most recent high-profile example.

I know we’re throwing a lot at you today, but here’s one more thing. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Breuer Building an Individual and Interior landmark today. Good luck figuring out what that actually means from the self-congratulatory press release. But, according to Sotheby’s, the exterior, and parts of the interior (lobby, coat check, main stairwell, and portions of the lower level facing Madison avenue) were all landmarked. None of that throws off Herzog & de Meuron’s plans—and Sotheby’s still hopes to be in the building in time for the November sales. So we’ve got that to look forward to. Meanwhile, I’m slicing and dicing the ARTDAI numbers from last week. I’ll have all of that for you tomorrow in the Inner Circle. Sign up here if you want to get that newsletter directly to your inbox, not forwarded from a friend or colleague ;-). M

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