Wet Paint
A Very Private Affair: Warhol Bardot Portrait Makes $16.7 Million at Invite-Only Auction
Tony Shafrazi, David Mugrabi, Sam Orlofsky, George Economou, and other power players assembled at the Clemente Bar for the one-off event.
Annie Armstrong
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Every week, Artnet News brings you Wet Paint, a gossip column of original scoops. This week, we have a special report from an auction off the beaten path from the big three houses.
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Every auction season I find myself wondering the same thing.
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While some collectors join dealers, consultants, the press, and hangers-on in the salesrooms (or in VIP skyboxes), many more choose to follow along via livestreams. Where aretheyactually? Where are they hiding?
On Wednesday night, at least, I had an answer: They were atClemente Bar.
When I stopped by after covering Phillips’s evening sale, the place was packed with HNWIs and assorted power players. There was Greek shipping magnateGeorge Economou, and over there, theAndy Warhol-loving wheeler-dealerDavid Mugrabi, and—oh!—artist-dealerTony Shafrazi, who received applause when he arrived at the boîte above chefDaniel Humm’sEleven Madison Park.
They were there to attend alive auction hosted byFair Warning, the app created by Christie’s veteranLoic Gouzer that hosts single-lot sales. This week, aWarhol portrait ofBrigitte Bardotwas up, and it was hanging over the bar, where martinis usually go for$26.
“It’s a model we’d like to continue: an auction event where people actually have fun, eat food, and have a drink,” Gouzer told me.
“We’re respecting all of the auction legislation,” he said, before immediately noting that “you’re not supposed to mix alcohol and auctions… but we do it. People have seen too many auctions, and it’s good to be someplace with young, fun energy.”
Gouzer hosted the event with curator-advisor-party thrower extraordinaireLolita Cros. “Lolita brings the Downtown energy to all of the Uptown collectors,” Gouzer said. He tapped fellow Christie’s vetJussi Pylkkänen to be the night’s auctioneer. Pylkkänen greeted the crowd by saying, “Welcome to the Clemente Bar. It will stand shoulder to shoulder withthe Breuer Building, I’m sure.”
The first owner of the Warhol was socialiteGunter Sachs, who was married to Bardot for three years during the Swinging Sixties, but Gouzer’s consignor was anonymous. The artist made versions in a variety of colors, and one sold in 2014 for about $11.6 million at Sotheby’s in New York, the record for the series, according to the Artnet Price Database. The piece appropriates aRichard Avedon portrait of the French singer, model, animal-rights activist, and more recently, far-right voice.
Servers offered agedashi tofu dogs to attendees like formerGagosian directorSam Orlofsky,Sotheby’s rainmakerJacqueline Wachter, and prominentadvisorsBernard LagrangeandSarah Calodney(who works for Fair Warning), plusHumm and his wife, actressAnnabelle Dexter-Jones.
Pylkkänen started the bidding at $7 million.
The Warhol piece is toted off after the auction is complete. The crowd clamors. A larger percentage of men than your average evening auction, it seemed. Photo by Annie Armstrong.
“Here she is, at the height of her career!” Pylkkänen gestured toward the bar. “In Warhol’s hands, she becomes not just a star, but a timeless icon. Her hair, the sultry gaze, the bewitching aura…” He trailed off.
As in the auction rooms earlier that evening, most of the offers came in over the phone. Mugrabi whispered into his cell during the action, but he told me after that he hadn’t been bidding during the call. (He suggested that I was a “piece of shit” for asking.) In the end, it sold for $14.5 million ($16.7 million with fees) to an unnamed bidder on the phone with Gouzer. Everyone clapped, then went back to drinking and gossiping.
Orlofsky was pitching me on his private-dealing practice when Mugrabi, apparently excited by the festivities, strolled up and announced, “It’s all about the market!”
“Well, when you’re happy, we’re happy,” Orlofsky said.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” Mugrabi responded.
“No, it’s a virtuous cycle,” Orlofsky countered. From there, the evening began to fall into a haze of unsteady martini trays and remixedSerge Gainsbourg.
Chatter in the room tended to return to the same predictable place. The auction week was going great. Is the market is back? Auction-house whispererLock Kresler seemed hopeful, praising the efforts of auction staffers and collectors. “You could tell that the specialists at all three houses did an exceptional job of making sure that the lots were not only covered by third parties but also multiple bids above those,” he said. “It wasn’t just, ‘Boom it went to a guarantor,’ ‘Boom it went to a guarantor.’”
It certainly felt like boom times at the Clemente Bar.
