‘A piece of the Rock’: Christie’s Rockefeller collection sale
Last week, David and Peggy Rockefeller’s private collection of art, furniture and design was auctioned at Christie’s in New York. After ten days of online sales and three at auction (including two consecutive evening sales), the grand total stood at $832.6 million.
The art world is of course no stranger to double-take prices and smashed records— this seems to happen every other year — so a new record for the largest ever total sales for a single collection isn’t necessarily that shocking. More noteworthy, I think, are the dozens of other records set for all manner of objects, as indicators of not only the importance of the Rockefellers in the arts and philanthropy, but also the high value placed on cultural, historical and celebrity associations at auction.
The Rock on the block
The collection on sale included over 1,000 pieces: the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings for which the family’s passion is so well known, but also American and Asian works, English and European furniture, American decorative arts and furniture, ceramics and Chinese export porcelain.
Headlines were grabbed by the blockbusters, such as Picasso’s Fillette à la corbeille fleurie selling for $115m. Other major sales were Monet’s Nymphéas en fleur for $84.6m, Odalisque couchée aux magnolias for $80.7m, Gauguin’s La Vague for $35.1m and Rivera’s The Rivals for $9.8m (a world record both for the artist and Latin American art as a category).
However, I think the unexpectedly high prices of the smaller and less familiar objects is more telling. Take the 18th century Meissen porcelain figure that sold for $25,000 (five times its expected price), David Rockefeller’s Martini shaped cufflinks going for $13,750 (estimated at $400 to $600), or — incredibly — a money clip depicting the Rockefeller building at $75,000 (estimated at $800 to $1,200).
The Rockefeller touch
This level of sales was undoubtedly supercharged by the Rockefeller’s iconic status—these pieces were owned by one of the most famous families in the world, and often times hung in their frequented spaces (Rivera’s The Rivals could be found on Peggy and David’s living room wall in their Maine home for many years). In this sense, owning a ‘piece of the Rock’ — as their son David Jr. put it — feels even more like owning a piece of history.
There were even a few pieces whose chain of historical ownership went back further. For example, a set of china once used by Napoleon, estimated at $150,000 to $200,000, ended up selling at $1.8 million.
I think this ‘coolness by association’ effect is a strong one. A somewhat flippant case in point, on a much smaller and (in most circles) less culturally significant scale, was actor Russell Crowe’s recent ‘Art of Divorce’ auction of art and film memorabilia. Flippant, perhaps, but it still ended up earning $2.8m; one bidder (TV host John Oliver) even paid $6,500 on the leather jockstrap Russell wore in Cinderella Man.
A good cause
I’m sure Russell Crowe thought of using his auction proceeds to settle his divorce as a worthy enough cause. No one can hold a candle to the Rockefeller’s charitable ambitions though.
The family’s long history of philanthropy continues with the Christie’s auction, as all proceeds will be going to various charities and educational organisations, specified by Peggy and David. Harvard will be getting $100m, MoMA another $100m and the Rockefeller Brothers fund (focusing on social change) will receive $250m. A full list of the beneficiaries can be found here.
On top of the historical clout of the lots, I think this ultimately positive cause will have also pushed up some of the bids — especially the (relatively-speaking) lower value items. Indeed, Christie’s heavily referenced the Rockefeller’s philanthropy in their global marketing campaign promoting the collection and auction, and this would have served as a useful narrative thread tying together such a disparate range of objects.
You can view the full collection here.
Feral Horses is the Art Stock Exchange.
Learn how to co-own artworks and support contemporary artist’s career here.
