At Phillips’s $52 M. Sale, Breakout Moments from Female Artists Soften a Stark Drop from Last Year

Despite record-breaking results for four women artists, Phillips’s evening auction in New York sparks few fireworks

The auction brought in a hammer total of $44.2m, just below Phillips’s low estimate for the night and exactly in line with last November’s equivalent sale

The Five Artists Who Achieved Records at Phillips $52m Evening Sale in New York

Olga de Amaral, Grace Hartigan, Kiki Kogelnik, Ilana Savdie, and James Turrell reached new highs.

At Phillips’s $52 M. Sale, Breakout Moments from Female Artists Soften a Stark Drop from Last Year

At Phillips New York on Tuesday night, a far less lucrative sale night than 2024 bore out concerns of a cooling market. The house’s modern and contemporary evening sale generated $52 million, around 40 percent below last year’s haul of $86 million at the equivalent May sale. Tuesday’s auction also exactly achieved its pre-sale estimate of $52 million, likely caused by five lots failing to sell. (Another four were withdrawn prior to the sale.) …