Upcoming Sale Predictions: A Crystal-Ball Anthology

Sotheby's David Norman smiles for the camera.
Picasso's bronze "Dora Maar" doesn't.

I know, I know. You want CultureGrrl to give you some inside insights about how the art market will fare at the big Impressionist/modern sales next week and the big contemporary sales the following week, so that you can decide just how many millions you ought to shell out.

But I'd rather let Reuters do it for me. Actually, so would the NY Times, on whose website this Reuters piece appeared.

"Where," we all ask ourselves plaintively, "is the usual Friday round-up, outing all those "anonymous" consignors, from the NY Times' own auction sage, Carol Vogel? How could she be silent, letting herself be scooped by Reuters on her own website?"

Don't fret, art-lings. Her usual major sales preview has been moved to this Sunday's "Arts & Leisure" section, according to David Norman of Sotheby's. Chatting with me at today's press preview for the big evening sales, the chairman of the auction house's Impressionist/modern department strove to debunk the "bubble burst" babble by noting that the "presale build-up," in terms of visits and in-depth inquiries from potential buyers, "has been just as strong as last season."

Whether this will translate into the same astonishingly manic bidding that we saw in New York last spring is anybody's guess.

So while we await word from Carol, here's what the market mavens at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal have already filed.

To confuse you even further, you can glance through the following articles that appeared after last month's London contemporary sales, each of which conflicts with the others in interpreting the results: the International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg (here and here).

I think this calls for another irreverent photo essay, don't you? COMING SOON.