At London Sale, a Giacometti Sets a Record
One of Alberto Giacometti’s best-loved bronzes, “Walking Man I,” has broken the world record price for a work of art at auction, selling to an unidentified telephone bidder for $92.5 million, or $104.3 million with fees, at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday night. The previous record was $104.1 million, paid for a 1905 Picasso, “Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice),” at Sotheby’s in New York in 2004.
Sotheby’s had expected the sculpture to bring $19.2 million to $28.8 million. The $104.3 million was more than three times the record for a Giacometti, which was set at Christie’s New York in May 2008 when “Standing Woman II” from 1959-60 sold for $27.4 million.