Crain's New York - April 29, 2013 - (Page 26)

SOURCE LUNCH: JANETTE SADIK-KHAN by Matt Chaban A commish who never soft-pedals F courtesy of christie’s ew people in city government have had as big an impact on the city’s infrastructure as Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. In May, her agency is scheduled to launch a bike-sharing program that will ultimately add 10,000 bikes to city streets. A phone app counting down the remaining days of the Bloomberg administration reminds Ms. Sadik-Khan that time to complete her projects is short. JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT’S Dustheads is expected to bring in as much as $35 million at Christie’s. Auctioneers’ spring cleanups $35 million, this major work by Basquiat could set a record for the artist. Basquiat’s prices have been rising steadily, with the current record set at Christie’s in November 2012 with a piece called Untitled, 1981, which sold for $26.4 million. Dustheads “is undoubtedly one of his best paintings and perhaps the last great masterpiece to come to auction,” according to Loic Gouzer, international specialist of postwar and contemporary art at Christie’s. Housed in a private collection for the past 20 years, Dustheads was included in a seminal exhibition of Continued from Page 25 of modern and impressionist art, as well as contemporary art. The two houses are expected to bring in a total of more than $880 million and set records for some of the artists on the block. Art advisers say top-quality work from names like Pollock, Paul Cézanne and Roy Lichtenstein will be the big draws. And, they say, there seems to be no shortage of buyers for good work. “Unless there is some major catastrophe, the sales should do well,” said Judith Selkowitz, a Manhattan-based art adviser. “There is so much money around, and the market is global. Even if 20 big collectors were to go out, 25 big collectors would come in.” The sales start with Sotheby’s impressionist and modern-art evening auction on May 7, followed by Christie’s on May 8. Sotheby’s contemporary-art evening sale will take place on May 14,with Christie’s on May 15.Here are some of the highlights. Number 19, 1948 by Jackson Pollock. Estimated to sell for be- Study for a Portrait of P.L. by Francis Bacon. Bacon’s painting of his lover Peter Lacy, done just months after his death from alcohol abuse in 1962, has not been seen in public since 1972. The work, known to be the most important portrait of Lacy ever created by Bacon, is estimated by Sotheby’s to sell for between $30 million and $40 million. Dustheads by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Estimated by Christie’s to be worth $25 million to Le Petit Pâtissier by Chaim Soutine. The cover lot of Christie’s impressionist and modern-art evening sale, the Soutine is estimated at $16 million to $22 million. One of five works in the evening sale from a private European collection, the piece is expected to set a world record for the artist. Painted in 1927, it is the culminating work in a sequence of six portraits of pastry chefs created over the span of nearly a decade. During this time, Soutine went from being an unknown, destitute painter to one of international fame, thanks to his discovery by American collector Albert Barnes. Les Pommes by Paul Cézanne. courtesy of christie’s tween $25 million and $35 million at Christie’s, this painting is being touted as the most important work by Pollock presented at auction in the past two decades. Regarded as one of Pollock’s best drip paintings, it was created in 1948 during the three-year span that has been called the artist’s most important period. commissioned by Siemens Elettra for its Milan offices. It hung there for 30 years before being acquired at auction in 1998 by the Pritzker family of collectors, where it was displayed in their Park Hyatt Hotel in Chicago for more than a decade.The piece is now being sold by Hyatt Hotels. Hyatt President Mark Hoplamazian said the chain hopes to use a portion of the proceeds from the sale to buy new works to show in its properties. ANDRÉ DERAIN’S Madame Matisse au Kimono the artist’s work organized by the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland, in 2010. Domplatz, Mailand by Gerhard Richter. Expected to sell for between $30 million and $40 million at Sotheby’s, this painting was the artist’s largest figurative work when completed in 1968. The canvas, spanning more than 9 by 9 feet, was 26 | Crain’s New York Business | April 29, 2013 This painting is the most important piece in the collection of Alex and Elisabeth Lewyt, comprising 200 works to be auctioned off by Sotheby’s in a series of auctions in New York and Paris this year. A highlight of the impressionist and modern-art evening sale, Les Pommes is expected to fetch between $25 million and $35 million. According to Charles Moffett, vice chairman of Sotheby’s impressionist and modern-art department, “Les Pommes is one of Cézanne’s most perfect still lifes. The painting was a highlight of any visit to the Lewyts’ home.” Mr. Lewyt, who made a fortune manufacturing home appliances after World War II, died in 1988. Ⅲ So, what’s still to do? Traffic fatalities rose last year. Have we peaked on street safety? I think we can do a lot more with technology. One of the primary causes of crashes on the streets is speeding.And so we’re looking for approval in Albany to get speed-camera legislation passed. We’re also focused on putting speed cameras near schools. Are there are any major changes you’d still like to see? I would like to see Penn Station fixed. I think that’s key for the health of the city. And I’d like to see a fully funded MTA capital program. We too often ignore the basics. We are launching the city’s first comprehensive wayfinding system,a set of maps and apps to help pedestrians get What do you make of the backlash to around. We are launching the largest some of these programs? bike-share system in North America. New Yorkers are possessive of their streets, and we feel very We’re moving forward on strongly about how they three new Select Bus Servlook, and I think that’s a ice routes, in the Bronx, good thing. It’s interesting, Brooklyn and Queens. because if you look at the We’re continuing to expublic opinion on bike pand Midtown in Motion, LA PIAZZA lanes, 66% of New Yorkers our traffic signalization for DI EATALY 200 Fifth Ave. support them, 72% of New real-time conditions. (646) 398-5100 Yorkers support bike share. We’re updating our parkwww.eatalyny.com The community boards all ing signs.We’re continuing AMBIENCE: A mix voted for these bike lanes. to roll out our plazas.We’re of techies, People are voting with continuing our progress on tourists and their feet, they’re voting new bike lanes. locals out for a quick lunch in with their pedals, and Mario Batali’s What are you most proud of? they’re voting with their cavernous food Underlying all of this is the dollars. hall. safety of our streets, and One of the things that’s WHAT THEY ATE: the mobility of our streets. amazing to me is that Ⅲ Verdure alla The last five years have when we announced the piastra con zuppa del giorno (soup been the safest in New neighborhood slow zones, and grilled York City history.That’s in with 20-mile-per-hour veggies) part due to the changes speed limits, we had over Ⅲ Insalata di we’ve made on the streets. 100 communities request porchetta (sliced When you put in a bike slow zones for residential pork salad) lane,the street is 40% safer. neighborhoods. We’ll Ⅲ Insalata It’s also good for business. tricolori (mixed have 13 of those installed greens) We built the nation’s first by the end of the year. TAB: protected bike lane in There is a lot of support $63, including tip 2007, on Ninth Avenue, in the city for what we’re and we’ve seen retail sales doing. go up some 49%. And we’ve seen that not only on Some mayoral candidates have openly the bike lanes, we’ve seen it for bus criticized you. Any fears about your work lanes. On Fordham Road, we put in being undone? SBS; we saw a 71% increase in rev- I would hope the successful mayoral enues. And we’ve also seen it with the candidate would look to the support plazas. Dumbo was our first plaza. that these projects enjoy by the pubWe saw a boost of 172% in retail sales. lic. If we’re going to accommodate a Even right here, in Union Square million more people by 2030, we’re North and Madison Square, you see going to have to find ways to move not only increases in sales, but also a them around. I really hope they dramatic decrease in commercial would continue the success we’ve seen on safety. Ⅲ vacancies, by 49%. WHERE THEY DINED INSIDE TIP: After your meal, grab a gelato and head across Madison Avenue to the pedestrian plaza. It was Ms. Sadik-Khan’s first such project. http://www.eatalyny.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's New York - April 29, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
REAL ESTATE DEALS
SMALL BUSINESS
OPINION
GREG DAVID
REPORT: EDUCATION
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crain's New York - April 29, 2013