De Pury. (Courtesy PMC)

Come January, auction house Phillips de Pury & Company will be simply Phillips, following news today that chairman Simon de Pury is stepping down after 12 years on the job. The departure, which takes effect today, comes as a result of Mercury Group, the Moscow–based investment firm that first bought into the house in 2008, acquiring his interest in the company.

"During the wonderful and exciting years I had the privilege to spend at Phillips de Pury & Company the firm has become a major taste maker in contemporary art, design and photography," Mr. de Pury said in a statement. "I embark on new adventures comfortable with the knowledge that the company is in an excellent position and has been going from strength to strength."

Phillips also announced that it plans to take more space in 450 Park Avenue for galleries and offices. The house first signed a lease there in 2010.

Update, Dec. 23: Michaela de Pury, Mr. de Pury's wife, who has been with the house for 12 years, announced that she is also stepping down from her position as a senior partner and senior director.

Update, 11:10 a.m.: Clarified that, though the house's name will not change until January, Mr. de Pury is stepping down today.

After the results last night at Christie’s, whose record-breaking evening sale of postwar and contemporary art brought in $412 million, the sale seemed a bit lackluster at times, though some results at Phillips were undoubtedly impressive. Early on, new auction records were set for Dan Colen and Tauba Auerbach, whose work was purchased for $290,500 with premium by Jose Mugrabi, Rashid Johnson and Sterling Ruby. The Ruby brought $626,500 with premium, selling to art adviser Julie Miyoshi, who bought it on behalf of a client.

"We were prepared to go a little higher," Ms. Miyoshi said after the sale. "We really wanted it."

Six artworks failed to sell, leading to a respectable sell-through rate of 83 percent by lot, though some big-ticket items fell notably short of expectations. A Gerhard Richter, Kegel (Cone) (1985), hammered for just $11 million, below an estimate of $12 million to $18 million. A Jean-Michel Basquiat, Humidity (1982) hammered for just $9 million, below its estimate of $12 million to $18 million, and a pair of Andy Warhols, one of Mao Zedong, the other of Jackie Kennedy, went at just above their low estimates. And all of those lots carried third-party guarantees, meaning they were pre-sold before the auction. Perhaps because it was the last auction of the season, there was a good amount of chatter in the room for the first few lots, despite the records, and it soon fell silent as the Richter, at lot 8, failed to meet its low estimate.

On the lower-end lots, however, there was plenty to like. Art advisor Patricia Marshall picked up a John Chamberlain sculpture for Eugenio Lopez’s Jumex Collection in Mexico. The Paris dealer Thaddaeus Ropac bought a work by George Baselitz, whom he represents, for $1.7 million with premium, and Italian dealer Nicolo Cardi bid on the Sterling Ruby, along with works by Rosemarie Trockel, Sturtevant and Richard Prince. The Prince, one of the artist's to-the-margins, text-centric Joke Paintings, also saw bidding from Alberto Mugrabi and some unconventional banter from Mr. de Pury.

"I do recommend reading the joke," he said after it hammered below estimate at $550,000. "I particularly like the second part of it." (er, that half, verbatim, "TO A FRIEND, 'DO YOU LIKE PUSSY?' HE SAYS, 'DO I LIKE PUSSY?' 'MAN IF IT WERE AIR-CONDITIONED I'D LIVE IN IT!'")

It was something of a relaxed sale in general. Attendees lingered afterward. Dealer Helly Nahmad lectured a small group that included Leonardo DiCaprio before a Basquiat from the sale, looking very much like a docent as he explained the value of words like SAMO, or the image of a crown. "It's always the question of quality versus real estate," Mr. Nahmad told the group.

In a post-sale press conference, Phillips’ CEO Michael McGinnis said that despite just beating the low estimate he was "thrilled" with the results. He conceded that there were fewer bids than they might usually expect from such a sale, but there was "a lot of global coverage," usually desirable for auction houses.

After the sale, Miami-based collector Donald Rubell, known for his prescience in acquiring work by emerging artists, looked past the mediocre prices of the top lots and praised Phillips for what it does best.

"It wasn't the spectacular nature of last night's sale," he said, "but I think younger artists do better here than they do anywhere else."

"I wish they'd stick to only young artists," he added, "but I guess it's very hard to make a living only doing young artists. We need [Phillips], it's a great incubator. They're doing a service to all of us, so if they want to sell the expensive stuff, they should sell it. But for cutting-edge artists, they're the best."

All prices courtesy of Artnet, all images courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Company.

Richard Prince, 'Untitled (Cigarettes),' 1978-79. (Courtesy Phillips de Pury).

Phillips de Pury's Contemporary Art Day Sale viewing, which was scheduled to open at both of its locations tomorrow, Nov. 3, is closed at its West 15th Street location due to lack of electricity, until further notice. The viewing will, however, carry on as planned at the Park Avenue location (450 Park Avenue). The news, which was announced via Twitter, was confirmed by a call to their offices.

McGinnis. (Courtesy Patrick McMullan)

Simon de Pury, the chairman of Phillips de Pury & Company, announced today that Michael McGinnis, the company's worldwide head of contemporary art, has been named its new chief executive officer. Bernd Runge is stepping down from the position, but will stay on as a special advisor to the company's shareholders. Mr. Runge, a spy for the East German Stasi secret police in the 1980s, was named CEO in early 2009, shortly after the Moscow–based luxury goods company Mercury Group took a controlling share of the auction house.

Mr. McGinnis joined the company in 1999 to start its contemporary art department.

“I am honored to lead Phillips de Pury into a bright future,” said Mr. McGinnis in a statement. “We are poised to excel in all aspects of our business and to offer our clients an impeccable level of service."

“Michael's promotion presents an exciting opportunity for the company,” said Mr. de Pury in a statement. “It has been my privilege to work with Michael for the past 12 years.”

Congratulations, Mr. McGinnis.

Vinny Reunov, 'Movie,' 2011-2012. (Courtesy Phillips de Pury)

Browsing the Twitterverse this morning, we stumbled upon an image of a painting by Vinny Reunov to be included in the upcoming Phillips de Pury contemporary art day sale, and lo and behold, it features an image of the one and only Simon de Pury in a smart gray suit behind a podium with his arm up as if in the throes of a heated auction battle.

It seems that a one @Hollytorious was strolling through the exhibition when she spotted the work, photographed it and tweeted, "Love that @phillipsdepury have a painting feat @simondepury in their auction!"

The Swiss auctioneer, who is the chairman and co-founder of the auction house, is one of a number of pop-cultural icons—along with the pope, a Mastercard logo and Papa Smurf—featured in this oil painting, entitled Movie (2011/2012), which appears to be a faux cover of Latin Finance. The work is estimated to bring in $16,000-23,000 at the day sale on June 29, which will present 348 works, including pieces by Tracey Emin, Dan Colen and George Condo.

The Basquiat, a moderate-sized, colorful painting of a man, Untitled, from 1981, slowly climbed to its hammer price of $14.5 million, mostly through bids from the phones. That number already put it over the previous record set by an untitled piece from 1982 that sold for $13.5 million with premium at Christie's New York in 2008. (All prices include buyer's premium, unless noted.)

"I was going to buy it at $9 million," said Upper East Side dealer Christophe Van de Weghe after the sale. His eyes had bulged slightly as the piece climbed into eight figures.

The painting came from the collection of Washington, D.C., collector Robert Lehrman, who recently wandered the art fairs with art critic Peter Schjeldahl for his recent piece in The New Yorker on art fairs, and is by no means an ideal example of the artist's work. "It's not that big, and it's on wood, which isn't for everybody," Mr. Van de Weghe added. "It's good that he has a new auction record, but I've known ones to go for much more on the private market."

Dealer and collector Alberto Mugrabi said after the sale that he too had seen Basquiats trading for more than this one on the private market. A man with him chimed in that he had just bought two Basquiats from Mr. Mugrabi, both in the $20-million range.

Of the 44 lots on offer, nine went unsold, a respectable sell-through rate of 80 percent by lot. Just over half the lots sold within or over their pre-sale estimates.

Seth Price and Dana Schutz also scored new auction highs, at $92,500 and $482,500, respectively. The Schutz, a 2003 painting called Death Comes to Us All, came from the collection of Charles Saatchi, who also sold a Sterling Ruby sculpture at the auction that hammered within estimate at $170,000 ($206,500 with premium).

The second-highest lot was a Willem de Kooning painting from 1975, Untitled VI, which sold to a phone bidder after a battle with a room bidder, for $12.4 million, within its pre-sale estimate. During bidding on the painting, a dark-haired woman in one of the skyboxes caused a distraction by outstretching her hands over the room and closing her eyes, causing most in the audience to turn around and ponder this mystic gesture.

Two pieces at the sale notably sold for less than they'd made previously at auction, at the height of the last market boom. A 1986 Robert Mangold painting that sold to its current owner at Sotheby's New York in May, 2008, for $937,000 made $602,500 tonight. And a Claes Oldenburg sculpture of a popsicle, a hammer and a price tag, made in 1961-62, which sold to tonight's consignor for $632,000 in 2006 at Christie's New York made only $458,500 this evening.

At Sotheby's last night, a painting by Cy Twombly made a new record of $17.4 million. Tonight, a 1969 painting by the artist went for a below-estimate $5.5-million hammer price ($6.2 million with premium), selling to an anonymous bidder on the telephone. It was acquired by its consignor at Sotheby's New York in 2004 for $2.9 million.

Not to say that the night was without levity. Dealers Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn and Thaddaeus Ropac battled it out for Andy Warhol's 1986 silkscreen Statue of Liberty. They happened to be seated directly next to one another. "It's good you're sitting next to each other, your taste is so similar," Mr. de Pury quipped as the bidding progressed. Ms. Greenberg Rohatyn won the picture for $2.4 million, solidly within its pre-sale estimate.

Mr. de Pury tried to eke out a few more bids on a 2004 Richard Prince nurse painting, Emergency Nurse, by joking, "It can come in handy, an emergency nurse." The line failed to save the patient, though, and the lot was bought in at just $1.8 million. The record for one of the artist's nurse paintings is the $8.5 million achieved in July, 2008. Last November, Philips sold a nurse painting for $6.8 million. But tonight's example wasn't on a par with those, and the market responded accordingly.

"I certainly can't complain," Worldwide Director of Contemporary Art Michael McGinnis said of the sale at the press conference afterward. "Especially not after a long week of auctions." He took a question about whether or not it might be better to go before Christie's and Sotheby's. "We've gone first in the past, we did in November, and we felt like the beginning wasn't perfect. I think the ideal solution is to be somewhere in the middle and somehow we're not invited into that club. Until then, we'll keep finessing until we find what we feel is best."

Image courtesy Phillips de Pury.

Phillips de Pury's small contemporary sales in London this week made a total of £9,128,075 ($14,334,181), according to a press release from the auction house.

At the day sale, the top seller was Mel Ramosh's Upmann 1844, which sold for £97,250 ($154,073). Richard Pettibon, Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol also made appearances and Martin Boyce, winner of the 2011 Turner Prize, set an artist record for a work on paper.

At the evening sale, the top lot was Lucio Fontana's Concetto spaziale, Attese, which was the only work at the auction to break into the seven figures.

Meanwhile, Simon de Pury has a Twitter now.

"Silver Liz" by Andy Warhol at Christie's. (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand / AFP / Getty Images)

It was one remarkable week at the New York contemporary art evening sales. As the global economy tanked, Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury & Company filed generally strong results, while Christie's nailed its best performance in the category since 2008, its second best ever. With all of that money flowing, the art world's key players had plenty of great things to say this week. Below, our favorite quotations, from the reporting of our colleagues and competitors.

“It was a good beginning. A fairly robust sale for a sale of generally not stellar material.” – Art advisor Stefano Basilico at Phillips de Pury & Company, Gallerist, November 7, 2011

“Of course I’m happy. Wouldn’t you be? This was the one opportunity to get it, and it’s a beautiful painting and it complements my 'Red Liz,' so I’ve got the two best ones.” – Collector Laurence Graff at Christie's, after buying Warhol’s Silver Liz, Artinfo, November 8, 2011

“People would rather have art than gold or paper.” – Collector Eli Broad at Christie's, The New York Times, November 8

“There is a flight out of cash into what is called art.” – Richard Feigen at Sotheby's, The New York Times, November 9

“I wish I had some Richters.” – Collector Mera Rubell, reacting to the strong showing of work by the German artist at Sotheby’s, Bloomberg, November 10

“The Richter prices are just insane. The reputations of artists today are measured by money.” – Museum of Modern Art curator emeritus John Elderfield at Sotheby's, Artinfo, November 10

“You see people demonstrating out there, people are out of jobs and their houses. And people in here are dumping millions into art.” – Dealer Richard Feigen at Sotheby's, Bloomberg, November 10

"Why do you like these paintings so much?" – A "mystified German colleague" at Sotheby's, Artnet, November 10

“Nothing can a stop a collector. People believe in art and it goes up and up and up.” – Dealer Barbara Annis, Bloomberg, November 10

“The art market is impressive right now. I don’t think it really matters, if the confidence is there. There’s obviously a lot of money in the world, and art’s become a focus.” – Dealer Larry Gagosian on the economy and the market, Gallerist, November 10

“Clearly if these things are related, they are related inversely.” – Pace president Marc Glimcher on the same topic as Mr. Gagosian, Gallerist, November 10

Jacob Kassay "Untitled" (2010)

In today's Jacob Kassay-exceeding-market-expectations news (we can't get enough), a small Kassay diptych, estimated at $30,000 to $40,000 at Phillips de Pury's contemporary dale sale this afternoon, sold for $104,500. This wouldn't be surprising given that the guy usually sells for multiples above his high estimate at auction, but this particular Untitled, made with Kassay's signature silver deposit and acrylic on canvas, is about a third of the size of the canvas that set an artist's record ($290,500) at the Phillips sale in New York back in May of this year.

So: it's a new record! Sort of. By square inch anyway.

As scary as it might be to imagine a couple of arts reporters doing math, we did (imagine a group of cavemen discovering fire and you get the picture).

The new lot is 14 in. x 11 in. There are two canvases. So that's 308 square inches total. $104,500 divided by 308 is $339.29 per square inch.

The previous lot that set the way more official record was 48 in. x 36 in., a total of 1,728 square inches. Divided into $290,500, that yields a far less impressive result of $168.11 per square inch.

(Trust us when we say that it took a sizable corner of the office a great deal of time to do this calculation: an incredible feat in mathematics!)

Congrats, Mr. Kassay! Treat yourself to some of that silver deposit you like so much.

At the contemporary art auction at Phillips de Pury & Company earlier this evening, auctioneer Simon de Pury  hammered down a respectable result of $71.3 million, including buyer's premium, a total that fell squarely within the evening's high and low estimates of $66.2 million and $97.4 million, respectively.

Despite a charity auction to benefit the Guggenheim beforehand, which may have served as a pump-primer (given philanthropy's wallet-opening properties), the mood in the room was generally sleepy—perhaps an inevitable side effect of the fact that some half the lots were secured by third-party guarantees, essentially meaning that someone had already committed to buying it. No drama in that.

Phillips head of contemporary art Michael McGinnis defended the extensive guarantees immediately following the auction. "It's becoming an industry standard," Mr. McGinnis said, comparing the resulting transactions to private sales. "You work with a list of buyers and you know what they're looking for, and they just buy it this way instead."

Of the 44 lots on offer, only seven went unsold, a healthy sell-through rate of 84 percent by lot. A full 35 of the lots sold within or over their pre-sale estimates. The Guggenheim auction raked in a total of $2.7 million and featured highlights like Mr. de Pury's pronunciation of Nicki Minaj's last name (the piece was a study for her recent W cover, and "Min-ah"). For this auction, C K Swett, the young auctioneer recently profiled by The New York Times, stood by the right-hand phone banks in the awkwardly shaped room and enthusiastically called out bids beyond Mr. de Pury's line of vision.

There were a number of bright spots in the bidding, too, among them a late Cy Twombly from 2006 that sold, with premium included, for about $9 million. The record for Twombly is $15.2 million, achieved in May for a piece made in 1967. Until this evening, the highest price paid at auction for a work of his made after 1970 was $4.8 million

Andy Warhol's Nine Gold Marilyns (Reversal Series) (1980) was the second most expensive lot of the evening, at $7.9 million with premium, which came close to the "Reversal Series" record of $8.1 million, set for a multicolored Marilyn in 2008. Tonight's work sold after a single bid, suggesting that it was bought by its third-party guarantor.

Dealer Larry Gagosian picked up a work by Richard Serra, whom he represents, for $2.3 million with premium. David Nahmad purchased an Alexander Calder at the hammer price, and low estimate, of $5 million. Pleased with the bargain, he shook hands with his son Helly, seated to his left, at the hammer.

Clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger faced minimal bidding when he nabbed Damien Hirst's Disintegration—The Crown of Life (2006) for a hammer price of $1.2 million. Walking out of the auction, he told Gallerist that he already owned a number of Hirsts, though "no butterflies."

"I'd don't know where we're going to hang it," he said of this evening's win. "It's quite big. We'll have to figure it out."

Phillips saved the best—or at least the most speculation-prone—work for last: an untitled painting by Jacob Kassay that started at $50,000 and jumped to a hammer price of $170,000 with shocking speed. Still impressive for an artist not yet 30, such results have become standard practice over the past year.

As Mr. Kassay's first one-person museum show opened at ICA London last month, silver paintings of the same size sold at Sotheby's for $228,488 and Phillips for $257,248. The high for a Kassay was set at Phillips in May, when one sold for $290,500 on an estimate of $60,000-$80,000. That sum was more than three times the price that was made last year when one sold for $86,500 at Phillips, well above an estimate of $6,000-$8,000.

Just after the auction, art adviser Stefano Basilico told Gallerist that he was pleased with the results.

"It was a good beginning," he said. "A fairly robust sale for a sale of generally not stellar material."

All price research courtesy of Artnet.

Additional reporting by Andrew Russeth.