Armory Show sales: Joan Mitchell sells for over $2 million as collectors “don’t care” about wars

The Armory Show, New York’s leading art fair, was held this week at the Javits Center and closes on Sunday. Despite the wars shaking the world and inflation squeezing budgets, the atmosphere inside the halls was “almost too calm” — wealthy clients kept buying artworks at staggering prices, as if nothing concerned them.

First-day sales, according to dealers’ statements, were impressive. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery sold a Joan Mitchell painting for over $2 million to a private collector, alongside collages by Louise Nevelson and Hannelore Baron. Edwynn Houk Gallery reported the sale of a László Moholy-Nagy silver gelatin print for $320,000, while Gazelli Art House sold a Lilly Fenichel canvas for $200,000 to a European museum. Along the same lines, Nara Roesler sold Sheila Hicks’s “The soft side of my nature” (2025) for $260,000, 303 Gallery two Rob Pruitt paintings at $155,000 each and a Doug Aitken lightbox for $150,000, while Galerie Maximillian sold Rashid Johnson’s “Untitled (Large Mosaic)” (2025) for around $175,000 in the first hour. Norr Cohan (formerly James Cohan) reported the sale of Yinka Shonibare’s “The Landscape Project (Cotton Plantation)” for over $180,000.

The most direct was dealer Michael Borghi of Hollis Taggart, who sold a Stuart Davis abstract painting for over $100,000. “They don’t care. They’re really rich individuals, they don’t care,” he said of the clients, summing up the fair buyers’ philosophy.

Among the visitors were also well-known Hollywood and sports names, such as Jodie Foster, David Alan Grier, Piper Perabo, Paul Rudd and basketball player Karl-Anthony Towns.

It should be noted that these figures are the dealers’ own statements and verified sales may differ. As Hyperallergic notes, “it is impossible to know whether these sales actually happened at the fair or through a PDF sent months earlier.”