Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art day sale on Thursday achieved $88.7 million, with an 88% sell-through rate by lot and 90% by value. The standout lot was Lynne Drexler’s 1960 painting *Keller Fair II*, which sold for $2,027,000—shattering her previous auction record by nearly $500,000 and far exceeding its $800,000–$1.2 million estimate. The work, a dense abstraction from Drexler’s early 1960s period, was described by advisors and dealers as a rare, exceptional example.
The record price signals a maturing market for Drexler, a second-generation Abstract Expressionist who spent much of her career in obscurity. Before 2020, her work had never crossed $10,000 at auction; by 2022, it was landing in seven-figure evening sales. This momentum was fueled by the 2022 joint exhibition “The First Decade” at Mnuchin Gallery and Berry Campbell, and a Hong Kong show titled “Shatter” organized by Saara Pritchard. The result confirms steady private-market growth and highlights the difficulty of sourcing top-tier Drexler works, with only 30 to 40 large canvases known to exist, many already in museums or with condition issues.