Lehman CEO's Art Collection Goes Up for Sale

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• 'Risqué' Attic Painting Sells for $4.1M

  Dec 4, 08 3:27 AM CST
  A provocative 18th Century painting, hidden in the attic of a French chateau for decades because it featured a woman with a breast exposed, has fetched $4.1 million from an anonymous buyer at a Christie's auction in London, reports the Daily Telegraph. The price was three times its estimated value.
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• Auction Houses Counting on Russians

  Nov 30, 08 1:28 PM CST
  With dwindling sales and empty showrooms, art auction houses are increasingly relying on what they have dubbed RR: rich Russians. Houses are hoping the record price drawn by a Kasimir Malevich painting earlier this month is proof that the Russian market will escape the downturn that's affecting other sectors. Of the three major houses, Sotheby's has most aggressively courted Russia’s well-heeled aficionados, the Economist reports, and has been rewarded with a 30-fold increase in sales over the last 7 years.
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• Major Works Fail to Sell at Christie's

  Nov 13, 08 9:16 AM CST
  The art world bust continued last night at the Christie's contemporary auction in New York, where almost a third of the 75 works on the block went unsold. Not a single collector bid for the highlight of the sale, a self-portrait by Francis Bacon estimated to sell for around $40 million, Bloomberg reports. And in a sign of the times, a collection of 16 drawings put up by the CEO of bankrupt Lehman Brothers sold for just $13.5 million, below the low estimate.
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• Masters Shore Up Shaky Art Market

  Jul 3, 08 9:48 AM CDT
  The art market has again defied the economic downturn, with Christie's and Sotheby's bringing in more than $1 billion combined during the past two weeks' London sales—a 19% rise from last year. But those numbers disguise the erratic nature of the market, writes the Wall Street Journal. While new collectors from Russia and the Middle East are paying top dollar for works by established modern masters, younger artists went bust. More »

• Art Continues to Buck Ragged Economy

  May 14, 08 2:21 PM CDT
  Christie's auction of contemporary art in New York belied an economic downturn, the Times reports, with paintings, sculpture, and even a house fetching handsome prices. Two works drew particular attention: a portrait of a 280-pound nude woman by Lucian Freud, which sold for $33.6 million, and a house in Palm Springs by Richard Neutra, which fetched $16.8 million. More »