Fine art once owned by Lehman Brothers, the investment bank whose collapse kick-started the US economic recession, fetched more than US$12 million on Saturday at a Sotheby’s auction.
The proceeds will go toward repaying the more than US$600 billion owed to creditors of Lehman Brothers, which declared bankruptcy in 2008, helping to trigger collapse across global financial markets.
About 83 percent of the 142 lots were sold for a total of US$12.28 million, exceeding estimates. The sale set 17 records for artists, including Ethiopian Julie Mehretu, whose iconic painting Untitled 1 sold for US$1,022,500, a new record for the artist and well over the high estimate of US$600,000 to US$800,000.
PHOTO: AFP
Mark Grotjahn’s Untitled fetched US$782,500 and three works by Gerhard Richter also sold at higher than expected prices, including Abstraktes Bild, which fetched US$506,500.
Yet a piece by Britain’s Damien Hirst that had been expected to take in about US$1 million failed to sell.
The collection was acquired by Lehman Brothers in 2003 and includes works by other famous contemporary artists like Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Richard Prince and Yoshitomo Nara.
International buyers at the auction included institutions, such as the Museum Art Center Buenos Aires and several successful online purchasers.
“While the Lehman name certainly attracted a great deal of attention, the people who bid today participated because they knew it was good art,” Sotheby’s worldwide head of contemporary art Tobias Meyer said in a statement.
Much of the artwork that went under the hammer had been purchased by asset manager Neuberger Berman.
Another Sotheby’s sale will be held in London on Wednesday at Christie’s, featuring works by Lucian Freud and Gary Hume.
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