
Here's a sign the art market might really be in trouble, famed collector Eli Broad was one of the eager buyers at the contemporary art sale at Sotheby's last night in New York City.
He's quoted in Bloomberg as calling it "a half-price sale." Perhaps he was also delighting in being right, he'd been predicting a slowdown for a while now. Broad, along with permatan and permafabulous fashion designer Valentino were two collectors hoping to get good deals on great art. It certainly worked for Broad, he picked up Ed Ruscha's 1969 ``Desire'' for $2.4 million, 40 percent under the $4 million low estimate. He also scooped up several other pieces including a Donald Judd sculpture, a Robert Rauschenberg and a Jeff Koons sculpture, some of which were for his Broad Art Foundation. That's one smart billionaire. Valentino's no slouch himself, he nabbed a couple of Warhols.
The auction was the latest in a dismal chain. The 43 lots that sold in the 63-lot auction rang up $125.1 million, not even within spitting distance of the low estimate of $202.4 million. Even worse, of those 20 unsold lots, several were guaranteed which means Sotheby's is left holding the bag on some pricey art that no one is feeling like buying right now. The top lot for the night was supposed to be Roy Lichtenstein's 1963 ``Half Face With Collar" which had a $15 to $20 million estimate. No buyer.
Still, there are always bright spots.John Currin's voluptuous ladies are selling well lately. His 1999 ``Nice `N Easy" sold for a record $5.46 million, pretty sweet considering his previous auction record of $847,500 was set at Christie's International four years ago with a painting of two men making pasta. Currin may just want to stick with painting his nubile nymphs.
Tonight we get to see how much money Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard S. Fuld Jr.'s will make off his drawings at Christie's.