In late September, shortly after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, "terminated" Lehman CEO Richard Fuld Jr. and his wife Kathy Fuld put up a small collection of postwar drawings for auction at Christie’s. Estimated to be worth between $15 million and $20 million, the 16 works included drawings by Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, and Barnett Newman.
Christie’s made the mistake of guaranteeing the Fulds $20 million for these works, but as we learned from the art auction at Sotheby’s on Tuesday, Nov. 11, where only 68 percent of the offerings were sold, art is not selling so well these days. The Fulds’ 16 works of art were sold for an underwhelming $13.5 million, according to ABC News.
According to the Times, one of the more successful works of the bunch was Gorky’s Study for Agony I, which Mrs. Fuld bought at Christie’s in 1996 for $370,000. It was estimated at $2.2 million to $2.8 million on Wednesday and was sold to Matthew Marks, a Manhattan dealer, for $2.2 million with fees.
[via Cityfile]
