Fears that the weakening U.S. economy would affect the art auction market were either confirmed or denied by the 41.1 million dollar sale of Claude Monet's "Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil" yesterday.
The New York Times gave the sale an upbeat twist:
Fears that the Christie’s sale of Impressionist and modern art would usher in a market meltdown were assuaged early Tuesday evening when everything from a Monet landscape to a monumental sculpture by Rodin brought record prices.
But the sale also had its bumps, as 14 out of 58 works failed to sell because they were considered either too expensive or second-rate examples by first-rate artists. . . . Yet the weak dollar made prices seem cheap to Europeans, who accounted for 52 percent of the buyers, officials at Christie’s said. Americans lagged behind, making only 32 percent of the purchases, far less than in past sales. “Russian buying was significant,” Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, said after the sale.
But other stories, including Bloomberg, were more pessimistic:
Monet and Rodin failed to prevent Christie's International from missing its low estimate for an evening impressionist and modern art auction for the first time in four years. . . . The result suggests that at least $318 billion of credit losses and writedowns at banks, a slump in the U.S. currency and a dip in global equity markets may have slowed the international art market.
Monet and Rodin Set Price Records at Christie’s [New York Times]
Record Monet Fails to Stem Dip in Christie's Impressionist Sale [Bloomberg]
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