Published Date:
19 October 2008
By Pat Wilde
IN A sign that art is not immune from the stock market slide, an auction of contemporary art has fallen well short of expectations despite more than £4m being spent on a work by Andy Warhol.
Sotheby's auction house raised £22m at its sale of contemporary art, held to coincide with the annual Frieze Art Fair in London.
This is far below the £31m-£43m expected, and suggests high-quality art is no longer immune to the credit crunch and plunging stock markets.
"While our total fell short of its low estimate, the sale was assembled in a very different economic environment from that which prevailed today," said Cheyenne Westphal of Sotheby's.
The sale's highlight was Skulls, a series of 10 Warhol paintings, which sold for £4.4m – against estimates of £5m–£7m.
The art boom has been fuelled partly by overseas buyers, but falls in the value of oil, equities and other assets has left art open to price drops.
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Last Updated:
18 October 2008 7:21 PM
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Source:
Scotland On Sunday
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Location:
Scotland
