NEW YORK (Reuters) – An auction of fine art from the Lehman Brothers collection took in $12.3 million yesterday, beating expectations but barely denting the billions owed from the financial group’s 2008 bankruptcy, the biggest in US history.
One work, an untitled 2001 piece by Julie Mehretu, who also created a well-received commissioned mural in the Manhattan headquarters of Goldman Sachs, sold for $1,022,500. The price set a record for the artist. Sixteen other artists also set records.
Several works by Gerhard Richter also fetched strong prices, with three included in the sale’s top 10 lots. Pieces by Liu Ye, Mark Grotjahn and Neo Rauch also achieved top prices.
Damien Hirst’s “We’ve Got Style (The Vessel Collection – Blue/Green),” a series of three cabinets holding ceramic objects, which Sotheby’s estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million, failed to sell.
