Paris auction falls short

A benchmark Paris sale of Impressionist and Modern paintings that belonged to French fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin fell well short of pre-sale expectations Monday, in a clear signal the financial crisis is hitting the previously resilient art market.
Christie’s auction house said in a statement it raised euro7.67 million ($9.67 million) at its evening sale of works by artists including Pablo Picasso and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It had originally valued the collection at euro20 million ($25.2 million).

The highest-selling work in the sale was Renoir’s “Woman with a Parasol Sitting in the Garden,” which fetched euro1.16 million ($1.46 million) below its estimate of euro1.2 million ($1.51 million) to euro1.8 million ($2.27 million), according to Christie’s.

Only 23 of the 31 lots were sold, it said. Among the paintings that failed to find a buyer was Renoir’s “The Tapestry in the Park (Presumed Portrait of Camille Monet),” which had been estimated at euro2.5 million ($3.15 million) to euro3.5 million ($4.41 million). (more…)