Crisis hits art world in auction flop

Published on Saturday 18 October 2008 19:42

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.