Art Sells

16 June 2010 - Lehman Brothers, the collapsed investment bank, aims to receive more than USD 10 million from an art sale at Sotheby's later this year. Lehman's collection once numbered more than 3,500 pieces, but many less valuable works have already been auctioned off. This year about 400 additional pieces will be sold in a single-owner sale. Expectations are particularly high for a Julie Mehretu painting - titled oddly Untitled 1 - of an estimated value of USD 800,000. Mehretu who has a show at New York Guggenheim Museum, recently completed a mural for Lehman's competitors Goldman Sachs' New York office. Lehman acquired the painting in 2001 for USD 21,728. It is a bit cynical that the bank seemed to have a good eye for investment in arts, but failed otherwise.