Friday, October 30, 2009

Tears in the rain

If you want to own an artwork that could serve as a talisman of the hubris that got the US (and by default the rest of us) into the mess we’re in, you can put a live bid into Freeman’s 1 November. That's the date for their auction of 283 items from the Lehman Brothers corporate collection. It was Lehman’s default that finally convinced America that the jig was up and, as we have reported before, it came on the same day Damien Hirst tested the market with his DIY auction courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Fortunately for your wallets this auction will not include masterpieces from Bobbie Lehman’s personal collection or any items from the collection of CEO Dick Fuld. He managed to offload 16 of his works late last year for just under $US13.5 million. According to Freeman’s, if you wave your cyber paddle a couple of thousand $US could get you a Christo print of wrapped buildings in Lower Manhattan or one of nine Walker Evans photographs of the Brooklyn bridge. You can see the full catalogue and make your bid here.
Image: Dick Fuld with street art