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An Asian collector splurged nearly US$43 million (HK$333 million) on an Amadeo Modigliani painting in New York, scooping the top prize in an otherwise lacklustre evening sale at Sotheby’s that kicked off the autumn auction season.
 The auction house sold US$377 million worth of art amassed by self-made American billionaire Alfred Taubman, a former Sotheby’s chairman who did jail time for price fixing in 2002.
 The two and a half hour auction saw strong bidding from America and Europe as well, but Asia’s acquisition of the Modigliani portrait underscores ithe region’s purchasing power.
 The painting, one of Modigliani’s last and dated 1919, went for US$42.81 million - far above pre-sale estimates in excess of US$25 million.
 Paulette Jourdain depicts the maid and later lover of his art dealer, Leopold Zborowski. It came to the auction block for the first time, Sotheby’s said.
 Sotheby’s only identified the buyer as a private Asian collector.
 The second highest lot was a 1976 landscape by Dutch-American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning, Untitled XXI, which sold for US$24.89 million, scraping its lowest pre-sale estimate of US$25 million.
 A Pablo Picasso portrait of his lover Dora Maar, once owned by murdered Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace, sold slightly under budget at US$20 million.
 Sotheby’s had valued the oil painting, Femme assise sur une chaise, at US$25-35 million before Wednesday’s auction.

 Two other top lots did not sell after failing to attract minimum bids – Femme Nue by Edgar Degas and Disappearance I by American painter Jasper Johns, which were both valued at US$15-20 million.
 Simon Shaw, co-head of Sotheby’s impressionist and modern art, said he was “surprised” the Degas had not sold and expected there would now be a lot of competition to snap it up. “That was one of the real jewels of this collection. No question that’s the best Degas pastel that has been on the market in quite a significant time,” he said.
 Born to Polish immigrants, Taubman made a fortune by developing and building shopping malls. He was a prominent philanthropist, as well as businessman, who built up a staggering art collection.
 Sotheby’s had valued the Taubman collection at US$375 million to US$527 million, before the sale.
 Taubman was convicted in a New York federal court of colluding with a counterpart at Christie’s in a conspiracy that US prosecutors said cheated customers out of US$100 million.
 Taubman, who insisted on his innocence, died in April aged 91.
 


Modigliani fetches US$43m but famed art collection amassed by Sotheby's ex-chairman flops

Modigliani’s “Paulette Jourdain” is displayed at Sotheby's in New York last week. Its sale for US$43 million was a bright spot in an otherwise lacklustre result for the collection of late billionaire Alfred Taubman. Photo: AP

Alfred Taubman out on the town with his wife, Judy, in New York in 1992. Photo: AFP

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