Art Show Gala a Predictable Bust
News that won't be surprising to anyone: The art world is still steeped in gloom, as evidenced by the scene at last night's opening gala for the Art Show at the Park Avenue Armory. The benefit, which used to be sponsored by Lehman Brothers and be a riot of hedge funders dropping millions on pieces to add to their collections, was attended by the likes of Donald Marron, Steve Schwarzman, John McEnroe, Glenn Lowry, Agnes Gund, and Michael Ovitz, but still saw "meager" sales.
One of the few works that sold was a Cindy Sherman photo, priced at $600,000, but nearly everything else remains—so if you happen to be in the market for a Marlene Dumas painting of a stripper ($1.8 million), or for those with more traditional tastes, a Picasso portrait of his mistress Fernande Olivier ($6 million), the show's on until Sunday, at which point, just a guess, those prices might have dropped a tad.
Art Show Opens in N.Y. With Less Hedge-Fund Money for Picasso [BN]