Lehman art collection goes under hammer

THEY once had pride of place in the offices of a doomed economic powerhouse.

• Andreas Gursky's "New York Mercantile Exchange Picture: Getty

Now works of art that once adorned the walls of the offices of Lehman Brothers are being sold for auction, two years after the demise of the American investment bank.

Around 1.3 million is expected to be raised from the sale in London of more than 300 items from its European offices which were put into storage shortly after the firm's dramatic collapse on 15 September, 2008.

Lehman Brothers was behind the largest bankruptcy filing in US history and helped cause one of the worst global financial crises since the Great Depression.

The lots being auctioned off at Christie's on Wednesday include works by modern artists including Gary Hume, Robert Rauschenberg, Wim Wenders, Sean Scully and Lucian Freud, and a selection of maritime and sporting paintings.

Collectors can also bid on the London headquarters' sign, valued at up to 3,000, and a plaque commemorating the opening of the building in 2004 by then Chancellor Gordon Brown, valued at around 1,500.

Susan Mansfield, art critic at The Scotsman, said: "There will be plenty of interest in Lehman Brothers' garage sale, simply because it represents a chance to pick up a piece of history - up to and including the commemorative plaque unveiled by Gordon Brown on the opening of the bank's Canary Wharf offices. Art collectors with specific interests might also find bargains.

"The Lehman collection in Britain and Europe appears to have been an eclectic one: French bronzes, Chinese porcelain, 19th-century maritime and sporting paintings, not rare examples in their field, rather the kind of works a business buys to give its buildings overtones of opulence and gravitas. The photographs by celebrated Brazilian documentary photographer Sebastiao Salgado were there, perhaps, as a reminder of the need for social conscience."More recently, Lehman Brothers clearly felt the need to demonstrate a cutting edge by buying modern and contemporary art, but they did so cautiously and without apparent strategy."