USA: U.S. painting goes from trash to $1 million (US Dollar) treasure

An oil painting by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo that was plucked from a sidewalk trash heap several years ago sold for more than $1 million US Dollars on Tuesday (November 20) at Sotheby's auction of Latin American art. The auction house had estimated that "Tres Personajes" ("Three Personages"), which was stolen from a Houston warehouse after being bought at auction in 1977, would sell for between $750,000 and $1 million US Dollars , but the work ended up selling for $1,049,000 US Dollars including commission. The oil-and-sand canvas was rescued from oblivion when a New York woman spotted it in a pile of trash at a curbside on Manhattan's Upper West Side and decided to bring it home. Sotheby's Director of Latin American art, Carmen Melian, is thrilled that the painting is back with its rightful owner. The star of the auction was "Le Déjeuner Sur L'Herbe" by Fernando Botero, which sold to Miami-based gallery owner, Gary Nader for $1,329,000 US Dollars after commission. Nader, who specializes in Botero's works, was thrilled with the purchase, saying, "It's very complete, it's iconographic of what he does and the group of people in Botero are very important for his career and you can't find them very easily. I thought I was going to pay two million dollars for the piece, so paying one, one plus commission, I stole it." Apart from the Botero and the Tamayo, the auction was a relatively staid affair, with 20 of 70 lots on offer going unsold, including the top lot, Matta's "Et At It" which was estimated to sell between $2.5 and $3.5 million US Dollars . The highest bid it received was $1.75 million US Dollars . The sale took in a total of $15.235 million US Dollars , coming in under the pre-sale estimate of $16.5 million to $21.6 million US Dollars . By contrast Christie's auction on Tuesday totaled $21.7 million US Dollars , the second best ever for auctioned Latin American art and just under the $22 million US Dollars record Christie's set in May.

ITN Source | November 26, 2007

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