Lehman May Unload Art for Under $1 Million

PHILADELPHIA (TheStreet) -- An auction of Lehman Brothers' art collection spotlights the financial crisis' abstract-expressionist impact on the art market: a series of bold, broad, violent strokes that opened its effects to interpretation.

While the Bernard Madoff scandal was considered a mess in art circles, the first Lehman Brothers auction Nov. 1 at Freeman's in Philadelphia is a classic in waiting. Nearly 280 works that hung above the cleaned-out desks in Lehman's darkened offices go up for bid in the first of three auctions featuring the company's collection. They are expected to fetch $420,000 to $680,000.

Part of Lehman's auction is Louis Lozowick's "Bridge Repairs (Repairing Brooklyn Bridge)," a lithograph from 1938 valued at $7,000 to $10,000.

It's like finding Joan Miro and Marc Chagall works at T.J. Maxx. While there are roughly a dozen works estimated at $10,000 and higher, there's no minimum bid on a majority of the art, which means Robert Motherwell prints or a set of Walker Evans photos can be had for $1,000 or less.

"There's a lot of very affordable material here," says Anne Henry, who's in charge of the auction. "A person who was not established in art collecting but wanted a few things can know they're buying something that met a major corporation's criteria for top standards of condition and historical importance."

While no single work in this auction will fetch seven figures, the low price tags are almost a mea culpa from embattled businesses to a similarly beleaguered art community. Art patrons were feeling a bit more bohemian after losing fortunes in Madoff's investment fraud. The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, which was a big backer of both the Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, lost $145 million in the scheme.