An abstract painting by early 20th century Russian artist Kazimir Malevich sold on Monday for just under $60-million in New York, bucking a dismal auction market.

The 1916 painting, "Suprematist Composition," fetched $59.96-million at Sotheby's, meeting the auction house's pre-sale estimate.

This smashed the previous $17-million record for a Malevich. The Russian's works have not generally been considered in the same superstar league such as those of Picasso.

The enormous sum, paid on the first night of the annual autumn auctions by Sotheby's and rival Christie's, also defied what experts describe as lean times for high-end auctions.

Sotheby's was holding the first session of its impressionist and modern sales, which will be followed next week by contemporary art.

Many New York-based experts from Sotheby's and Christie's shared similar reserve about whether the art market is a safe haven for investors in the midst of a global economic downturn that has rocked financial markets from New York to Tokyo.

The tone was far from the euphoria of last spring in New York, where Claude Monet's "Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil" sold at auction for a then-record $41.4-million for the artist, and where a Francis Bacon triptych went for an astounding $86.2-million.

This fall, Christie's has "adjusted the estimates with a very conservative position, to the level of three to four years ago," said Brett Gorvy, the auction house's international director of post-war and contemporary art.

Sotheby's has yet to offer a clear explanation for the withdrawal from auction earlier this week of a Picasso Harlequin painting which had promised to be one of the November highlights and had been estimated at $30-million.

David Norman, vice chairperson for Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art sales, said only that the Picasso was withdrawn by the owner for private reasons."

AFP

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