Damien Hirst's 1993 "We've Got Style (The Vessel Collection - Blue/Green)" est. $800,000 - $1.2 M on view at Sotheby's. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views Contributor

A ramble around Sotheby’s sixth floor exhibition space on a sleepy August afternoon showed no signs of the cataclysmic economic upheaval which forced works by John Currin, Julie Mehretu and Yoshitomo Nara — all formerly part of the Neuberger Berman collection — onto the auction block.

The once prosperous investment bank Lehman Brothers acquired money management company Neuberger Berman in 2003. Bonus: a stellar art collection worth more than $10 million. The collection has been on view at Sotheby’s York Avenue headquarters over the summer.

The Sept. 25 auction includes 147 contemporary artworks, with sale proceeds going to Lehman creditors.

Highlights include John Baldessari’s Stares (with Lamps),  a black and white collage of austere headshots and white silhouettes framed by floor lamps illuminated in blue and yellow. Tagged $350,000 – $450,000, the piece was acquired at Sotheby’s in 1991 for $29,700 (nice return!)  With the opening of the Baldessari retrospective this month in Los Angeles and in October at the Met, the piece is money in the bank.

A middle-aged woman with a sassy stance and deadpan expression stars in John Currin’s 1991 portrait, Shakespeare Actress.  Demure compared to the topless Bea Arthur, painted around the same time, it is expected to fetch from $500,000 – $700,000. A familiar muted depiction of an atypical subject matter for Currin, a pair of red-and-white striped athletic sneakers, is also up for sale. “Sneaker” 1990 is  estimated at $60,000 – $80,0000.

The Lehman’s bankruptcy was announced the morning of the landmark Damien Hirst sale, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, held at Sotheby’s London in September 2008 and grossing $172 million. Hirst’s consumerist tribute to vulnerability and unexpected demise, We’ve Got Style (The Vessel Collection – Blue/Green) is on the auction block in September and expected to fetch between $800,000 to $1.2 million.

Here at Art Market Views, we noticed a number of other ironies. A 2001 work by Trenton Doyle Hancock is dubbed, The Life and Death of No 1. (Ok, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank, but you catch our drift). Takashi Murakami’s Chaos (1999) adequately sums up the stock market gyrations, while Wang Jianwei’s print is aptly titled Dilemma. Even Robert Rauschenberg’s 1991 acrylic and aluminum work is given a fitting moniker – Bank.

Christie’s will auction 300 lots from the Lehman collection on September 29th in London.

Julie Mehretu's 2001 "Untitled 1," est. $600-$800,000, on view at Sotheby's. Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Neo Rauch's 1999 "Einbruch" est. $400,000 - $600,000, on view at Sotheby's. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Do-Ho Suh 1992-2001 "Metal Jacket" est. $300,000-$400,000, on view at Sotheby's. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

On left: Yoshitomo Nara "The Little Pilgrims (Night Walking)" est. $150,000-$200,000, on view at Sotheby's. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock

Marc Grotjahn 2000 "Untitled (Three-tiered Perspective)" est. $600,000-$800,000, on view at Sotheby's. © Photo: Lindsay Pollock