As art auctions shrink, big houses look to future

* Art world optimistic about upcoming auctions

* Sellers may still be cautious

* Sales not expected to be like 'feeding frenzy' days

By Christopher Michaud

NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Art world eyes are trained on the upcoming autumn auctions for early signs of the market's recovery from the precipitous decline that began a year ago amid roiling financial markets worldwide.

Totals at the annual sales have been a fraction of the staggering amounts that only recently poured into powerhouses Christie's and Sotheby's -- half a billion during two nights of Impressionist and modern sales alone in 2008. Officials are hopeful that the worst is over.

The auctions kick off on Tuesday at Christie's.

"We really have more buyers than ever -- as many, if not more than a year ago," said Marc Porter, president of Christie's Americas.

"Last November we were in the midst of the economic crisis but we've had a year to deal with issues of credit and wealth, the stock market has been recovering and European buyers are richer than ever, with respect to (lower) prices of works of art."

Bill Ruprecht, CEO of rival Sotheby's (BID.N) agreed the art market was in a better place than a year ago.

"We're seeing this in improved consignments, in improved results ... and in improved confidence," he said. "We're cautiously optimistic this will continue."

Art dealers also say the worst is over and many analysts, including senior art business professor Andras Szanto at Columbia University, are anticipating the start of a recovery.

"There is still a lot of money in the hands of collectors worldwide who are willing to spend on good art," Szanto said. "What you don't have is the kind of feeding frenzy that, frankly, no one believed was particularly good or sustainable."

TIME TO SELL?

The primary challenge continues to be convincing consignors to sell top quality works at a time of plummeting prices -- a skittishness born out by the size of the upcoming sales, which are expected to total less than half of those a year ago.

Those sales were boosted by works going as high as $60 million but the drop in prices has been so steep that the figure will more closely reflect an entire night's total.

Porter said European, Asian and Middle East collectors continued to be buoyed by spending power and enthusiasm.

"There's so little on the market and the same number of buyers that I think we're going to see significant competition -- and the beginning of the next cycle."

Still, he said he expects it to take another season or two before sellers regain their confidence.

Highlights from the two weeks of key sales starting Tuesday include Basquiat's monumental "Brother Sausage" from 1983, which Christie's estimates at $9 million to $12 million.

The big ticket items at Sotheby's include Picasso's "Buste d'homme," Giacometti's "L'Homme qui chavire" and Warhol's "200 One Dollar Bills," an early silkscreen, each estimated at $8 million to $12 million.

Christie's Impressionist sale also is led by a Picasso, "Tete de femme," a Cubist work from 1943 ($7 million to $10 million), and Degas' similarly priced "Danseuses." (Editing by Christine Kearney and Bill Trott)