Market woes not to blame for art stumble: experts

By Jennifer Ablan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lackluster Sotheby's auction that failed to sell a Vincent van Gogh landscape saw shares in the company plunge on Thursday, but some experts said inflated estimates were more to blame than worries about the economy.

The Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art auction took in just under $270 million on Wednesday night -- falling short of a pre-sale estimate of $355 million -- and was unable to move a quarter of the paintings, including van Gogh's "Wheat Fields."

Sotheby's share price was down about 37 percent in afternoon trade on Thursday.

Contrary to fears that collectors would pull back until financial and mortgage markets stabilize, Elizabeth von Habsburg, president of independent appraisal and art consulting firm Gurr Johns Masterson, said demand for art has not moved in line with wild swings in the world stock markets.

"Estimates were too high on items that had been circulating on the market," she said, referring to van Gogh's piece. "The art market is very deep."

A Christie's auction on Tuesday achieved the second-largest result ever for Impressionist and modern art, with new records for Matisse, Pissarro and Signac all factoring in the sale's $395 million total.

Von Habsburg said smaller Wall Street bonuses and anticipated job losses due to the turmoil in housing and credit markets were not expected to dampen demand for art -- and she is hardly alone in her view.

"The high-end art market is not driven by Wall Street bonuses," said Jeffrey Gundlach, an art collector and chief investment officer of TCW Group in Los Angeles, which manages assets worth $160 billion.