Picasso's painting, Giacometti sculpture fail to sell at auction

London, May 7 (ANI): An auction in New York witnessed a sheer lack of buyers for a painting by Picasso and a Giacometti sculpture, despite the fact that they had been expected to fetch up to 16million pounds each.

The two items that failed to sell at auction were Picasso's The Daughter Of The Artist At Two-and-a-half Years With A Boat, and Giacometti's The Cat.

However, Sotheby's auction house insists that bidding stopped short of the artworks' reserve prices.

A spokesman for the company said that 29 of the 36 artworks on offer sold for a total of 40million pounds, well below their 79million pounds estimate.

According to reports, the global financial crisis has adversely affected sales at the auctions of expensive artworks in recent months, and that fewer items are being put up for sale as compared to this time last year.

The most robust bidding at Tuesday's sale was for an abstract painting by Piet Mondrian called Composition in Black and White, With Double Lines.

It sold for more than 6million pounds, about twice its pre-sale estimate, reports the BBC.

Another Picasso work, the 1971 painting A Woman With A Hat, will be offered for sale on Wednesday at rival auction house Christie's. The painting is estimated to be worth between 4-5.3million pounds. (ANI)