collection of works of art in the company

Difficult to forget this September 15, 2008. The day the Bank Lehman Brothers in New York was officially declared bankrupt. Finished glory, finished the adventurous spirit and hence finite the... collection of works of art in the company. A first and modest salute in the great liquidation was organized a few months later, in February in Philadelphia. The Freeman's house selling 374 works that were previously arranged in three American branches of the firm. Estimates: 760,000 dollars. Award: 1.35 million. The controversial celebrity of the Bank has been his desire for buyers among which many curious acting via the Internet.

Until then, in the world of art, the surname of Lehman was associated a sense of prestige. A wing of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, opened in 1975, this name, justified by the gift to the institution of a collection of 300 works including paintings of Memling to Renoir. In fact, the involvement of the Bank in the art has always corresponded to the personal tastes of some of its leaders.

Three new operations of assignments of the collections are announced these days. They tell the enthusiasm of his associates for art. In the United States, there is a tradition of "corporate" in the collection of tables and the most famous of the genus is Rockefeller. As early as 1959, David Rockefeller establishes a program of acquisitions for the Chase Manhattan Bank, today JPMorgan Chase, which now includes 30,000 works around the world.

In 2003, Lehman Brothers bought out the New York Bank Neuberger Berman. Co-founder Roy Neuberger was also a collector experienced. At Lehman, one of the partners now retired, Arthur Goldberg, was still an amateur, whose wife Carol was same private contemporary art dealer. He was personally responsible for purchases between 1990 and 1998. "They gave me a budget and me was what I wanted to buy" (1), explained in 2008 the former. A chance for the company. It has made acquisitions osées for the time, but whose names are now recognized.

Parts of the years 1990-2000

On 25 September, Sotheby's flung across the most important of the Lehman Brothers collection. A concentrate of the taste of the years 1990-2000. 400 lots estimated at $ 10 million. The work to the expected value the highest sale was a large signed room Damien Hirst, acquired in 1994, while English was not yet the star is known. It's a rack containing false polychrome dishes. A rare, but atypical play. It was estimated 800,000 dollars. In the credits, high potential value names, there was also a painting of Daniel Buren purchased at auction in 1991 for 12,000 euros, today estimated $ 50,000. "At this time bankers wanted to show by their collection they were able to take risks," explains in Christie's Amy Cappellazzo. ". Now, observed this phenomenon is rather homeowners "hedge funds", but they collect on their own account.

On 29 September in London, in its premises in South Kensington Christie's dispersed primarily a set of decorative objects from the premises of the Bank in Europe estimated 2.4 million euros and on 7 November still Freeman's Philadelphia will back a remnant of 250 works.

France, Société Générale is the only one to have a substantial collection of paintings and photos. Approximately 300 works collected since 1995 which are exposed at the headquarters of the defence and the premises of Val de Fontenay. With an annual budget of approximately 300,000 euros acquiring the collection is, according to his official Angélique Aubert, an excellent instrument for internal and external communication. A set of pieces will be exhibited in October during the next Fiac and the Museum of fine arts de Lille.