Does Bankruptcy Puts Large Art Collections at Lehman and Neuberger Berman on the Market?

Bloomberg explores the collecting habits and holdings of both Lehman and Neuberger Berman. Lehman’s collection is the larger of the two with 3,500 pieces while the Neuberger collection will probably move to the new owners when that firm is auctioned off soon. Lindsay Pollock offers some interesting details:

“In these situations, you can’t just sell things off willy nilly,” art adviser Judith Selkowitz said of the collection. “They want everything orderly.”

[ . . . ]

Arthur Goldberg, an art collector and now-retired partner at Neuberger, was in charge of the company’s art purchases from 1990 to 1998. “They gave me a budget and let me buy what I wanted,” said Goldberg, who declined to speculate on the current value of Lehman’s collection. He bought works by Marlene Dumas and Damien Hirst before those artists were well known.

[ . . . ]

“My hope is that the collection will continue,” Goldberg said. “But my pragmatic feeling is that whoever acquires Neuberger and Lehman will look at the thing as an asset and not as art.”

Hirst May Exit Corner Office as Lehman Mulls Collection’s Fate (Bloomberg)