Recession Slows Sale of Latin American Artworks : Art: Aside from a few high-profile works, Christie’s reports disappointing results at Wednesday’s auction.

Latin American art is hot, but the recession put a damper on it in a major auction this week at Christie’s New York. While the star item, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait With Loose Hair,” was sold for a whopping $1.65 million--an auction record for Latin American art--the sale generally fell below expectations.

Christie’s had estimated that the auction on Wednesday night and Thursday would bring a total of $12.7 million to $16.2 million in sales, thus breaking the $12.4-million record for an auction of Latin American art. But the Park Avenue auction house toted up only $8.8 million in sales. Sixty-four, or about 30%, of the 216 artworks offered failed to find buyers.

While the high end of the art market rose to spectacular heights during the late ‘80s and fell precipitously during the past year, Latin American art has steadily gained a larger following and increased in value. Aficionados had hoped that Latin American art might be relatively recession-proof because it hadn’t been subject to the speculative fervor that fueled highly publicized sales of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art. But the “cautious buying” that characterizes the current recessionary climate permeated the sale room again this week, according to Lisa Palmer, head of Christie’s Latin American department.

The auction got off to a promising start on Wednesday night when the first item offered, Jose Maria Velasco’s 1884 landscape, “Valle de Mexico,” was sold for $374,000--a record for the artist and more than twice the painting’s high estimate of $150,000. Sales clipped along until the $1.65-million Kahlo purchase, by Margara Garza-Sada of Monterrey, Mex. But the next five works failed to sell.

By the evening’s end, 24 of the 61 pieces offered in the pricey opening sale had to be returned to the sellers. Among big-name works that didn’t sell were Rufino Tamayo’s “Mujeres” (valued at $750,000 to $950,000), Wilfredo Lam’s “Oiseaux” ($450,000 to $550,000) and Fernando Botero’s “Ambrosio da Predis Pintando a su Mujer” ($250,000 to $300,000). On Thursday, when 155 lower-priced items were offered, 40 were not sold.

There were notable successes, however. Matta’s “La Femme Affamee” was sold for $528,000, well above its high estimate of $400,000. Diego Rivera’s “Seated Girl” brought $462,000, safely within its estimated price range of $400,000 to $500,000. Two works by Tamayo, “Nino en Rojo” and “Enclaustrado,” valued at $350,000 to $450,000 apiece, each fetched $330,000.

The Kahlo sale appears to secure the market position of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter who has become something of a cult figure. “The sale validates the price I paid for ‘Diego y Yo,’ ” said New York dealer Mary-Anne Martin, referring to her purchase last year of another Kahlo self-portrait for $1.43 million.

That was a record price for a Latin American artwork at the time. But Martin said it might have been considered to be “just a fluke--the result of two crazy people bidding at auction. Now it will be seen that a serious Frida Kahlo is worth over $1 million.”

“I am delighted,” said Louise Noun, the seller of the Kahlo, reached by telephone at her home in Des Moines. “It brought a good price and the money will fund a project I’m interested in.”

Noun is a historian and author of “Strong-Minded Women,” a 1969 book on the women’s suffrage movement in Iowa. Through her Chrysalis Foundation, established to benefit Iowa women through scholarships and innovative programs, she is donating the proceeds of the sale to endow an Iowa women’s archive at the University of Iowa. Noun said she envisions a wide-ranging archive including diaries, papers, scrapbooks and books by and about Iowa women. She became aware of the need for such a repository while researching her book, she said.

A long-time champion of women’s achievements, Noun is also a collector of art by women. She bought the Kahlo in 1983 for $85,000. “Unfortunately, that was the only painting by Frida Kahlo in my collection,” she said.