Washington - Art has not escaped the downward pressure of the economy, as Christie's failed to get even half of the minimum prices expected for a raft of late 19th and 20th Century artworks.

The New York auction house brought in only 47 million dollars instead of the 104 million dollars projected as the minimum values in its auction late Wednesday night.

Nearly 30 per cent of the work for sale found no buyer, including works by Manet, Cezanne, Rothko and de Kooning.

Among the artwork whose price was pushed up by competitive bidders were Rene Magritte's "L'Empire des Luminieres" from 1947. The night- time street scene brought more than 3.5 million dollars, a world record for the artist's work on paper and more than the hoped-for 2 to 3 million dollars.

The top price of the evening went to Gieorgio De Chirico's oil "Composition Metaphysique" from 1914, with 6.1 million dollars - short of the 8 million dollars that had been mooted.

Mark Porter, head of Christie's America, told the New York Times earlier this week that it would be "unrealistic" to think that art was immune to the pressures of the market.

Later Thursday, Christie's will start its traditional line of auctions of impressionist and modern art.

Rival Sotheby's auction house on Monday breathed a little easier after "Suprematist Composition," a key work by Russian avant-garde painter Kazimir Malevich, fetched a record of just over 60 million dollars in the first night of its annual autumn auctions.

But other big ticket works at Sotheby's fell short, such as one by Edgar Degas that went for only 37 million dollars.

Alex Rotter, head of Sotheby's New York, said prices are 20 to 30 per cent less than just a few months ago. (dpa)