Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Joel Sternfeld's panoramic photos of Manhattan's High Line railway and Yellowstone National Park have been acquired by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and ING Belgium SA.

His new large-scale color prints capturing the seasonal changes of a field in central Massachusetts are having a tougher time finding buyers. The turmoil in the financial markets appears to be keeping clients from doling out $50,000 for Sternfeld's 5-foot-by-7-foot (1.5-by-2.1-meter) works exhibited at Luhring Augustine gallery in Chelsea, New York's hub for contemporary art.

``The response has been slow,'' says Natalia Sacasa, the gallery's senior director. Six out of 13 works have sold since the show opened on Sept. 6. ``There isn't the frenzy we all have become accustomed to.''

In Chelsea, sales are more sluggish and art buyers increasingly cautious as the financial sector reels from losses. While dealers say it's too early to tell whether the art bubble has burst, there are signs that the market is becoming more attractive for buyers and less favorable to sellers.

New Reality

``My clients are sitting tight and they want to see what happens in the next six to eight months,'' says Cristina Delgado, a New York-based art adviser. ``The prices for young and emerging artists have to come down to adjust to a new economic reality.''

Lisa Spellman, the owner of 303 Gallery, has new videos and light boxes by Doug Aitken on view at two exhibition spaces in Chelsea. Many of her Wall Street and real-estate clients have been noticeably absent recently.

``New York money managers and Wall Street collectors are definitely not making sales,'' she says. ``They are working 80 hours a week. Art is the last thing they are thinking about right now.''

There's plenty of activity outside of New York, Spellman says. Buyers, including a museum trustee, have snapped up the edition of four Aitken's light boxes shaped as a word ``STAR.'' The seductive black work glows with starlight and is priced at $200,000.

``Pricing is almost a science right now,'' Spellman says. ``It has to feel right to them at the first instance. If it sounds too high, they'll just pass.''

At Lombard-Freid Projects, some collectors passed on works by Romanian artists Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor. The paintings and an installation, which recall the 1989 anti-Soviet demonstrations in Eastern European countries, are taking longer to sell than expected, says Lea Freid, a partner at the gallery. So far, eight of the 12 paintings priced at 10,000 euros ($14,607) found buyers.

Payment Delays

In addition, more collectors have been asking to pay for art in 90 days as opposed to 30 days, Freid says.

``People aren't making snap decisions,'' she says. ``They are less likely to take a risk unless it's real cheap.''

At an exhibition of tiny, perfectionist oil-on-aluminum paintings by Yale-grad Jeronimo Elespe at John Connelly Presents, collectors jumped on the works, priced between $2,500 and $3,500, and the show sold out.

While sales may be slower, the economy is yet to affect public interest in contemporary art. On a recent Saturday, hundreds of people quietly watched Aitken's enigmatic videos in a darkened 303 Gallery. A few blocks north, the opening of Cecily Brown's show at Gagosian was packed with New York fashionistas and Russian models.

Dealer Andrea Rosen says that many of her best collectors flocked to the gallery, which currently shows works by Rita Ackermann, Joel Shapiro and Linda Benglis, during the worst days on the financial markets.

``They were eagerly here to look,'' Rosen says. She even made some sales, but noticed a change -- collectors have become more discerning. ``People are buying not with their ears but with their eyes.''

(Katya Kazakina is a reporter for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer on the story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 29, 2008 00:01 EDT